Dubrovnik

We set off early to meet up with our coach tour for the day that would take us to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia fronting the Adriatic Sea. It has recently gained much notoriety due to it being used for filming of many scenes in "Game of Thrones' including "Kings Landing".

The small bus was full with other tourists of various nationalities. Getting to Dubrovnik takes 4 hours and requires passing through Bosnia Herzegovina each way. Passports are inspected at both border crossings. Our tour guide Igor explained that the highway between Split and Dubrovnik was one of the most expensive roads to be built in Europe. Consisting of mostly bridges and tunnels, it passes through a very mountainous region referred to as the Dinaric Alps. The mountains are quite nude with low bushes and visible outcrops of limestone. Enroute we passed Croatia's tallest mountain Mt Dinara which is 1831 m high.

We arrived in Dubrovnik just after 12 noon. The down town area is extremely crowded with tourists, many of whom arrive via the massive cruise ships which are moored nearby in the harbor.

Dubrovnik is known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. Its well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and Gothic Rector’s Palace, now a history museum. Paved with limestone, the pedestrianized Stradun (or Placa) is lined with shops and restaurants.

After a short tour of the city by the guide we set off on our own to explore this amazing city. First though we had some lunch at a Sushi Resturant that also served the locally grown oysters. From there we found our way to the city walls with 2 rather contancorous children in tow. It was very hot so it was understandable that the 2 youngest in our group were a bit put out by the 1.9 km walk around the top of the fortified stone walls that surround the old town. The views afforded however are spectacular. It was worth the tension.

After that we found our way back to the meeting point to catch the bus at 4.15 pm. On the way we had ice cream.

We arrived back in Split at 8 pm. After getting cleaned up we headed out at 9.30 pm in search of some food. Every Resturant was packed. Perhaps not surprising given the fact it was Friday night. We decided to get take away fish and chips instead. That was a good move. We headed back to our comfortable and very cool apartment to eat that before a well deserved rest. Another long day with a longer day ahead.Read more