HighlightsCruise Day 9-Dubrovnik, Croatia

I experimented with my first paid excursion: Dalmatian Coast Wine & Food Tasting (and buying, please note, it’s all about buying). It included speed strolling through the walled city of Ston. The highlight of the tour was eating fresh oysters and steamed mussels on a boat (no Tabasco). It’s considered _gauche_ in the country to even ask about sauces for eating oysters. The real name of the country is Republika Hrvatska, but it lacks enough vowels to make it pronounceable, so someone stuck them with Croatia. It might have been a condition for joining the EU in 2013. I attended the traditional Dalmatian song, dance, and lijerica music show in the Viking Mars. It was like opera without the expensive costumes. I couldn’t understand anything, but the music and singing were nice.

Notable Items

Tip of the day: One of the tour vendors claimed that extra virgin olive oil is the same as non-extra. It’s marketing to justify a higher price. This isn’t quite so. The real issue is that some oil sold as “extra virgin” doesn’t meet the standard (adulteration/fraud problem).

The name of the village we visited on the excursion, Ston, had nothing to do with the stone wall protecting the city. The name is derived from the Latin word for still waters of a former swampy area. They probably have a different word for still waters in an existing swampy area.

According to the guide, the Ston wall and other defense in depth ideas on the side of the hill were intended to impress potential invaders, Hey, these guys mean business so we won’t attack. It was just as likely the reaction was, If these guys spent all their time and money building that thing, there won’t be anything valuable to pillage.

The return to the cruise ship pier was a case study in lobbying for government regulation. Some retail group had the bright idea to locate a shopping area in a large garage. Yup, that’s just where I would put it. Cruisers weren’t flocking to the shopping opportunity (go figure). Now there is a Port Authority regulation that _all_ buses must stop in the shopping area. The guide on the bus told us, No one has to get off the bus, but the driver has to open the doors and make it look like you had the opportunity to deboard. According to the guide, there were cameras for checking door operation. Imagine the pension benefits of the surveillance camera monitor!

I could have gone to the old city of Dubrovnik after returning to the ship, but that could have complicated the folk music show and the Surf and Turf that followed. I have a life rule never to complicate Surf and Turf. Ever.