Dubrovnik & Cavtat

Today we ventured into Dubrovnik old town and what a fabulous experience.  It is easy to understand why Lord Byron called it “the jewel of the Adriatic”, George Bernard Shaw described it as “paradise on earth” and that it is also a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The first thing we did was Walk the Walls, it takes about 2 hours and the best way to view Dubrovnik and take your photos.  I have taken so many today it is hard to choose which ones to put on this blog!  It was extremely hot and sunny again today so after we walked the walls we took a rest at one of the cafes around the harbour and enjoyed a coffee whilst watching the frenzy of tourists deciding which way to turn next.

Tony was not up for too much roaming around so I went off on my own for an hour whilst he listened to LBC in the shade!  There is so much to see and I just wandered and ventured around the back streets finding wonderful churches, hundreds of restaurants set up in the narrow streets, shops, a market and just more photo opportunities. As a tourist, it is easy to forget that Dubrovnik is not only for the tourists but is a residential town but you are soon reminded of this as you look up and see the washing hanging out to dry!

I met Tony back at the harbour and we ate mussels for lunch and drank some beer and wine and enjoyed watching the comings and goings and hustle and bustle of the tourists arriving by boat from the cruise ships that had moored out at sea.

The ice-cream here is just lovely, today I tried a Jaffa orange flavour and it tasted exactly as I would expect it to, like a Jaffa cake, YUM!

Dubrovnik from the Walls

Dubrovnik from the Walls

Tony in the tower

Onofrio Fountain

Resident of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik Street

Inside the Chuch of St Ignatius

Dubrovnik from the Walls

Street Lamp

Us!

After lunch we took a boat ride to the lovely town of Cavtat (thanks Viv & John for suggesting we do that).  The boat ride took about 45 minutes and on the boat was a couple from Ireland who got on the boat expecting it to stop at the town where they were staying. However, that didn’t happen, so they had to stay on and spend an hour at Cavtat before getting back on the same boat again which did drop them off at their town on the way back to Dubrovnik.  They almost got off the boat at the wrong town on the way back!  Cavtat was a great relief from the manic and overcrowded Dubrovnik and looks a great place to stay and then get the boat to visit Dubrovnik.

We had a last meander around Dubrovnik just as it was getting dark and also visited the War Photo Limited, a photographic gallery depicting images from the Balkan war in the 1990’s. Very emotive and compelling.

Tony is feeling a little worse for wear today, he has had to use public transport, wander through a very busy town and put his hand in his wallet at every corner. I think there is still one moth in his wallet though as he didn’t want to eat out tonight, so had to cook the dinner and wash up, whilst I wrote this blog.

We have driven 1,692 miles to arrive at Dubrovnik, our further point south on this fabulous journey. Tomorrow we will start the drive back and are going to stop at one of the beaches along the road and have our last swim in the lovely Adriatic sea, before heading further north to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park.