Stunning!

We have climbed up to a viewpoint to take photos of Dubrovnik. "Stunning" is an overused superlative but it works for the first view of Dubrovnik. An irregular circle of orange roofed buildings surrounded by massive city walls, her charm is that of a gracious and dignified lady perched high above the shimmering, crystal clear waters of the Adriatic sea below. 

Just one thing mars the scene: cruise boats! Oh no, we are going to have to share Dubrovnik with day trippers from the huge ships anchored off shore and at the dock. Actually it wasn't too bad. Luckily for us they either weren’t all ashore or had chosen not to walk along the top of walls. It was a very warm day, bordering on hot, so that may have scared a few off too. The city walls that we walked on are said to be the finest in the world and have successfully protected the city from attack for centuries. Dubrovnik is UNESCO World Heritage listed.

Late afternoon it was time to hop on the bus and make our way to Split, our last stop for this part of our tour, but also the beginning of the next tour, commencing the following morning. Split is on the coast and is a wonderful mix of a historic old walled palace, in which we were accommodated, and waterfront promenade. Some of the best Roman ruins in existence are in the centre of Split. In medieval times the rich and successful built their homes and businesses within the palace, so there are many layers of history to see.

Our last night with the current tour group of 28 was definitely the highlight of our nights out together. After a bite to eat and a drink at Charlie’s bar we all headed off to the most bizarre nightclub experience - the “silent disco”. How this works is that everyone purchases headphones that have 3 channels of music chosen by a DJ. You select a channel to listen to and on top of your headphones a coloured light which indicates what channel you are listening too and then you enjoy the music and dance. It is bizarre because everyone is dancing but the moves don’t necessarily match what you are listening to! It would seem that this would be an anti-social activity, but it is completely the opposite. Everyone is laughing, dancing and telling people to change channels by pointing to the light on their head when a good song comes on their channel and they think someone should know. Worse, everyone is singling along, many off-key and loud! Those with a red light on their heads might be dancing to Michael Jackson while those with green lights are getting together to link arms and do Zorba. Crazy!

Here is an oxymoron - the police arrived to tell us to keep the noise down – at a silent disco!! By this time there were lots of Aussies and New Zealanders shouting at the top of their voice “Who the F… is Alice?” along to the song “Living next door to Alice”. Oh, well that’s a first!

Great night, great trip, great fellow travellers, great tour company.

We are sad to say goodbye to this group of newly made friends who we have travelled through Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia with. They are all heading off in different directions, some home and some onto further travels. Tomorrow we meet a new group for our trip from Split to Istanbul via the Balkan countries of Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria. We will have the same guide Damo and bus driver Anjelika both of whom excelled themselves on the dance floor at the silent disco and are exceptionally good at guiding and driving respectively.  

Footnote: Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian and Old City of Dubrovnik are UNESCO World Heritage listed. Dubrovnik also features in the book Unforgettable Places to See before you die.