July 15th, Bus to Dubrovnik

7/15     Monday

            Dalia meets us in the morning to say goodbye, and we’re off to catch the fast ferry to Split, just an hour’s ride. It’s packed full, and we have to grab a couple seats quickly. We forget sometimes, getting on the ferries or trains, how people are commuting on these everyday, not meandering around on vacations. If there’s a seat – get it! We connect to a bus to Dubrovnik, about a four hour drive through mostly mountainous roads. We have a border crossing and passport check into the absurdly brief Bosnian coast, a stretch of a few miles before we cross back into Croatia. Vedran’s is our host in Dubrovnik, and his mom meets us at the bus station. She has a room in the apartment, not that she stays while we’re here. She gives us a welcome drink of homemade cherry liqueur, pours out a dish of pretzel snacks and starts scarfing them down. “So hungry, no time to eat today.”  She gives us a huge pile of towels, instructions to tie open the doors or “windows are breaking” when the wind slams the doors shut, and asks us to water the plants.  The apartment is a little over furnished. We have to jostle through the narrow pass-ways a bit. The terrace view, however, is really nice, overlooking the harbor and port for the cruise ships. We see at least two behemoths docked at the pier, blocks long. We do our usual groceries & laundry, and settle in.

I go to the terrace, grab a plastic chair and sit to enjoy the view of the harbor. The chair snaps apart and throws me to the floor, teacup and phone flying through the air, trapping me in the doorway on my back in the chair like an overturned turtle. This is not so enjoyable. Luckily, nothing but the chair is broken, and order soon emerges from the chaos.

The sun sets in a brilliant fluorescent pink splash, and the harbor lights up. We see the homes on the hills across the bay, the moon coming up, and the disco lights on the high deck of the cruiser.

1 Video Included

Bus to Dubrovnik