Dubrovnik

Im doing by best to keep dry here in Dubrovnik. A beautiful Southern Croatian town on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Its the first time Ive ever seen the Mediterranean and its as impressive as they say. The mild weather all year has me ducking from falling oranges and lemons, dodging thicket after thicket of blooming rosemary smelling of pine resin and crowned by a halo of purple flowers. Palms, salty sea breezes, the sound of waves gently lapping the rocky coast...and sideways rain strong enough to rip the pants right off ya! Its does put a cool mood on the place to see locals about their daily business with black umbrellas as they walk the ivory white streets of the old town. Aside from that the foul weather has me wishing I could come back in the fall when ther weather is perfect and rent a boat for a little sail around the harbor. Right now, as always, there are few places lonlelier than a beach town in winter. Things are closed down and there isnt much activity in the streets. Ive definitly missed the party in this town and instead Ive been keeping busy reading about this impossily complicated political history and going to the movies at night. Im really looking forward to working on a farm or two in Italia..theres only so many museums and ruins a guy can see before the need to do something productive becomes all pervasive. Dubrovnik is kind weird too in that the old town which is the beautiful touristy area and the downtown where the people who live here do their business are seperated by a looooong walk or a bus ride. So goods and services in the tourist areas are the only accesable ones and theyre pretty expensive compared to the rest of the area. A paperback book cost 24 dollars US, a bowl of pasta with some mussels was 20 dollars. The fact that youre gonna pay for your time here is pretty noticeable and unplesently so.

I am in fantastic shape though. This town is comprised of thousands of steps that lead from the old town to the hills over looking the sea where I am staying. To go anywhere on foot mean a thousand steps and youre in a sweat every time you get back to the house. Did i mention there were a lot of steps here? Im off to Italy today by way of a town called Split in Croatia. With any luck Ill be learning Italian by Thursday.

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