Today we were picked up, not by a mini van as advised but by a car and young male driver. The trip was two and half hours to Dubrovnik, via the ferry from yesterday. It was a little like travelling in NZ with scenery changing throughout the trip, from steep rocky mountainous terrain, to hidden valleys of agriculture, and historic towns. the last part of the drive was like travelling through a series of fiords in NZ. The driver was very smooth and after an initial enthusiasm travelled at a steady pace, probably impacted by the closest near miss of a head-on we have witnessed. A VW Golf driver decided to pass us (being in an old Kia) just before a rocky blind bend high above the sea. The trip was enjoyable and uneventful until near Dubrovnik when I was taking a photo out the open car window and a truck in front, blew out a rear tyre. They make quite a bang when they go. The main road to Dubrovnik was very smooth if not particularly wide - think NZ main roads but smoother. The hotel accommodation after an initial hiccup over room location (which was quickly sorted, where we were moved from the street side of the building to a larger room overlooking the sea) is amazing. Part of the Hotel Argentina 'Grand Villa' was built in the late 1890's as a large private residence and has a prime location on the water front with a fabulous outlook from the sea rooms over terraced gardens out across the Adriatic to a local island, with Dubrovnik old town off to the right (partly obscured by the tall cypresses). This is an excellent five star hotel with hidden features, such as indoor pool, a large tunnel below the hotel (reached by lift) to a terraced area and outdoor pool at the waters edge. The terraces will be very familiar to those of you who have watched the garden scenes in Game of Thrones. In fact the very large private villa adjoining the hotel was a set location for one garden scene. Are we obsessed fans...no, well maybe while we are here! After pausing at a local laundrette (and expresso for Richard), we headed into the old town within the castle walls. We surprised ourselves by deciding to take a little glass-bottomed boat ride around the island we look out on from our hotel room - the island was used by Napoleons army but fell into disrepair, until set construction for the Game of Thrones repaired key buildings. The trip was interesting as only one other couple were on board with us, giving us room to move around and talk to the guide. The best part was getting a different view of the town's thick walls and seaside views. We grabbed a quick lunch, Richard was stalked by a security detail for some local dignitary (as I had a backpack on, appeared to be alone, and kept coming back to a fleet of black Audis parked up with police escorts). We saw the dignitaries arrive as we were sorting our laundry but have no idea who they were. The town streets have been taken over by Mercedes with stands and cars placed in many of the streets and squares - not sure what the marketing value is for what would be an expensive location during low season. After lunch we headed up (many steep steps) onto the city walls and walked the 2.4km around the perimeter. Health and Safety isn't high on the priority list here. Some of the guard rails were very low whilst traversing some very high points in the wall. That said, the views and experience made this very worthwhile. There is clearly some evidence of the war with Serbia where Dubrovnik was in the firing line and took some direct hits. But this is an ancient town that has had many devastating events in the past including the plague, earthquakes (1500s and 1600s) with the last earthquake also causing serious fires that burned for twenty days. So old as the city may appear, it is actually a fairly new form of a very old settlement. We are noticing more tourists today, but this is not bad compared to the busy days when the cruise liners port here on a daily basis. We have not fully sampled Dubrovnik, but this can wait for another day, as tomorrow we are off on a Montenegro tour to visit a few interesting towns over the border. So for the rest of the day we wandered back to our hotel and Richard explored the surroundings and planned his plunge into the sea sometime soon! It is going to be too hard to resist, no matter how cold! We finished off a great day with a fantastic meal at the hotel restaurant as we were too weary to be bothered wandering too far from the hotel. We wonder why we are so tired in the evenings, the Fitbit step count is not excessive but when we check the number of floors climbed (50 in the last 8 hours) it is no wonder we crash! It was an exquisite meal (an anniversary splurge) in a wonderful location (and great company). Time now to relax and prepare for tomorrow's offerings.