Sugar Sugar

Greetings from Dubrovnik, Croatia!

We’ve been in Croatia now for about a week, and it’s really been great. Our first stop, if you recall, was Opatija, on the “Croatian Riviera,” home of the rental apartment with the magnificent view. Then we spent a few days in Zadar, where I re-lived my youth by both diving into water, and getting minor injuries.

Now we’re further south in Dubrovnik, which is a beautiful city that lies directly on the Adriatic. The “old town” is intimate and scenic, with narrow cobbled streets made of time-worn marble, Baroque architecture, and sweeping views of the Adriatic.

We also went to the beach here, with clean, blue waters, plenty of sun, and an “aquapark” that we goofed around on for about a half-hour, until our bodies could take no more. No injuries this time, except for some bruised egos.

But we’ve also spent some time acting not as tourists, but as locals. Our apartment is a bit north of the city center, and we’ve spent a few nights just hanging out, cooking meals, or grabbing a beer at the waterfront place across the street (which is also where Amy gets her morning jolt of coffee).

Another part of living like a local is trying the local fare. Everywhere we go, we’ll try the local beer, and Croatia is no exception. It’s been pretty good.

And everywhere we’ve gone we’ve seen these billboards:

It’s “Cockta,” and it’s the local soft-drink that seems like their version of Coca Cola. It’s also the sole sponsor of local reruns of “According to Jim,” a show which we sadly sat through four episodes (non-sequentially) because there was nothing else on TV in English, and I wasn’t going to watch Croatian folk music again. And, well, heck – if it’s a “local legend,” I was gonna give it a try.

So I bought some, and I did. And then I gave Amy a taste:

Cockta is horrible. It’s like sour Dr. Pepper with herbs and bitters. It should be called “Fa-Cockta.” Am I right, my Yiddish-speaking friends??

And here’s another thing: On three separate occasions, we got ice cream. Having just come from Italy, we were looking forward to a cold, delicious treat, and we figured with the world’s best gelato just to the north, the ice cream’s got to be pretty good here, too, right?

WRONG. It’s NOT good. It tastes completely artificial. I got “banana split” flavor one time – big mistake. And today I got strawberry and banana. The strawberry tasted like a weak Starburst candy. And the banana tasted like some bad banana flavored gum or something. I know I shouldn’t have tried the fruit flavors again. But wait – two out of three times, Amy threw hers out, and she got chocolate!

And, yes, we did try three different places, but we figured ONE of them had to be good. And it’s been HOT here, man! We needed to cool off. But nope – every one has been a letdown. To quote Amy:

“They’re so many Italian tourists, you would think they’d raise a stink and get this sorted out.”

Sadly, the stink is coming from the banana split.