Dubrovnik seemed like one monstrous, mysterious castle when we arrived late at night. The walls seemed to tower over everything, blocking any light and shadows. What was inside? We were excited to find out.
Entering through the intimidating gate entrance, I remember it was very brightly lit, and everything was stone. The streets, buildings, and super tall and narrow stairs. We were definitely huffing and puffing by the time we got to our airbnb. But wow, what a beautiful city.
We hadn't eaten dinner yet that night, so we decided to venture out for a late-night snack. We came across a nice little wine bar serving some small bites. The wines and food were great, but the best part was our waiter, who was one of the most gregarious guys I've ever met. Balding and sporting thin spectacles, he took every every opportunity to check on his customers and dance to the background music. To every request, "Yeah Okayyyyyyy... No problem!!"
In the morning, we met up with Alexandra's dad, Bill, who arranged to travel with us in Croatia.
On our first day, the weather was gorgeous. We made plans to go on a city tour the next day, so we had the day to explore the city on our own. After a nice lunch at a restaurant off the main square, we decided to take the cable car up to Mt. Srđ, where we enjoyed the views and met a friend, Mario the agnostic praying mantis. We also checked out the museum at Fort Imperial, which proudly showcases how the Croatians stood their ground and successfully protected Dubrovnik from Yugoslav forces in the Croatian War of Independence in the 90s.
After checking out the sunset at one of the "hole in the wall bars" at the rocky edge of the city, we had dinner at a small restaurant that specializes in seafood. Bill was hungry, so he ordered a seafood platter. For two. His insistence on ordering it downright shocked our waiter. No doubt, the platter was pretty epic -- not too far off from an episode of Man vs. Food -- but Bill took it down like a champ! Our waiter's reaction? Priceless.
The highlights of our second and third days were the walking tours of the city with our animated guide, Marco. On both tours, Bill had the most correct answers to Marco's history questions. As Marco described multiple times as he pretended to shoot jump shots a la NBA JAM, Bill was "Onnn Fire!!"
