Dubrovnik

When you think Jacques Cartier first landed in Montreal in 1535, three to four hundred years after a lot of the amazing structures we saw over the last few days were built, you realize just how young Canada really is.

Today found us landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia at 7:00 AM, another new country for me and Brenda, and, to be honest, not one that was on my bucket list. But the more we researched it, the more interesting it became.

If China has The Great Wall, Dubrovnik has The Pretty Good Wall. The old city is surrounded by a two kilometer long stone wall that was built between the 12th and 18th centuries, and stands as high as 25 meters tall. Dubrovnik is very hilly, and by the time you walk around the wall, you've negotiated 1080 stairs.

We read that access to the wall opens at 8:00, and one should get there early to beat the crowds as sometimes there are so many tourists doing the circuit, it looks like a two kilometer long conga line. We arrived at the entrance to the wall at exactly 8:00 only to learn the gates open at 9:00. So we spent an hour just wandering through the narrow streets and wide plazas of this medieval city. It truly is astounding that so many enormous and beautiful buildings were erected centuries before Canada was even a twinkle in Jacques Cartier's eye.

Aside from the wall, Dubrovnik's other claims to fame are that Game Of Thrones and some Star Wars films were shot here. Now I feel like I need to watch GOT.

But back to the wall. It took me and Brenda a little over an hour to circumvent the wall, mostly because the views from there are breathtaking, and we were constantly stopping to take photos. It's going to be hard to pare down my photos to the 20 maximum that this platform allows.

We had to be back on board the Lirica at 12:30, so there was no time to explore the downtown area or the beautiful beaches that are around the city.

If we're ever in the neighborhood again, we'd definitely like to spend a little more time exploring this part of Europe.Read more