From Hvar with Love

Well, sorely disappointed in the lack of actual Dalmatians on the Dalmatian Coast. Seriously, seven days in and not a one; not even 101. Closest we've got to a Dalmatian? Visor for sale in Hvar:

Hvar is a beautiful port town aimed at the luxury-seeking vacationer. It's a town with a great history, being that almost every major empire of the ancient world established, trampled, reinvigorated and/or plundered the town and the island over the last three millenium.

Bob and I on the Spanjola Fortress ramparts overlooking Hvar

You name it, they were here: Greeks, Romans. Slavs, Venetians, and for military history buffs, the Ottoman Turks came through on in 1571 on there way to the Battle of Lepanto whereupon they pillaged the town and razed it to the ground. (On a side note, October 7, 1571, the date of the Battle of Lepanto, was the same date in 2001 when U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Coincidence? I think not ...)

Later the French came through, and finally the Austrians. It was quite the destination for all the warring clans of Europe.

There are more than 200 shipwrecks from the Roman period throughout the waters surrounding Croatia, many near Hvar and the museum in the Spanjola Fortress contains amphorae retrieved from some of the wrecks. What's interesting is that archaeologists confimed these containers carries olive oil and dried fish from Roman-ruled Spain. Quite a distance to travel by boat back in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries.

Spanish amphorae

The center of Hvar is St. Stephen's Square and the Cathedral of St. Stephen, built at the height of the Renaissance. But the true center of town, and it's where the port begins, is the Arsenal:

During the 17th and 18th centuries, galleons were brought ashore, there masts removed and work completed within this wonderful building's walls.

Inside the Arsenal in Hvar

The Arsenal is now a giant theater, but what makes it cool is that in 1612, the governor of the town built on the second floor of the building a theater for both the aristocracy and the working class to attend theater together. Now the whole space has been renovated. The night we were there, a children's theater piece had been performed.

Spit-roasted lamb in Hvar. More on that later ...

OK, we had read about this one restraurant in Hvar, Zlatna školjka (the Golden Shell), and we wanted to go. Chef Ivan Buzolić is Croatia's only big international culinary judge and runs this small restaurant - 24 seats if the weather is good, 18 if it starts to rain, which it did the night we dined - located in the heart of Hvar's tourist-restaurant alleys above St. Stephen's Square.

Our waiter, Anton, or "Fluffy," as he admitted he was called in high school - "I was fat," he said - recommended the local Plavac red wine. It was dry, cherries, some tar, light tannin.

We started off with a wonderful potato salad, the mayonnaise was made with olive oil, a cherry fruit syrup vinegar, truffle oil and garnished with shaved white truffles. Rich, savory, we needed more bread to sop up the wonderful tart mayonnaise. Things only got better.

Bob ordered the mussels and I, the lobster soup. Anton told us that the basis of most of the sauces and soups was a pesto of garlic, onions and parsley in olive oil. The mussels came in a white wine broth with pieces of fried polenta at the bottom of the bowl.

The lobster soup had the look of a creamy chowder, but once you broke the surface with your spoon, it fragmented, like a miso soup, with chunks of lobster, polenta and baby shrimp dancing in the clear broth. In both liquors the garlic was strong, but sweet, with the freshness of the parsley really standing out, especially in the soup.

Bob ordered the grilled shrimp, which came served on a bed of par-boiled zucchini in a lemon olive oil, a side of mayonnaise and a warm mixed potato and zucchini salad.

I ordered up the chef's take on the local seafood stew, the Gregada. This had poached branzino, rolled around kale and sun-dried tomatoes, shrimp, limpets, clams, mussels and a certain shellfish which can't be named due to legal issues.

It was a beautiful. The seafood was so fresh that the briny taste of the shellfish softend the garlic and onions. The branzino was cooked perfectly, with the sweetness of the tomatoes complimenting the light bitterness of the kale.

Overall, this meal was totally worth the wait. We loved Hvar. I actually spent one whole afternoon at the hotel, lounging on the private pier, drinking German sparkling wine and swimming in the Adriatic. Bob believes I will figure this whole vacation thing out someday.

