Dubrovnik, Croatia

The posts are not coming, I know. We don't have our own machine, and internet access is expensive and not so convenient here, so we've been foregoing it so far.

A quick update, though.

We're in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and we've been here since Monday. It's an amazingly beautiful city, situated on the coast of the Adriatic, a rocky coastline studded with small wooded islands.

We're spending most of our time exploring the Old City, a gorgeous network of stone buildings and alleyways surrounded by a high wall and filled with restaurants, cafes, shops, and homes. It's crazy that this is a functional living city, with no car traffic and all lanes connected by narrow stairs (always stairs!) and alleys.

The city is on a steep hillside, and our apartment is high on the hill, looking out over the sea and the old city, a gorgeous view that requires the ascending or descending of hundreds (or thousands!) of stairs to get to and from the old city. It's a beautiful walk but none too easy.

We've been eating tons of seafood, the specialties being grilled squid, mussels in wine and garlic sauce, and seafood risotto, including a famous black risotto flavored and colored with squid ink. The mixed seafood risotto is Cathy's favorite, filled with prawns and mussels and clams and squid and a lovely mild spice. Really nice. Grilled squid wins for me so far--though if truth be told, my true favorite is the meat-heavy Bosnian food we've found in an out of the way Bosnian restaurant called Taj Mahal, of all things. Great ethnic food with easily the best bread in the city. (More truth: The bread here sucks. It's dry and boring and pretty bad. The French conquered this place at one point, but apparently didn't teach them baking skills. Weird.)

We're having a wonderful time, and can't believe we've only been gone a week. Time has slowed down, surely the sign of a successful vacation.

Amsterdam!

Sitting in Gerry and Christina's apartment, looking out over the canal below, marveling at the fact that suddenly here we are. I love this city more than I can explain. So nice to be back.

They had a wonderful breakfast spread out for us when we arrived. Then we napped. Then we went out for Ethiopian food. Then we slept, and onward to Croatia.

A good start to the trip.