I headed back into Croatia on Wednesday morning, leaving Mostar behind for the sunny Dalmatian town of Dubrovnik. Once again, the bus ride there offered some simply stunning views of the coastline - the Dalmatian coast is exremely dramatic (unlike me!) and is dotted with hundreds of islands out to sea. There are no hostles in Dubrovnik, and so as in Mostar your only option is to find some private accommodation - not difficult in one sense seen as hordes of old ladies come rushing to every arrival shouting "Sobe, room, zimmer, chambre" at you, before you have even picked up your bag! Quite unsure what to expect, I was haggling with this woman who started out at 200KN, but I soon got here down to 140KN. In the midst of the mayhem though, I spotted a fellow backpacker (Joe, a yank) going through the same rigmorol and so just went up and asked him what his plans were. In the end we clubbed together to increase our bargaining power and got a double room for 100KN each - not bad negotiating I thought! Then her hubby came and picked us up, and we discovered that despite assurances he was fluent in English, he was in fact only fluent in German - we started wondering what else she had lied about! Trying desperately to remember some German from GCSE, I pretty much failed miserably to make any kind of small talk. As it happened, nothing else was untoward and we had a nice liitle room with a balcony with a cool view of the harbour. By the time all this had been sorted it was getting late in the day, but we strolled into the Old Town for a gander, and it really is quite something. The spectacular city walls enclosing the city and the cobble stone paths really are enchanting, particularly after sunset. Well, that is until one of the dozens of pigoens crap on you whilst you are casually having a beer! On Thursday I left Joe in the apartment and headed into the Old Town to wander through the narrow streets, stopping to pop into churches and take pics of the monuments. Then it was time for the highlight of the day - doing the more than 2km walk on the city walls. The views over both the city and out to sea were great, and the temperature must have been pushing 40C, and so after a good two hours having some sweaty fun, it was time to chill out in the sun with the locals and take a much needed dip in the cool Adriatic Sea. Back at our residence, there was a comical moment when after having a nice cold shower, I realised to my horror that I had forgotten to take my towel with me!! The sun must have really got to me! With no other option, I had to scamper accross the hallway naked, hoping the woman didn't peek her head out of the kitchen, grabbed my towel and jump back in the shower room! What a muppet. For the evening, Joe and I had decided to have a few beers in town, but only after eating in the worst excuse for a restaurant ever en route. The obligitory Irish bar didn't let us down for some good craic, before we bar hopped a little along the main street, enjoying the "sights", until Joe bailed and left me to go and hunt out some action alone. Unfortunately not much was happening by this time and so I tried to jump on a bus home, but in my drunken struper, and too busy concentrating on not spilling my ice cream, only got on the wrong bloody one!!! Only realising this when the final stop was a posh 5 star hotel and nobody else was left on, I had to swallow my pride and get back on the same bus back to where I started! By this time it was late, I was tired and drunk, and now also slightly annoyed with myself, and in tryng to put on a sprightly walk home, nearly broke my friggin toe walking into the uneven stone pavement. Multiple expletives later, and with a nice bloody big toe, I finally crashed in my bed to bring to a close my time in Dubrovnik - a really cool place that I definately want to come back to again, hopefully on one of the posh cruiseships once I have made my millions!!! Jonny