Next stop? Split and then onto Lake Country ...

From Korćula and Hvar

We've moved from one island in the Adriatic to another, taking the car ferry from Korćula (KOR-chu-la) to Hvar.

Somewhere between Korćula and Hvar ...

Korćula is beautiful, but small. I went for a jog Thursday morning, down the hill from our hotel, the Marko Polo, to the Old Town and back. It was so small, I lapped the old walled city twice before heading back up the hill, probably a little less than a two-mile run.

The layout of the city magical, though: The alleys on the west, straight, to carry the cooling breezes across the town during summer; slanted on the east, to block the cold winds which come with winter.

Looking east ...

Still, watching the sun rise on the sea was beautiful. It's hard to describe how clear and blue the Adriatic is; it's the deepest blue at times, but when you look into it, even down from a pier, into waters 15- to 20-feet deep, it's so clean and crisp you can see schools of small fish darting back and forth between the rocks and over the sand.

We rented a car for the trip from Dubrovnik to Istria. It's kind of funny; we're rocking the roads of Croatia in a Skoda family sedan:

Hvar is an ancient seaport, cast aside like so many others in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas during the 1800s when steam-powered vessels usurped the sailing ships. It's had many names, with Hvar being a mispronunciation by the Slavs which invaded what was then the Greek island of Pharos in the 7th Century.

Hvar seen from Spanjola Fortress

The three-hour ferry trip was wonderful, with para-sailors and windsurfers criss-crossing the wake of the ferry boat as we left Korćula.

The ferry arrives at Korćula

Leaving Korćula

The car ferry, which only leaves once twice a week from Korćula, actually takes you to the port of Stari Grad, on the north side of Hvar island. Then you drive for 20 minutes or so to Hvar proper. We got in to town around 4:30 p.m. and checked into our hotel, the Podstine, which is Croatian for "Under the Wall," by which they mean, under the 80-plus-foot cliff face:

We were in the building on the other side of the road. The hotel's layout being that the reception and lobby are on the 3rd floor, and our room was on the 1st floor, descending down the cliff face. Yes, the room was the size of a large, Park Avenue walk-in closet, and once again the shower was Hobbit-sized. (On a side note, Bob had no trouble with the size of the facilities.)

The view from the lobby

The city was founded by the Greeks in the 4th Century, B.C., but the fortress which looms high above the town was built upon the ruins of a 7th Century A.D. Roman fort. It's called the Spanjola Fortress due to its 16th Century design, built under Venetian rule, based on Spanish architecture.

View from the Fortress

Following the collapes of the shipping trade in the 19th Century, Hvar's governors smartly positioned the island as a vacation and spa destination, a tradition which continues today.

Bob and I were exhausted from the day's travel, and we wanted to eat at the Golden Shell, one of Croatia's best restaurants, but with only 24 seats in the place, it was booked solid our first night. The waiter, Anton, however, recommended we go to Konoba Menego, a small restaurant at the far edges of the touristy restaurants, up the hill from the town square.

What a find: Basically a "mom 'n' pop"-style place serving traditional food, we enjoyed an amazing meal of gnocchi and shrimp in a light cream sauce, a seafood salad and the special of the night, baked veal wrapped around vegetables in a caper and olive oil reduction served with a barley and vegetable salad. The gnocchi were tricolor, made with potato, potato and spinach and potato and beets.

What stood out above all else was the white wine, which Bob ordered. Full-bodied, like Chardonnay, but even and crisp, with citrus, apple and buttery notes. Bob was mad for it, and I kept stealing sips. (I had the red, made from the local Plavac grape, which was nice, but nothing outstanding.)

But when we asked for a bottle, our waiter told us it was the house wine, from the owners own vineyard and not for sale. It's not uncommon, he told us. Even the olive oil was from the owner's olive groves.

You don't get much fresher than that.

Crossing the Pelješac Peninsula

Left Dubrovnik this morning at 10 a.m. and headed northwest across the Pelješac Peninsula towards Orebić and the ferry to Korćula.

