After 3 lovely days with my Danish friend, Elizabeth, in Castagnetto Carducci on the coast of the Mediterranean, I'm now in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I had a hard day of traveling yesterday - planes, trains, automobiles and even busses to arrive at this fairytale city at the golden hour.
I got off the bus at the ancient gate through which world wide visitors have been pouring for centuries. Immediately, a young woman came up to me and asked if I was looking for a room. We negotiated a bit and I agreed to a room for the three nights I'll be here. Simple, basic, expensive. She said there was wifi, there wasn't last night, but there is this morning. She said it was a quiet room; it isn't, unless I shut the window (good thing there's a fan). She said the bathroom was private; it isn't, I share with the lady who lives here, who came into my room last night when I wasn't here. And woke me up this morning when she unlocked the door for some unknown reason. (She doesn't speak English either)
Quite a change from this: my beautiful room in the BnB in Castagnetto. Which included the beautiful breakfast and daily maid service. 
I can see just from this room that these folks have had some hard times, some might say Soviet times. This room is perfectly functional. It has all the basics. Everything I need...and not one thing more. They even took the sheet and pillow off the other bed after I picked which one I wanted to sleep on.
While we were negotiating, she said it was in a good location, not a lot of stairs, near the church. This is true...
This is my view...captivating, enchanting, the whole of the city walks right under my window. Ok, can I just say, the sound of tourists on a bender in a city made of rocks just reverberates into any open window. And, bars and clubs serving up loud music and cold beers stay open late here! So, it was not my most restful night of sleep last night. I finally gave up this morning and shut the window when the church bells just went nuts around 7.
Last night, after a dinner of "tuna pâté", mussels and fries, and wine, I went to a concert given by a nationally famous pianist, Andrea Padova. It was given in a place called "Rector's Palace". This building is a stone facade, of course, built around an open courtyard. The steps, floors, wall, even the bannister holders are all stone. I sat up in the loggia, on the wide stone benches between the columns. It was magical watching and hearing such beautiful music waft up from the grand piano below. When Dubrovnik was its own republic (middle ages -1880), this was the place where the mayor of the city, called the "rector" lived. It was open to the public who came in and washed their clothes in the fountain in the courtyard and sat and gossiped. (Picture of a picture)
This city was built on cash coming in from trade in salt, and other staples. It rivaled Venice, and if it hadn't all been burned down in 1660's, it would look very much like Venice does today. There's still a busy harbor, but today it's mostly trading in cruise ship parking and tourists going from the mainland to one island or another. There's a LOT of tourists here. I can see why. It's a charming, car free city of white stone streets and buildings. The locals all speak English very well and they charm you as you spend kuna after kuna. 5 kuna = $1, so something that's 100 kuna = $20. Easy math yet it sounds expensive when they tell you the price (and it is expensive- no eastern block pricing here).
I got a bit choked up last night as I was walking down here with the girl who sold me this room. She said this lady I'm renting from is her grandmother (I don't think she is). Anyway, I told her that I'm here because I remember my grandmother, Nana, telling me about this city and several others when she took a trip to Yugoslavia in the mid 70's. In fact, her stories about this place were the whole impetus for writing the grant in the first place. I have always known that this region is someplace I've wanted to explore. It's in my blood, this place. People know how to pronounce my name here. The couple of words I learned from a phrase book don't feel uncomfortable when I say them. It feels comfortable.
Being here is literally a dream come true for me. I'm going to go out and explore a bit more. So far, I like what I see.
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