Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia = Gorgeous. The nice stone house with red tiled roofs, the mountainous coast line, and the clear blue water just makes you want to sit outside, drink an espresso, and soak up the view (which I did today on my last day in port). This port was a relaxing port for me. My days here consisted of sleeping in, going for a run, seeing a site or two, exploring Old Town (Dubrovnik is split in two main groups: Old Town is inside the city walls and New Town is the newer part that is outside the walls), and then having dinner and going to bed. It was a much need break after the non-stop ports of Barcelona, Civitavecchia, and Napoli.

Day 1: We ported at 08:00 and were allowed to disembark at 09:00. I slept ‘til around 09:00, went for a good run, did some core and leg exercises, worked on one of my two essays due tomorrow (just completed the second essayJ) and then headed off for my City Wall tour at 13:00. The tour was fun with great sites and very interesting info from our guide…but it was very VERY hot. It was about 35 degrees Celsius in Dubrovnik, even hotter when inside the Old Town as it is surrounded by a mile and a quarter limestone wall. Any who the tour was on top of the Old Town walls which date back to the 14^th century during the Dubrovnik Republic when the city was basically its own country. From the top of the wall you can see all of the Old Town its harbor. I took about 70 photos, all of which are now gone as I accidently deleted them…very sad but my memories will do. The walls have held strong over the years going through a number of attacks from the people of Venice, the Turks, and the Serbs during the Balkan War. It was a fun tour after which I got to try some Croatian gelato, almost as good as Italy’s, and I had a chance to buy a nice piece of Croatian street art. All in all a good day.

Day 2: Day two started the same way. Slept in, ran, worked, and then left the ship at noon. Today I decided to take a cable car up to Fort Imperial on a hill (a big hill) overlooking the Old Town and the port. The fort was constructed in the 1800s when Neapolitan conquered Dubrovnik and was a key in defending Dubrovnik during the Balkan Wars. The view of the coast from the fort was amazing and I made up for the photos I lost from the City Walls haha. The view behind the fort was even more amazing. There were mountains for mile extending into the far boarder of Bosnia. Just beautiful and awing. Someday I want to go back up there with a mountain bike and some camping gear to explore and sleep under what I know would be a beautiful array of stars. In the fort there was a museum that should how the people of Dubrovnik defended themselves against the superior Serbs during the war. It was very interesting and sad.

In the late afternoon Keene, Chelsea, Nick, Kindle and I (yes the fifth wheel haha) got some surprisingly good 30 Kuna ($6) Croatian champagne and sat on the rocky Old Town beach to watch the sunset and celebrate Nick’s birthday. It was a good time. While watching the sunset and enjoying
Champagne we meet a few people from the UK. We spent a good hour make fun of each other’s country and accents, it was really fun haha. In the evening we went to a restaurant in the middle of the town and got some good authentic Croatian food. I had some homemade sausages, very good. After that we roamed around for a bit before we made our way back to the ship.

Day 3: Couldn’t sleep in today as I had Kayaking!!! We left at 09:00 to go on a 5 to 6 mile Kayaking trip around an island called Lokrum, just off the coast of Old Town. Beautiful and very fun time. Got to do some snorkeling too, not much to see but the water was fabulous. Got back to the ship around 02:30, went for a run, hung out with Keenen and Chelsea before they went off for their anniversary dinner (7 months) and then passed out. It was a lazy but enjoyable night.

Day 4: Slept in ‘til 08:30, went for a good run, and then went into old town for a mission to find an old map (picture to come) and to get rid of the rest of my Kuna. Found a café that had wifi, sat outside, had an espresso, did some emails, got work done, and wrote this post. That was Croatia. Up next Greece!!! Will defiantly be more active and will have a much longer post haha.