 Bob, master of all he surveys ...

Pelješac (pronounced Pell-yuh-shotz) is wine-country and as you travel across the main highway, the D414, you wind your way from the shore into the foothills and back along the water, never far from a vineyard or a wine store. The peninsula is only about 40 miles in length and some of Croatia's finest wines are made here.

The climate is Mediterranean, and we have been blessed with mostly clear, blue skies with light clouds resting on the peaks of the granite mountain tops.  The temperature was in the low-80s with a wonderful breeze.

The view from Mali Ston's harbor

The peninsula is the home to the Dingać (ding-gatch) and Postup wine regions and to the Plavic Mali, or “little blue grape,” indigenous to the area. It’s also where giant salt flats have been cultivated for centuries and where the region’s amazing oysters, scallops and white scallops are cultivated.

We stopped in the tiny village of Mali Ston, more or less the beginning of the peninsula, and had lunch at the wonderful restaurant, Kapetanova Kuca.

Oysters from the local waters

Mussel soup, rich and savory and filled with mussels

Mixed seafood: Giant prawns, mussels, clams

 and white mussels with polenta and tagliatelle

Following lunch, we drove to Orebić, stopping at a roadside wine store high above the town for a couple of glasses of wine. Bob has the white, the Pošin, and I had two glasses of the Dingać; one from the side of the peninsula facing the bay, the other, facing the Adriatic.

Both were robust, dark, tannin with cherry flavors, but the Dingać from the seaside-facing region was bolder, deeper, with a very dry finish, very similar to a big Zin. The bayside-facing Dingać was lighter and fruitier, almost Beaujolais-like.

Maybe there’s something to this whole “terroir” thing …

Anyway, all three wines were great despite the fact we tasted them at a wine store called “Wine Shop” which had a giant wine bottle next to it:

Many Croatian wines are world class, but due to the relatively small number of vineyards and low production - some vineyards are barely a couple of hundred acres - there is barely enough product for the domestic market. Still, a great reason to visit the country, I say ...

The peninsula from the ferry

So we hopped on the ferry in Orebić and arrived on Korćula Island by 4 p.m. We're staying just outside of the Old Town. Like Dubrovnik, Korćula is a walled city right on the water. It's not as old a Dubrovnik, dating from the 10th Century, and certainly not as impressive. But it has an almost rustic charm, with its weathered limestone buildings and marble paved roads. You can easily walk the old city in 30-minutes, and take in all the sights.

Despite many recommendations, we ended up eating at a very non-traditional, contemporary restaurant in the Lesic Dimitri Hotel, overlooking the bay. We started the meal with a glass each of the Misal Prestige, an Istrian sparkling wine made with Istrian Malvasia and Chardonnay grapes. A dry, yet surprisingly rich yellow sparkling wine.

Bob had the vegetable soup, a broth thickened with mashed vegetables and small croutons; I had an order of  paški sir or "cheese from Pag Island." It's an amazing cheese and I'm going to cheat and make you go here to read about it.

However, the main event for the evening was the cuttlefish, cooked in its own ink and served with whipped potato, cream, Parmesan cheese and truffle oil, topped with a white truffle garnish. The call it "Night & Day."

It is the house specialty, and it was wonderful. Even eating it was fun, breaking through the creamed potatoes and stirring in the pitch, oily black ink. The squid was tender and very tasty. Score.

I had the lamb kabobs and Bob had a wonderfully grilled veal steak  chop. The side dish was very interesting and tasty, too: Potatoes boiled in fish stock. Not at all fishy, but luxurious, with a slight briny taste. We finished with off with another nice Dingać.

On a strange aside, the background music for the evening veered between 60s soul, "lite" jazz, some of what we thought was Croatian pop, and in one of the stranger musical moments, the theme of "Sanford & Son." Ah, American pop culture. Your reach has no end. Enjoy!

In Dubrovnik

We're staying in a one-bedroom apartment within the walled Old Town of Dubrovnik. It's hard to believe that a little more than 20 years ago the city was under siege by Serbian forces. But upon reading the city's history, it's as if Dubrovnik has been invaded at least once a century since it was founded sometime in the 7th Century.

