Župa dubrovačka

So as we’ve arrived in good time, and found a parking spot, we get straight on with a walk into the old city. Our first error is taking the pushchair not realising how many hundreds or steps and cobbled streets there will be in an ‘old city’ (!!!). Second error is not bringing the rain cover for said pushchair, as the heavens open.

It really is an amazing place, teaming with history, as we walk through the old streets, now filled with cafes, gelaterias, the odd Irish pub and fancy shops. We get some great views on day one, but decide to head on to find a place to stay. We see a sign for the ‘best view of the town’ so decide it would be a good idea to carry the pushchair up another hundred or so steps, to find what is definitely not the best view in town (error 3).

It is only on return to our motorhome that our fourth and final error is revealed. Thinking we’ve bagged a bargain 10euro parking space, we find those couple of hours have just cost us 38euro, about 2 nights accommodation in other words! Obviously following some choice words from Nic, some begging from me to the parking man, we pay and get on our way.

Luckily we find a lovely campsite, set just on the hillside south of Dubrovnik with a lovely walk down to a beach, and a little boat that takes you straight to the city walls and back throughout the day.

We jump on the boat the following day, which in itself is excitement enough for the children (and luckily, as they don’t find the amazing buildings steeped with history quite as enthralling), and we pass by war torn resorts, before entering Dubrovnik with a great panoramic view.

At this point, if either of us had ever watched Game or Thrones, we’d be writing about all the sets and locations that we saw, but as we’ve never seen an episode, we can just say that it is very beautiful, the views are amazing from all around the city walls, and with the backpack this time, we enjoy Dubrovnik in glorious sunshine (with only a few threats of rain!). We definitely see the Kings Landing, and must look the age of GOT fans as get asked where a few other locations are, but cannot help.

We do stop and wait in the centre for slightly too long as a large group of school children gather and are arranged, for what we thought might be a concert or at least a little sing-song, we understand they are here to celebrate 600 years of Orlando, but after much faffing and gearing up by who we thought was the choir master, they all just disperse and we are left wondering why we stood there so long.

We also get some stunning views down into the city walls from above as we climb a little further, and Amelia finds a wall she can use as a slide (and put holes in her best trousers!).

We head back to site on the boat, find some orange and lime trees to collect some fruit from and on our final night in Croatia experience the gustiest and noisiest night in the van yet with wind and rain lashing down until the early hours.

As it is now our final day, we had hoped to do three island tour on a bigger boat, but the weather didn’t look great for being on an island or a boat, so the friendly campsite owner recommended a lovely restaurant down the coast where they cook food under ashes so we head out for our last Croatian meal, and we’re not disappointed. The little place in the middle of nowhere has surprisingly more English customers than anywhere else we’d been, and as well as amazing food, a whole lot of meat and a delish chocolate soufflé, we are also treated to a car show as 50 Tesla’s arrive for lunch as part of their organised Tesla tour. They do however block the motorhome into the car park, so we kill time with a little walk while we wait for them to finish lunch and let us out! We had to wait about an hour and a half, which was fine as we were not in a massive hurry for the ferry. But Nic did not want to get stuck behind all 50 of them and as we usually had some sort of tail back (as a lot of Moho’s do) he decides he wants a “Tesla Tail”. We get out pretty much in the middle of the pack, much to Nic’s delight and the Tesla’s horror! They have plenty of horse power to overtake, but some pretty bad driving from some of them it must be said!

We head back to the ferry, grab a takeaway pizza and board for our overnight sailing to Bari, Italy. Amelia made a little nest in her bed with her soft toys and helped Coen make his too, and was extremely excited to sleep in a cabin. The sailing, luckily, was smooth and the only disturbance was when Coen fell out of bed in the middle of the night with a big bangs and a yell!! Nic barely stirs, I jump out of my top bunk and try to find a screaming child in total pitch blackness like some kind of crystal maze challenge.

So now, viva Italia....Read more