A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dubrovnik is considered one of the best preserved medieval walled cities in the world. We arrived here late in the evening from Athens on a flight that is not listed on any web site we could find. Until our Turkish travel agent uncovered it for us, we were destined for a 20 hour ferry ride via Bari Italy. Sometimes experience does pay off! The main pedestrian avenue that runs through the centre of town is paved with smooth, polished stone. When the street lights first come on in the evening, the reflected light makes it appear as if the stones have just been coated in clear, wet nail polish. Little alleyways dart off from this main road in both directions, creating a maze between the old, red tiled roofs that Dubrovnik is so well known for. Our cozy little apartment lies under one of these roofs. The building next to ours was destroyed during the Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s. We've visited many fortified towns this year, but this is the first one that was shelled and besieged for nine months during our living memory. The scars of that conflict, physical and emotional, are not yet faded.
The stone alleyways are full of little shops catering to the hordes of tourists that visit here every day. Nine out of every ten people walking around are licking ice cream cones. Apparently they're the best in the world. Everyone needs a claim to fame I suppose. Like most things in shop windows, I found they looked better on display than they really were. But they looked and tasted delicious.
The weather hasn't been great since we arrived so our visit has been slow paced and relaxing. On our first day we walked the 2.5 kilometre trail on top of the city's impressive walls and took in the great views of the Adriatic. It's easy to see why the place was chosen as the setting for the hit TV series Game of Thrones. I was just waiting for the chance to get my hands on that little punk King Joffrey. I didn't see him, but maybe he doesn't survive past Season 1 - which is as far as I got.
We did one excursion to another medieval town called Korcula where Marco Polo is said to have been born. About 20 other towns on the Adriatic make the same claim. It was a holiday when we visited so there wasn't much to do other than stroll around. We enjoyed the scenery on the drive and got to taste some of this country's surprisingly good wine. The wall around the medieval town of Ston is apparently second only to the Great Wall of China in length and grandeur. Fascinating. When's lunch?
I may be sounding a little jaded. I'm sure I'd be far more impressed with Dubrovnik if I hadn't spent the last two months looking at lots of really cool old stuff. I also am in possession of the spring cold that's passing through the family. Also, I'm just itching to get in the cockpit of a sailboat, lie in the sun and turn the brain off for a while (after we're safely docked of course). I should mention that Dubrovnik is a great place for accessible classical music. We've attended performances in old stone churches by small quartets and tonight by the impressive Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. Shannon even made it through the hour and a half performance without letting out one of her trade mark, cavernous yawns just as the room goes quiet. Now that's progress!
I feel as though I should write more about Dubrovnik. It really is great. But instead, I'll share a working copy of one of the Top Ten lists I'm putting together on this trip. Tomorrow we take a bus up to Split and will spend a few days hiking in one of the Croatian National Parks before our first of two European rendezvous with the Joyal/Christies. Enjoy the list. Not sure how I'll pare it down to 10. It seems to be getting bigger every day. The answer to the last entry is mercifully, down to 5.
Top Ten Most Frequent Things We've Said On Our Trip Around the World:
1. Has anyone seen my wallet?
2. Are you almost done in there?
3. Can I just finish this page?
4. Tonight I'm going to bed way earlier.
5. I could get used to this!
6. What's the temperature in Yellowknife today?
7. By turn left, you mean turn right, right?
8. How come parents don't have to do school work?
9. No more bread until our meals come!
10. What day of the week is it?
11. Who has the tooth paste?
12. That's it, we're leaving without you.
13. Did a bomb go off inside this suitcase?
14. We all have a role to play in keeping stress levels low on a travel day.
15. You guys are having wine AGAIN?
16. What the hell is happening to all the pens!
17. If you're watching a movie back there you WILL puke.
18. I'm going to puke!
19. You can't wear that unless you put panties on.
20. Are we going to look at old stuff AGAIN today?
21. Was did "supervisor" say about this hotel?
22. If you run in flip flops you WILL fall down.
23. I told you not to run in flip flops.
24. Don't wish your time away.
25. I hope you kids remember this when you learn about it in school.
26. Wouldn't this be amazing without kids!?
27. Whatever you do to the numerator, you must also do to the denominator.
28. Can we not do any planning today?
29. If you touch that cat you have to wash your hands again before you eat.
30. How many days until my birthday?
Post Script - May 3
Today was one of those travel days where everything went wrong. It was pouring rain again this morning as we made our way out of the City Walls for the last time to catch a taxi to the bus station. To our horror, we ran right into the off loaded passengers of four massive cruise ships that had just arrived. It was mayhem. By the time we made it to the taxi stand, the line up was about 400 people long and unruly. Shouting matches were breaking out between those who had been waiting in line and those who refused to. It was wild. When we finally realized there was no way we were going to make it to the station on time, we walked across the Old City again in the pouring rain and tried the taxi stand at the other gate. No problem here as it is on the far side of where the cruise ships dock. We managed to get on a later bus to Split, which broke down half way there! Uggghhhhh. We were eventually transferred to another bus and we arrived at about 8:00 pm - five hours later than we'd planned.
The bright side is that none of us got too stressed out. "If we miss this bus, we'll take the next one. If that doesn't work, we'll stay another night." We finally got to try out some of the rain gear we've been packing all over hell's half acre. In the end, we had nothing better to do on such a crappy weather day anyway. Over dinner we tried to think of another day in the last nine months quite so FUBAR as this one. We were amazed that we couldn't come up with a single one. As suppose that's a good thing.
Despite the rain, the City of Split looks pretty cool. On our way from the bus station to our apartment we saw both the ferry that will take us to Italy in two weeks, and the marina where our sailboat charter starts a week from today. Hard to believe that we only have about 10 weeks left! Now that's stressful!