The Stradun, looking east to Luza Square and the Bell Tower

The limestone streets appear wet due to the limestone paving stones which have been polished over the centuries by foot traffic. It's a fantastic place, with breathtaking views from the city walls in almost every direction.

Lokrum Island seen from the City Wall.

The view of the Adriatic from the City Wall

We stopped for lunch today at Lucin Kantun (Lucy's Corner), a wonderful hole-in-the-wall where we had a wonderful assortment of tapas-like dishes - roasted squid stuffed with smoked ham and cheese, white fish ceviche, pickles, pickled red peppers, rice and shrimp and salmon carpaccio with cucumber and caviar. Wonderful, light lunch, criminally inexpensive.

The Works 

The Main Event

The squid and the rice and shrimp were wonderful. The squid was so tender, you could cut through it with your fork, yet it could be described as "al dente," and the filling was savory, yet not salty. The rice was like an Arboria, risotto rice, perfectly cooked and the shrimp were tender and flavorful. Score.

We wanted to see the Old Synagogue, on Ulica Zudioska or Jewish Street. Despite the directness of the naming, Dubrovnik prides itself in that it welcomed the Jews forced out of Spain in 1492. The docent said it was the second oldest synagogue in Eastern Europe, having been built in 1542, but our guidebooks couldn't verify the date.

Surreptitious photo of the Old Synagogue's Hekhal

It's in a walk-up stone building, with a museum on the second floor, the synagogue itself on the third. The museum rooms are small, with the beautiful Torahs on display, and codes of conduct written centuries ago in both Hebrew and Italian. Sadly, during World War II almost all the Jewish population were detained and deported to camps. Orders prohibiting congregation and yellow arm band, written in Croatian are on display. It was beautiful, yet sad. I had to take a picture.

We hiked around the wall of the Old Town for most of the afternoon, than took we took the cable car up to the Homeland War Museum (1991 to 1995), located in the Napoleonic Imperial Fort atop Mount Srđ high above Dubrovnik.

The museum's focus is in the Siege of Dubrovnik, which began in October, 1991 and lasted until June/July of 1992. While it can be agreed that Slobodan "Slobo" Milošević, the war criminal and overall douche-bag, was a Serbian nationalist megalomaniac with an extermination agenda against non-Christians and non-Serbs, it must also be understood that Croatia forced Serbs from their homes during the war, too. The Soviet Empire was able to bottle up centuries of animus, but in the end, old hatreds got the upper hand. Most of the video of the siege comes from the BBC News and home video made by locals on the ground. Riveting stuff. The shelling by land, see and air of Dubrovnik, by Serb forces is especially appalling and difficult to watch.

Still, it's hard to believe there was a war here at all in recent memory. I guess after hundreds of years of empires rising and falling, a resilience sets in.

Bohemian Like You

The problem with a three-day sojourn in a city like Prague is you're forced to do all the tourist things. But  in this case, it seems like the locals prefer to do the tourist things, too: Drinking and eating massive amounts of pork-based products.

Prague: What's not to love?

Dancing House

Despite the hour-long delay at JFK, we arrived on time in Prague on Friday morning. Fall has arrived and the air was cool and crisp and it was overcast on and off most of the weekend.

We had planned to spend all four nights at the Hotel Savic, a former monastery converted into a smart boutique hotel around the corner from the Old Town Square in central Prague. But plumbing issues had put two rooms out of commission so they put us up for the first night at the Retezova Residence apartment across the street. We were concerned it would be a dive, but it was a beautiful building and we had a two-bedroom apartment with vaulted ceilings, two bathrooms, a drawing room and a really nice full-size kitchen. (Though the shower in Bob's bathroom could safely be described as Hobbit-sized.)

We were a little out of it Friday but managed to make our way up the block to Švejk Restaurant, a local chain which serves up traditional Czech fare in a beer-hall type environment. Pilsner Urquell is served in small glasses or large glass mugs, along with red, white and sparkling wines; pretzels and roasted and salted almonds and peanuts are on every table.

