Dubrovnik

Beneath the frowning limestone mass of Mount Sergio, the brilliant white marble of the city’s walls contrast remarkably against the sapphire blue waters of the Adriatic Sea. The walled city is made entirely of marble and is a breath taking visual and architectural sight. I liken it, architecturally, to a version of Venice without the canals. The streets are narrow and the houses very tall to ward off the heat of the sun. The strong Venetian, Gothic and Renaissance influence is evident on every building.

Croatia has a population of 4.5 million with 200,000 living in Dubrovnik. The Slavic name Dubrovnik means “well wooded” referring to the bountiful hardwood forests that provided the timbers for most ships of the time. A story typical of many coastal towns is that Dubrovnik came about as refugees and survivors of the pillaging Roman Empire fled to a small rocky offshore island where they could defend themselves better. Yes, Dubrovnik was an island. As time passed, several centuries, and the mainland Slavic people calmed down a bit it was agreed to build a Stradone (meeting place) from the island to the shore, which was obviously not very far away. This happened in the 12^th century. The marble battlements were extended to include the new neighbours and Dubrovnik was now a mainland thriving port city, not just a small rocky island.

The population is split between living inside the walled section and a growing number spreading along the coast outside the walls. The main attraction of Dubrovnik is inside the walls.

The ship was portside here so every coach in town was waiting, all three of them. There are also only a few taxis so they were charging ridiculous prices to get to town. We decided to wait for a local bus on the street and after a long hot queue we got onto the bus to be told that they did not accept Euro’s. This caught out everyone on the ship as the currency exchanger is in the city and you can’t get to the city without local currency etc, etc, etc. Dubrovnik uses the Croatian Kuna.

A short, but expensive, taxi ride (he took our 10 Euros happily) to the city had us at the walls of the old city. A sad part of this day was that we noticed five cruise ships in the port as we drove in. This meant thousands of tourists in this small port and it was hard to move about. After a meaningful attempt at seeing all the attractions such at the Franciscan Monastery, the Maritime Museum and the Rectors Palace we jumped a ferry to nearby Lokrum Island for a dip in that sapphire blue water.

After a relaxing afternoon away from the now seven cruise ships we ferried back to the Port for lunch at one of the best eating places so far on this world cruise, Restaurant Dubravka. We tried the obligatory local draught beer coupled delicately with swordfish capaccio, Salata ad hobotnice and Pivo toceno. It worked for me!