Two-fer

This post will incorporate two days, as our internet in Dubrovnik was dodgy and we had trouble connecting.

Anyway, on Friday morning we (Kelly and Judy) had decided that we were going to try and enjoy our time in Dubrovnik instead of wallowing, so we got ready and headed to the old city.  Already it was packed with tourists and tour groups.  We saw a few sea-kayakers at the entrance and agreed how cool an experience it would be.

We slowly walked down the main Stradun and looked for a place to eat breakfast that would also have free wi-fi so that we could at least check our emails and take care of some business.  We found a cafe that was on a pretty corner and set up shop.  As we ate our granola and drank our coffee and orange juice, Judy cemented her plans to drive back to Mostar that evening with our driver Ermin, rented a room with Suzana for the night and checked which bus headed to Sarajevo, while Kelly cancelled her sailing trip.  We then got a text from Ivo saying that we needed to contact Dr. Dizdar in Sarajevo right away.  We had bought burner phones so that we could call each other people while in the country, but our minutes were running out.  Judy went back to our cottage to get some numbers and came back, only to find our phones were out of minutes.  By this time it was past noon and we needed to get ahold of the doctor before he went home, so we started to panic.  Judy decided to check her email one last time before we left the cafe, only to find an email from Ron that said, "leaving Sarajevo on the 715am bus.  See you soon."

Well shit.

We then cancelled our ride with Ermin and stay with Suzana, both of whom were completely understanding of the whole situation.  Now that we had the whole day again, we decided to explore the city.

One could get lost in the city - narrow lane ways criss cross and intersect, some leading up, some down, some to the outside of the wall.  We found one that lead to the marine, so we got an ice cream and watched the boats.

The Adriatic Sea is a beautiful blue-green, just like what you see in professional photos.  We sat and watched some divers who were sunning themselves on the rocks and read about how the recent war affected Dubrovnik (last war thing, I promise).  The war in the 90s was the first time that Dubrovnik's walls needed to be used defensively.  Bosnians took the upper hill to try and capture the historically significant town, which would have hit Croatians where it hurt, but the Croats were determined not to let the city fall.  Even young Croats slung their old hunting rifles on their backs and headed up the hill  in the middle of the night to do their part.  Dubrovnik sustained some damage, but was not nearly as destroyed as Mostar and Sarajevo were, as well as some of the towns in north-central Croatia.

From there we found a pretty staircase, so we decided to climb it.

At the top was a beautiful old Jesuit church, so we went inside, where a wedding was taking place.

We quietly took a few photos and headed back on our way, along a narrow path and up some more stairs, until we found a little door that led out.  Turns out, it leads to a bar Buza, that clings to the outside of the wall and faces the sea.  Although precarious and drinks a little expensive (it's apparently where Bill Gates goes to have a brewski when he's in town), we decided it would make a fun, unique experience.

We had some drinks and chatted with a delightful young British couple.  After a bit of chatting our drinks were finished and the couple had to head to their Game of Thrones tour, so we climbed back up the precarious stairs and were on our way.

We explored a few more alleyways and thought of Holly as we could hear a tenor saxophone player practicing their scales and long tones.

We caught an early dinner and left the old town, with the strains of a Croatian folk duo singing some Dylan (Don't Think Twice, It's Alright) and headed back to our cottage, where Ivo greeted us and asked if we had any news.  We told him that Ron would be arriving on the bus tomorrow, and he said, "ok, good.  I will drive you to the bus depot to pick him up."  We put our jammies on and crashed on the couch, watching a few episodes of Modern Family (in English with Croatian sub-titles) before hitting the hay.

The next day we took our time in the morning, excited for Ron to arrive, but still a little leery as we weren't 100% sure that he got out of the hospital and onto the bus with no problem.  Right next to our cottage was a grocery store, so we bought some provisions for the day, and things Ron may have missed while in the hospital.  The weather had turned from downpour to biblical flood, so we decided to stay in our cozy cottage until it was time to pick up Ron.  We watched the most boring, drawn out Gary Cooper western movie, and by the time that snooze-fest ended, Ivo came by to take Judy to the bus depot.

Fast forward a few hours, and in walks Judy and Ron - arm in a cast from hand to mid-bicep and looking like he hadn't slept in days.  His doctor sent him home with a fistful of medication and chocolate covered cherries (??).  He showed us copies of his x-rays, which included a rod and 12 screws to hold everything together.  The hospital itself was pretty bare-boned: no mechanical beds, no TVs.  One of the other patient's friends was leaning out the window smoking and feeding birds.  Most meals consisted of some sort of grain in some sort of broth (Ron jokes move over South Beach and Atkins, the real way to lose weight is the Sarajevo Hospital Diet).  He also says that he had gotten his fellow patient's friend to email us to say how things were going - we never received them.

After a shower and shave, Ron was craving some spaghetti, so we took him to the old town for real food and a nice walk around.  Ron is fine on his feet and mobility is not an issue, so we took the bus into town and found a restaurant that serves pasta.  After a bowl of spaghetti and stein full of beer, Ron was starting to feel better.  The icing on the cake was an ice cream cone, then a cab ride home where we all turned in for the night, relieved that we were finally all back together after that trying week.