July 18, Monday - Dubrovnik, Croatia
This marks our 4th visit to Dubrovnik. We have always gone to the old city in the past. This time we did a walk around the harbor.
Old city is on other side of the peninsula
We were amazed at all the stairs people negotiate to get to their hillside homes. It is little wonder that you do not see overweight people here.
We meandered past homes, stores and churches before arriving at the end of the harbor farthest from the ship.
Here we found a park that had some military memorials to the war in the 90’s. It also had a science park. One of the the objects here was a whispering gallery. Standing almost 100 get apart and whispering into a small target on a reflector dish, we could here each other clearly. This was our favorite but there were a few others. What a novel way to introduce bits of science to both young and old.
On our way back to the ship we looked for a shop where we might find a sympathy card. Our travel advisor’s mother had recently passed away and we wanted to send Bonnie a card now rather than wait till we got home more than a month from now. The only likely shop we found did not have cards. The elderly shopkeeper did not speak much English but she tried to communicate that a store 300 meters toward the ship might have one. And, it seemed like she was trying to say it was on the second floor.
Off we went expecting to find a store about a block away. We had gone more than half a mile with no luck when I saw an old 4 story building that has several signs on its front. Sure enough it was like a mini mall. Each floor had a different store featuring different types of merchandise. On the second floor was a variety store that had a card rack just inside the door.
Uh oh! All of the cards were in Croatian. I am not sure why that surprised me. But after all we were in a neighborhood in a foreign land. Again, the shopkeeper spoke little English but she did her best and soon understood that we wanted a sympathy card. She found 3 and we picked the nicest. Then we checked out the rest of the stores. One was a very nice and very expensive appliance and electronics store. We discovered that there were escalators for going up and only stairs for coming down. What a special experience this was for us. We now had a card. What about stamps and a mail box. We did not see a post office on our walk.
We were almost back at the ship when we saw a large grocery store. We like to compare local quality and prices to ours at home. We entered with amazement at how large it was and how broad the selection was. The quality was good and the prices were high. This store was right on the water between the ships, the bus station, and a marina. Each of these might have people in need of provisions. The number of people inside and the security personnel seemed to confirm that.
Our review was done and we started to leave watching the security guard following us. Heading to the exit I discovered a Post sign on the back wall. We bought stamps from the kind lady who told us the post office hours. We had time to get to the ship for lunch. Then Alice wrote a note to Bonnie inside the card. There was no verse like our sympathy cards have. I went back to the post office in the store and mailed the card.
Tonight was our first of 2 included dinners in the Pinnacle. That is one of the perks of being a five star mariner. It still does not too free laundry.
We were seated in a very nice quiet booth for two. This provided a vantage point from which we could observe the rest of the dining room. We must say our subjects were well behaved.
Alice had lamb chops and I had the New York strip steak. Both were ordered medium rare. They were done to perfection. We shared roasted baby beats. The presentation was deserving of Pinnacle’s reputation for excellence. Dessert was very good but not as memorable as the main course. That is why I cannot tell you what it was.
Another fine day on Oosterdam.
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