Holy shit, Croatia is beautiful.

I was smitten as soon as we arrived in port. This wasn’t a big ol’ industrial shipping port where we’d often berthed at our previous locations. Our ship nudged up against a modest-sized and modern-looking dock right next to some gorgeous mountains with a modern-looking bridge stretching off to another part of the country. The sun beamed into our cabin, people milled about below, and we were excited about our excursions!

That’s right, today was a day of multiple things, starting with wine.

We disembarked and got onto a coach that whisked us away to the Croatian countryside. We were headed for the Konavle Valley – wine country – for three tastings in the glorious sun.

After about an hour on the road, we pulled over, disembarked, and were led to a small road train to ferry us between our tastings. It was fun to ride in the open air and experience the beautiful Croatian countryside so closely.

Our first stop was a beautiful little vineyard guarded by a sleepy Alsatian that we really wanted to pet but didn’t dare wake. Our wonderful host welcomed us for the first stop – our constant guide was a friendly local translator – where we ate freshly baked bread with homemade olive oil and drank some delicious wines. Apparently, you can trace certain grapes from the Napa valley back to vineyards in Croatia, proving, as the host cheekily muttered to our translator, that all the best things really do come from Europe. The translator thought it was very funny, as did I, but not many of my fellow American travelers did.

He was right though.

We also tried some candied orange peel – a sweet treat in the region – and liquer wine – there’d be many more before the day was out.
Everything was delicious and made with such love and attention.

Our next stop was a selection of other candied snacks – nuts in addition to orange peel – and other liquer wines. I’m not overly fond of sweet wines, so I was pleased that they were served in such small shot glasses. This stop wasn’t a sit-down affair, as we marched into the forest to see some ancient milling houses that used the water from the river to grind up grain, and to process fibers.

Our next stop took us to another charming little vineyard and farm, where we were plied with more wine and snacks. The people we chatted with on the excursion were nice, the weather was glorious, and we were drinking wine. The day couldn’t be much better.

Our last stop was the most food-heavy. We were served a ‘Croatian plowman’s lunch’ – food that farm workers would typically eat during the harvest. We had plates of tomato & cucumber to go with pork and onion with delicious pieces of bread and hard-boiled eggs.

Our road train took us back to our coach – it had been following us at a distance – and we discovered there would be one final stop. We were delivered to another delightful villa fronting another stunning farm and vineyard. We learned a little about the family that ran the place and then had the opportunity to taste and buy different liquer wines and preserves. After that, it was an hour or so back to the boat, where we took a brief nap before the evening’s activities began.

We got off one boat to get on another. About half a mile down the pier stood a little wooden pirate galleon – a replica of one that would have sailed in the area hundreds of years ago. They took us to the old town of Dubrovnik, where we ate delicious pasta in a beautiful town square full of fluffy stray cats.

Later on we discovered a group of them chilling out of arm’s reach behind a locked gate in front of the church.

With the food eaten, the magnet purchased, and the cats un-petted, we hurried back to the galleon and were delivered to the Constellation after a bracing night cruise back along the Croatian coast.

Once back on board, we went to the Celebrity Theatre to watch the cast’s special end-of-cruise, adults-only, all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza.
To me, it was the realization of the pent-up sexual energy that comes from a cast of hot young people being cooped up below decks on a cruise ship for months at a time, but either way, it was very well put together and very entertaining!