Crazy about Croatia — Dubrovnik Postcard #1

For the final European stint of this travel adventure, Bob and I purchased 2 “free” (actually $55 each since free seems to be impossible anymore) tickets from Chicago to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  All we had to do was fly American Airlines (AA) from Chicago to Charlotte, NC, then Charlotte to Madrid, Spain, and then Iberia (AA partner) into Dubrovnik.  All of our flights were on time and problem free.  However, we left Charlotte at 4:40 pm, much earlier than our usual flight departure times for Europe.  We weren’t tired getting on, we ate early, there were a lot of lights on all night/day during the flight, and the flight attendants went through the aisle during “sleep time” to offer orange juice or coffee?!  It was the first cross-Atlantic flight that neither of us managed to sleep at all.  After a 3+ hour layover (and an unusually long, convoluted bus ride to our plane, we boarded the Iberia flight from Madrid to Dubrovnik where the only food and drink offered was for sale.  No free water or anything else offered.  We don’t plan to eat on flights anymore but were surprised about no free water or soft drinks or anything.  It was a 3 hour flight.  But, the price was right, as we kept reminding ourselves, and we got to our desired destination intact.  The beauty of Dubrovnik, and the friendliness of our accommodation host, kept our spirits up until we could get some sleep.

 After the scenic bus ride to the main bus station, we walked about 30 minutes around the port into a residential neighborhood to get to our room in a family residence.  The home is certified as a public accommodation.  Our hostess was very friendly and gave us some juice and cookies upon arrival which we really needed at that point.  She also gave us a map and explained some local areas of interest and different buses to catch, if we wanted.  Her English was limited, but much better than our Croation (though she appreciated our attempts with please and thank you), but we managed to get the gist of what each other was saying.

After getting settled in our room, we walked to one of the many beaches that surround the peninsular coast of Dubrovnik.  We picked the Copcabana Beach as we liked the name, it wasn’t too far from where we were staying , and it faced the waters where many of the ships came and went.  It was a lovely little beach area with a sense of fun.