Bob and I both had a grilled pork sausage and then split the "First Lieutenant Lucas Platter" - ham, bacon, smoked pork neck and sausage served with mixed pickles, rye bread, mustard and horseradish:

The Lieutenant's Favorite

Fortified with a protein-packed lunch, we forced marched ourselves to see Frank Gehry's Dancing House. It's beautiful from the distance, but like his work on MIT's Ray and Maria Stata Center, it just doesn't hold up under close inspection: The glass facade on the "Ginger" side of the structure is elegant, but the "Fred" side, with its angular window outcrops, just looks rusted and frayed.

Still, Prague is an amazing city, with architectural styles ranging from little Romanesque, circular brick churches to the massive Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral located within Prague Castle, the seat of Czech government. The castle itself a collection of structures dating back to the medieval times to the early 20th Century. Neo-classical, neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau buildings abound ...

St. Vitus Cathedral

Neo-Classical or Neo-Renaissance? Still, great ab work ...

Astronomical Clock

We took a nap on Friday afternoon, and headed out to dinner around 8 p.m. The concierge recommended a place around the corner called U Modré Kachnicky II. Though we were in the heart of the tourist area, not far from the Old Town Square, "At the Blue Duckling II" was a wonderful experience.

Ground floor dining room. Great pianist.

According to one of the waiters, the restaurant's founder, an architect, first opened the space as a Glatt Kosher restaurant more than 20 years ago. The ground floor was where they served milk-based dishes, with the second floor offering beef and other meats. However, it was too expensive to run that kind of split-level/split menu so the proprietor switched to authentic, home-style Czech cuisine. Good call.

Reviews describe it as "rustic" and "quirky", which is true enough, but I must say, the bar on the second floor was a stunning piece of carpentry.

Now THAT'S a bar.

We started off with Kir Royale each and then I switched to a Harmony Cabernet Moravia for the remainder of the meal. Mmmm, dark berries, nice mouth feel (tannin not too crazy) with a light peppery finish.

Bob ordered the duck and I ordered the 14-course "all you can eat" meal where you get a taste of, well, almost every traditional Czech meat and poultry dish there is - stewed boar, roast duck, grilled steak, Viennese goulash. Yeah, it was a food frenzy:

Filet mignon, vegetable cream sauce and dumpling (note extra cutlery).

Cocktails were off the menu this trip due to a crisis of national proportions. In the last week, more than 30 people were hospitalized and another 20 died in the Czech Republic in a rash of methyl-alcohol-related poisonings. Bootleg liquor has been blamed and the Czech government has banned the sale of any products with 20% alcohol or higher until further notice.

Now, this might seem a bit draconian, but here in Prague the open container laws are pretty much lax to non-existent. On Friday night, as Bob and I walked around the Old Town Square we were surprised to see people of all ages wandering around sharing bottles of beer and wine. Some bars have created "prohibition" menus; cocktails made from cordials and other low-alcohol aperitifs, but the country is graced with spectacular beers and wines, so people are making do.

It rained early, before dawn on Saturday, but temperatures rose to the high-60s by noon and it was sunny with a nice breeze. Bob and I walked over to the Old Town Square to see and hear the Astronomical Clock chime. We took the elevator up to the top of the tower to view the city. It's a spectacular view of an almost fairy tale place. Plus, the elevator itself is quite impressive:

I walked down to get in a little exercise. Following the chiming of the bells at 11 a.m., we decided to walk across the Charles Bridge, over the Vltava River to Prague Castle. It's a hike, but well worth the experience. Roughly 1,100 years of history in one place.

Bob and King Charles

A view from the Bridge

One of the Titans at the Gates of Prague Castle

Breakfast that morning at the Hotel Savic had been great, so we didn't feel hungry for most of the day, which was surprising given the amount of walking we did. Note: Wear sensible, supportive walking shoes. Cobblestones look great and shiny and quaint, but are deadly on the ankles and the lower back. However, when we did get back to the hotel, it was time for dinner and I knew where I wanted to go next.

