The time has come for us to pack up and move on. We settled in so nicely to Dubrovnik that it is hard to leave! This magical city has been such a perfect first stop for us that neither Clint nor I brought up our next destination all week. We extended our stay for a couple of nights the night before our reservation was up because we hadn't put any thought into our next plan. It felt so good to be plan-free and just be.
Before departing Seattle, the only thing we had booked was one 7-night reservation, for we didn't know if we would have to quarantine for zero, seven or fourteen days, depending on our COVID test results. We also didn't know if we'd be met with welcome while traveling during Corona.
Turns out, we feel quite welcome, and I feel like we are in a little, safe bubble where Corona is non-existent. Of course, we know that isn't true and we are still taking precautions (I wish I would have brought more of the little hand sanitizer spritzer I love instead of that icky gel)! You can walk around the streets safely at night, people aren't pestering you to buy stuff knowing that you are a tourist, there are no crowds and did I mention is it gorgeous everywhere you look!??! You can tell Croatians take a lot of pride in their city by the lack of trash/graffiti and their property's upkeep, making it a little slice of heaven along the Adriatic Sea.
On our final night, we succumbed to the touristy pirate ship's call that had blasted orchestral music for the whole bay to hear every night at 6 pm sharp since we have been here. At first, we laughed at how cheesy the tour sounded, but secretly I know we all wanted to do it. We enjoyed the pristine and precise replica of a 16th-century ship with the sunset view of the castle, champagne, juice and the fully-costumed and narrated merry crew. We capped the night off with playing basketball one more time in the castle, said good-bye to our Airbnb host, Ivan, (Austin's new basketball buddy) at his burger joint, and had one last gelato within the castle walls.
Off to the island of Korcula we go... after we squeeze all of our belongings back into our small packs. How did it all fit in there before?!?
