"Dubrovnik in the Autumn" a Dubrovnik Travel Page by LiliCanada

My mom and I stayed with Ivo and Maloika a couple who run a pansion in Dubrovnik. Their 4 story house is occupied by two of Ivo's brothers, Ivo's son and another floor for Ivo's daughter and her husband and their child.

We were immersed in Croatian culture in Ivo's house, as no one could speak English. Ivo's daughter, Sanja, was the only one who could speak English and she was away in Zagreb. We learned how to say Dobro Jutro for good morning and Dobro Vecer for good night and Hvala for thank you and we used a lot of sign language. They were an absolutely fantastic couple who showed us such hospitality. One night Ivo cooked us a supper of many types of fish (one we didn't like, but we ate it and tried not to pull faces). We laughed a lot at our attempts to speak one another's languages and Ivo kept calling up his brothers from the downstair floors of his house to drink wine with us. It is amazing how people with whom I could converse so sparsely will forever be in my heart, they were so animated and kind.

Mom and I of course went to the Old City, "Grad" where we walked on marble streets and were enclosed by the tall city walls and past all the many stores and churches, as well as restaurants. We walked on the city walls and loved the ocean. We went to St. Basil's church, the cathedral and the magnificent St. Ignatius of Loyola church, where a Croatian choir sang so beautifully, I literally was teary -eyed. We don't sing like that in North America. Absolutely amazing, soulful singing.

We sat in a favorite outdoor cafe and drank the AWESOME Croatian coffee (too bad the cups are so small) and drank their equally good beer. And basically people-watched and listened to the clock tower, lazzzzeeeee, until we felt like walking more. I'm a sometimes smoker and I bought a pack of RonHill cigarettes. Home grown, Croatian tobacco is verrrrreee gooooood! I brought a pack home to share with some of my smoker-friends to let them have a taste.

We walked to a neighbourhood in Dubrovnik, called Lapad where there is a shopping mall and we were wowed by Lapad's beautiful park. Dubrovnik is on the west coast of Croatia and is a mediterranean climate, so you will see lots of vegetation like palm trees. The climate in October was warm, the sun lavished it's love on us and I came home with a tan! No wind.

Everyone drives little cars and the streets are very narrow. Ivo lived up on the hill and it was hilarious how he drove like a maniac up the switchbacks. It was like a ride at the fair! We noticed a lot of dogs off leash but this is entirely normal in Dubrovnik and none of them were bothersome, they just trotted along like they had as much right to be there as anyone. I'm a huge dog lover but even I didn't approach these ones because I got the sense this is not what people do there.

More young people could speak a little English, so they could help us with any directions or tips on good restaurants.

We didn't hit the beach because it was October, and there was enough to do in the 5 days we were there.

One of my favorite memories was to sit at the cafe and people-watch. As with many European cities, the people speak in an animated fashion, hands waving. When I snapped this shot, I was lucky to get a hand-waver! In Canada we are so terribly conservative, it's almost a bad thing to have an opinion. I was very happy to be around these people.

My mother and I took a ferry to the island of Lokrum and it was a pleasant walk through the botanical gardens. We saw amazing plants.