Delightful Dubrovnik.

Thursday 19 July 2012  - The dazzling diamond, Dubrovnik

Day 97 and 62 to go

With a warm night in the van, we were up and out at 7.30am, but with a full day planned it was great to get up and get started. We had breakfast before ringing home and checking on how things are and then it was off to find the bus stop supposedly just a short stroll from the camp and it was.
We didn’t have to wait too long for the number 6 to come along and we made the squeezy journey to Dubrovnik old town.

The bus deposited us outside the Pile Gate on the western side of the walled city. I stood with my mouth open at just how beautiful it was. The turquoise water sparkling right up to the edge of the wall, that sat a top a rocky outcrop. We entered the city through the huge gated hole in the wall and proceeded to find a ticket booth to buy our city wall pass. With the 70 Kuna each spent we were then on the hike up the stairs to the top of the. Urgghh.

With Knees wobbling and jelly legs when we reached the top and grabbed the water. The view from here though was spectacular. Views to the south over the dazzling Adriatic that shimmered and sparkled in the sunlight. The views to the North were just as beautiful with a sea of orange terracotta rooves and Mount Srd beyond. Heaven.

We walked from the first to the second corner before stopping at a small café for refreshments. From here we could see many sailing boats bobbing around. I could so see us doing that but not this time unfortunately.

We continued the walk passing through stone arches or over sections of wall 6m thick. We could see from here the places that still need to be restored after the heavy shelling Dubrovnik copped during the war with Serbia in the 90’s. It is hard to believe that so much has been returned to it’s original state by the power of the local people.

Our wander in the sun continued though we were trying to stick to the shade when and where possible. We were glad we were out early doing the walk any later would be quite unbearable.

We stopped to buy some small paintings of Dubrovnik that a local artist was selling. We had a good chat to him about old Dubrovnik. He was very friendly. We walked passed the port area where many smaller vessels were attempting to entice tourists on island cruises. Again I wish we had more time and could do that. More to add to the list for next time.

We continued our walk to the highest point where we climbed one of the corner turrets for a great view over Dubrovnik and the sea. More stairs but worth it.

2 hours later we had made it back to our starting point and we able to wander the rabbit warren streets that we had seen from above.

My first stop was to fill the water bottles with fresh water from the fountains. The water was freezing but so refreshing after we got a sweat up walking in the sun. We wandered aimlessly following the crowds passed some beautiful old buildings. We skirted around a fresh market before coming to a stop at the bottom of some more stairs that lead up to a church and courtyard.

Paul decided we would stop for lunch at the bottom and he sat down while I ventured up the grand staircase, did a lap of the courtyard and returned to have lunch. We shared three house specialties; octopus salad, prawn risotto and calamari. They were all delicious. The seafood here is to die for, but with such clear water you wouldn’t expect anything less.

Now well rested we had to make our way back to the gate; easier said than done. With narrow streets winding off in all directions and thousands of tourists it became a bit dodgem like and a skilful art choosing the passage that seemed to be flowing. We returned to the main road, saw a street show with 5 beautiful birds; Cockatoo and Macaws included. I stopped to buy a shooter glass before we exited the city gate and made our way around to the cable car. We bought our ticket along the way and then joined the short queue before being ushered into the car and whisked up Mount Srd.

It took a few minutes before we arrived at the top and once there we found one of the viewing platforms to check out the amazing view back over Dubrovnik. You could see for miles. We could even pick out where we were staying and you could see the massive cruise liners docked in port. WOW!

We wandered around up top checking the different platforms. The view out to the mountains was also impressive in it ruggedness, it is a lot like Greece.

We stopped fore a drink at the restaurant continuing to marvel at the view before returning to the cable car and waiting to board. I managed to get a front view spot to watch as we descended down the mountain.

Once safely returned we entered the old city through a north side entrance, down a steep staircase and back onto the main road. We stopped at an ATM before once again leaving the through the Pile gate and heading to the bus stop and straight onto a bus back to the camp ground in Babin Kuk.

With such warm weather and a sweat worked up it was a quick change in to the bathers, grab the necessary beach gear and straight down to the water.

I wanted to use the water playground, but like the sun beds and brollies, you had to pay so I didn’t bother. We went back to the spot we swam at yesterday through off the clothes and dived straight in. Ahhhhh!

Paul came up complaining that he had hit his toe on a sharp rock and after swimming for 5 min we got out to make sure he was ok. Clambering over rocks, we sat on the jetty to investigate his foot only to find many black splinter like things sticking out of his toes, some appeared to be embedded quite deep; Sea urchin spines.

I was able to pick out a few and a local gave us some tweezers but I couldn’t grab them. The local was saying we needed to go to a doctor. Great.

We gathered our things and while Paul made the slow and painful hobble back to the van I went ahead to find my needles and tweezers, ready to attack him when he finally got back.

Unfortunately what I had wasn’t really doing much. I was able to dig out a few bits but much of it was too far under the skin and he was wincing every time I tried to probe deeper. I went to reception ask about sea urchin stings with the girl telling me she had been stung before and it will be ok, so with that I returned and got on Google to see what was recommended. Hot water and vinegar seemed to be the options; so Paul went for a hot shower and I returned to the market for vinegar.

Once Paul returned we immersed his foot in a bowl of vinegar, he took some painkillers washed down with beer and we let it take its course.

We played cards to while away the time and I loaded photos onto Facebook and the blog. By 7pm he was suitably numb so we wandered back to the beach where we could take in the sunset over the water. Divine.

At 8.30pm we returned to the van and knocked up a quick pasta with what we had left in the van. I then went for a shower to remove the salt from our earlier swim. My hair felt all crusty and I was able to rub the salt off my skin while sitting in the van.

Once back in the van we watched some of Danny Bhoy, a Scottish Indian bloke. Terry had given us a copy to put on the computer. What we saw was very funny. It was then off to bed.