Debating whether or not to go took us probably longer than the actual trip itself. No, not really: it’s one long road trip for five people in a tiny Hyundai Bayon. In that vehicle, in order for the whole cupé to be of a bearable temperature when its +35 outside, the driver has to get some frostbite, it’s inevitable. But I digress. Road trip to Dubrovnik! From Kolan it’s 4 and a half hour drive one way, two hours on a paid freeway and the rest on local one lane road. Freeway driving is very standard. Okay road, many Germans who think they’re on an autobahn. Very standard service stations at convenient distances. Chargers for electric cars are present but nobody is using them. It’s not clear what wattage they are, look big enough to be 40Kwt. Local roads, well, there are two types of drivers here: those who want to drive 100, regardless current speed limit and those who want to drive 20 under the current speed limit. The former will tailgate you literally 2m behind and overtake wherever, like, wherever. Blind corners, town streets, signs, anything goes. Not as blazingly reckless as what they do in Russia, but quite aggressive, still. The latter would sometimes give up and let all 50 cars behind them pass, but not often.
Once we’re off the quick road, it feels like, ah, okay, we’re nearly there. But then there’s another one and a half hours of beautiful landscapes and hot tarmac.
Either The Old Town in Dubrovnik is less crowded by the places to eat and other tourist attractions, or it is just more difficult to crowd than Split. It is big and supremely magical. Maybe it’s been thoroughly restored and maintained through time, or maybe it’s the quality of the bright yellow limestone and marble it is made of, but it looks almost new. At least, lacking some medieval quality that most of these historic centers have. Much more Kings’s Landing in its glorious glamor than some several centuries old almost-ruin.
People are, of course, everywhere, being serviced, fed and entertained for their money literally on every corner and many places in between. But it’s definitely bearable and pleasant, even in highest of high season.
It’s curious how literally a step aside takes one out of the stream of tourists and back to where more or less normal daily life tries to carry on, also inside the old town center. I can barely imagine living inside this film set. Amazing.
The trip back is uneventful, but a plate of fried eel in Teta Olga next to the main road is worth mentioning.
The eels are tiny, the mosquitoes are vicious in this place. The gang is more or less asleep through the entire ride back to Kolan.
