Many memorable things happen in hotels regardless of their ambiance. The previous essay talked about 3 top tier hotels where Ruth and I had unique stays. The 3 hotels below are not of that quality, but they created indelible memories because of what happened in each one. All three are in exotic, foreign locations.
The Berkeley Hotel is in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Utica Andrije Hebranga. It has such a traditional English name because of its history. Like most hotels, it was closed during early COVID but has reopened. Its rooms are ultra-modern, at least the ones we saw. This hotel is up a long Utica in a residential setting and is trying to get a reputation as a spa destination. The Berkeley is run by the Vicelic family. These Croatians moved to Australia and put down roots in Sydney where they co-operated a restaurant called Berkeley. After 25 years they returned to Dubrovnik and opened their own hotel with that very western name. The Berkeley is a comfortable place to stay.
On our first trip to Tasmania, Ruth & I stayed around its capital Hobart at the Lenna. This hotel has been around for a long time and is very traditional. It’s not a luxurious accommodation but a good one and well located. The Lenna of Hobart is near the very popular Salamanca Market. This 300 stall local attraction of note is only fully opened on Saturdays beginning at 8:30 am. Ruth loved it. One day we left Hobart and journeyed to the Port Arthur historic site. This took most of a day and was totally worthwhile. It gave us a chance to leave the city and experience the way to a very isolated, impossible to escape from penal colony with a long and notorious history. Port Arthur became one of the first world sites of mass murder.
We saw all we wanted of Hobart with one day left in Tasmania so we did something out of character. Our room was huge and comfortable, so we decided to hang out in it all day in our pajamas and listen to the ABC. The Australian Broadcasting Company is similar to the BBC and NPR. The day turned out fun, and we have done this since in other locations. We had our fill of platipuses, wombats, Tasmanian Devils, and Thylacines by that lazy Sunday. The Thylacine is also called a marsupial wolf or Tasmanian Tiger. Thought to be extinct since 1936 when the last of it species died, Thylacines have been the subject of some recent claims of sightings. Very interesting!
The Isla Gran Malvina, a hotel in Ushuaia, Argentina, was not the best hotel we ever stayed in and far from the best in town, but it was a good location in an exciting destination. Some of its rooms had Beagle Channel views, but ours did not. It was good enough to return to after we took a side trip to Punta Arenas, Chile. The weather was surprisingly cold for the beginning of a South American summer not all that far from Antarctica. I recall eating home-grown strawberries while buying a small artificial Christmas tree that we still have. As we shopped it began to snow.
Hank
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