Tasty European tidbits--5 countries in 13 days: If it's Sunday....we must be in Dubrovnik--Part 1

We woke up to what I thought would be warm temps as we pulled into port. A quick peek at the tv showed a comfortable 78 degrees, and I dressed accordingly.

I caught a glance through the curtains of pale blue skies on my way to an early breakfast at Michael's Club. We were looking forward to the only organized ship's tour that we had booked for the entire cruise. It appealed to my sense of adventure.....a full day bus trip to a few small towns to sample food and wine of the region. Once again being oblivious to my surroundings, I neglected to get the full picture of the weather looming on the horizon. I was actually quite proud of myself for having the forethought to check the temps listed on the ship's weather logistics page. In an effort to further confirm my choice of adequately warm, comfortable clothing for the day, I stepped out onto the deck and quickly realized, another layer would be necessary. Quick trip back the cabin to grab a light jacket and we were on our way. During the short time from when we checked in with our tour group in the theater on the 6th deck, until we walked down to exit through the gangway on deck 3, the skies had opened up and a sea of running water and buckets of rain greeted us outside the ship. Good news we had brought three umbrellas and several rain ponchos with us on the cruise....bad news--they were all in our cabin :(. Unfortunately, I had never seen the quickly approaching ominous black clouds off in the distance....talk about being unprepared....we had no choice but to make a mad dash for the bus that was parked a short distance away from the ship. It appeared from the sopping bodies of all our fellow bus mates, we were not the only ones who had incorrectly gauged the weather that morning. Not a big deal, we were safely aboard the bus and on our way to enjoy a nice tour of a few small towns just outside of Dubrovnik. We all knew that eating and drinking are not usually affected by the weather and today would be no different.

With very little time left to grab a quick bite to eat, one of our extremely helpful servers in Michael's Club offered to get me my usual morning yogurt smoothie in a to-go cup...have breakfast, will travel!

Our first stop of the day would be at a private family-owned olive tree farm up in the hills. When the bus finally came to a stop, the rain seemed to be coming down even harder...another mad dash, and we were inside the small stone building that housed not only the 250 year old olive oil press, but also the small horse who would be instrumental in the making of the incredible tasting oil. The gracious host, Marko, greeted all his soaking wet guests with a smile and a warm place to sit. Unfortunately, the electricity in the small old building, would not be cooperating for the duration of the short olive oil making demonstration. A few candles were lit around the room, and shortly thereafter, we were witnessing the ancient process of grinding and pressing olives into incredible tasting olive oil. Interestingly enough, my camera was able to capture the slow, time consuming procedure...even without the benefit of artificial light.