Čestr is a modern steak house located across from the National Museum. It's a world-class steak house, its specialty being a Czech breed of cattle. The service was impeccable, with a large selection of Bohemian and Moravian wines and, of course, beer, on offer. It's very much a "beautiful people" hang out with thirty- and forty-something Czechs armed with iPhones and  Blackberries making up most of the clientele on the night we dined.

It's what's for dinner ...

I had the three-course meal; Bob opted for a beef broth soup with a lightly poached egg floating in it and the filet mignon with creamed potatoes. I started with a raw steak "sashimi" served in a soy and mirin sauce, followed by beef neck slow-stewed in paprika with sour cream. It came with a side of potato and onion dumplings. We had, according to the sommelier, a late harvest 2011 Ota Sevcik Frankovka. (No, I have no idea where it's from, outside that it's a Moravian red grape, the Lemberger. Dry, again a dark cherry/dark berries flavor, and I swear, I never thought I would ever write this, a woody finish.)

Ghoulash, by any other name ...

Put a cork in it.

I had the skirt steak. It was a beautiful cut, cooked barely medium rare; tender, savory, and served with lightly steamed spinach.

We finished the meal with two nice desserts; Bob has the bluberry pie and I had the dark beer ice cream, made on-site.

The food should have been the highlight of the meal, but actually it took a backseat to the handsome couple sitting across from us who spent most of the evening making out like they were prepping for a porno.

In their late-40s, the couple would not have been out of place in one of those Cialis or Viagra commmercials you see during the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley. In between what could only be described as strenuous bouts of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, they would take turns feeding each other, then laugh and fondle and grope before once again colliding into lip-lock. Our waiter, a slightly-built Czech in his mid-20s had no time for this, routinely interrupting them to ask about the meal, the wine, if they wanted coffee and desserts.

By the time desset arrived, Cougar Town and Silverado had garnered the attention of all the wait staff, kitchen and surrounding tables.

Not since Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom had anyone witnessed such a mating ritual.

So close, you could touch them. No, really ...

"How was your dinner," our waiter asked.

"Great," Bob replied, "almost as good as the floorshow."

On Sunday, we hit Wenceslas Square. While it's full of history, it's also full of tacky tourist shops and brand name storefronts aimed at the kids. It's a lot closer to Fisherman's Wharf and Times Square, though the street vendor with their regimented wooden stalls have a rustic charm.

Prague, like the rest of the modern world, is pretty much touched by all things American - Hooters, KFC, McDonalds and Burger King - but when it comes to "fast food", you can't beat Prague Ham, large, sweet boiled hams roasted over open wood fires.

World's finest Street Meat

They cut off a slab, weigh it and serve it up with a couple of slices of rye bread, saurkraut and potato salad (most of the vendors had potato salad with large chunks of ham in it). At $5 to $8 (without potato salad/with), it's a deal.

If there's one thing the Czechs do incredibly well, that's the meat of the swine: Marbled smoked pork neck, succulant hams, savory, spicy sausages and bacon that's both salty and sweet, yet not a cardiologists nightmare like the stuff we get back in the U.S.

After wandering throughout central Prague for several hours Sunday night, and reading numerous guidebooks and walking from restaurant to restaurant, we returned to the scene of the crime on Friday, U Modré Kachnicky II.

Why? Because despite the fact that every second restaurant in the city offered "Authentic Czech Cuisine," too many also offered "International" or French or Italian food. It's like one of those diners in Manhattan, where the menus have everything from steak to lasagna to roasts to "huevos rancheros," somehow we don't think it's going to be great.

The Blue Duckling had atmosphere, it also had a fantastic menu which celebrated Czech cuisine that was also seasonal. Bob and I split two appetizers that night: Veal pâté with fresh cranberry sauce and fallow deer, cooked rare and sliced thin and served with a beautiful, fresh raspberry sauce. Bob and the veal stew with slow-cooked root vegetables and I had the roast half-duck, served with potato and garlic pancakes and Brussell sprouts served in a bacon and cream sauce. Stunning.

Now we're off to Croatia. But if you've read this far, some musical entertainment: