It's a bit like Groundhog Day here in sunn filled and sparkling Dubrovnik. Being Mother's Day we treated ourselves with a bit of a lie in, getting up to date with emails before thinking about preparing for the day and breakfasting. A big thank you to JJ for a cuppa delivered to me befor I got up (no tea making facilities in the room - she is a magician!). There are noticeably less people in the hotel today and no pushing and shoving at breakfast - but the warmer weather meant that most fellow guests were sitting on the terrace enjoying the sunshine. Nice.

We then headed back to the Old Town to pick up some Dubrovnik mementos, and enjoyed taking things at a dawdle pace, looking at art / jewellery shops and stopping a few times for refreshments at restaurants with a view of the water and the international crowds (including, we have noticed, lots of pommies soaking up the sunshine). I was very restrained in anticipation of my upcoming driving experience and limited my intake to coffees, though a refreshing ale or two would have gone down well. I must comment that the availability of Wifi here is pretty much standard, with all waiting staff vey happy to provide the password and assist with connection when there was an issue.

Taking it easy around the Old town was a chance to wander up and down the many, many side 'streets' (mostly alleys see some pics that try to capture this), look into shops, sample Croatian tastes at the market stalls and buy a few bits and pieces.

But all good things come to an end and after many 'isn't it beautiful', 'look at this' and 'aren't we lucky' moments, we headed back to the hotel to pick up the paperwork (which I had forgotten), for the car and found our way to our car pickup spot (another hotel between ours and the Old Town).

However, and I mention this with reluctance and recognising the potential damage to my pride and reputation for good planning (along with an attempt to reassign blame to Croatian Airlines for stuffing our our original plans and that arriving into Dubrovnik was delayed by a day), but we were supposed to have picked up the car yesterday (b*****). Today being Sunday complicated things which I won't go into here (and I have some minor rage about being told that our car was given to someone else!!!!!), but by getting a taxi to the airport we were able to pick up our Astra Opel (henceforth Alison) equipped with the trusty GPS 'Gertie' Garman.

Having organised insurance to cover everything, cross-border fees (we are going to Mostar in Bosnia tomorrow), the deposit and GPS hire, we attempted to head off with me grappling with gear stick on the right (the poor driver's door took a hiding from continual gropes I must say) and with me focusing on keeping JJ close to the kerb. However, we only got 400 m down the road before attempts to turn on Gertie were futile, so we chucked a u-turn and went back to base. Fortunately the charming young Avant car hire fellow got Gertie charged and we headed off to explore the nearby area.

Although ... people walking our way along the road and cars coming the other way seemed unaware of how dangerous it was to be out this arvo with my driving, but we still we managed a quick drive around a nearby seaside / resort town and then back to Dubrovnik. Even though we had neglected to take our hotel's address with us, we did manage to discover and delight in parts of Dubrovnik hitherto undiscovered, including newer parts and bays full of very impressive boats and some very well-to-do areas with nice hotels and homes. Then quick thinking on JJ's part had us zooming down familiar streets (thanks to many bus rides) and into the hotel's car park.

Then it was beer o'clock and a cheer for surviving a first right hand drive (in a manual car - and I gave thanks for the past few weeks of time on my new motorbike, giving me practice using all 4 limbs and counting gears / listening to revs - driving Alison I definitely had no time to glance at the gearstick).

We finished the day off by enjoying the good food and wine in one of the restaurants align the road mentioned last night.. A short walk (with the inevitable ice cream) to the hotel with yet another delightful Croatian behind us, looking very much forward to tomorrow's drive to Split via Mostar (a place of significant inspiration).

But more on that tomorrow.

Good night and here's hoping it was a happy Mother's Day for all. xx