Dubrovnik

We went to Dubrovnik. It seems all roads lead to Dubrovnik around here so the weather was kind and we made it to the furthest south point on our trip. There is a large marina nearby where once again Peter showed his superior boating skills by backing into a tight space impeccably. This marina is the most expensive we’ve been to – about $120Aust. per night. But it has all the bells and whistles you could imagine. Swept up showers and loos, a mini supermarket, swimming pool and even a masseur!

Moving around in confined spaces on the yacht has not been easy on my back so I took advantage of the masseur and it’s worked really well. And I'm not the only one – there is enough work to keep a masseuse busy full time. Can’t say I, or any of us, are leaping around fearlessly like some of the young experienced yachties we see but plenty good enough.

So on Saturday morning Bob, Ann and I caught the bus from the marina into the old part of Dubrovnik. The old medieval city is only a small part of the city now but it’s certainly the place to be. The bus was very crowded by the time we got there with Bob and I sharing a 1 ½ person seat which was tight!

We were not the only people in Dubrovnik that day. First you need to count the more than 10.000 people who came on the 7 cruise ships for the day. Then the boaties like us, bus tours and casual tourists. I think we all arrived at the old drawbridge entrance together around 10am! It was a somewhat confronting experience especially after the solitude we have been used to on the boat. We queued to get a ticket to walk around the old wall and set off. Although it was crowded in parts many people did not do the whole circumference and the crowds got less. 

It is a beautiful place and it was not too hard to go into the back streets and get away from the main crowd who seemed to centre on the main street. We found a lovely place to have pizza for lunch and spent the afternoon wandering around tiny lanes, up and down and across - just gorgeous. There is a real sense of style and friendliness amongst the locals. They do not seem to have any expectations that we will try and speak their language a little, as there is at times in France. We have perfected Hvala for thank you but that's it.

There is so much cultural history here and it has rivaled Venice for superiority over the ages. It’s set on a rocky islet which provided a great place for a fortress.

It has passed from Greeks to Romans, Austria and even Venice and many other countries over the ages. There was a disastrous fire in 1667 which destroyed many of the Gothic and Renaissance foundations. It was rebuilt in Baroque style.

There was another earthquake in the 1970s but most devastatingly it was bombed in the 1991 Yugoslav war. It is still being repaired from that but at least it was classified by UNESCO then on it’s world heritage list. I notice on line there are often less cruise ships during the week - don't know if this is always but a good hint might be to visit midweek in future.

I found it interesting that it is still a living breathing town with many inhabitants going about there usual work and some keeping lovely gardens. I think Saturday must be wash day! I like the underwear one best! Bob took most of these photos – thank you.

As usual it was not hard to get away from the hordes of tourists and most were gone – back to their cruise boats etc by 4pm. Peter joined us and we had dinner outside the wall but in view of the town in a delightful reataurant by the sea that he knew. How lucky are we.