Dubrovnik, Croatia

This morning we woke up in Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik is famous for its medieval walled city with its intact walls.  It’s become such a popular tourist destination that they limit the number of visitors allowed during the tourist season.  Since it’s the off-season, it wasn’t crowded at all.

We debated whether to go on the walking tour of the old city that we’d signed up for, or just explore on our own.  We settled on a compromise - we took the tour bus and stayed with the group for long enough to get the historical background and orientation to the place.  

Then we bugged out and set out on our own.  I thought it would be fun to walk around the top of the walls, which involved climbing lots of steep, uneven stairs.

John was less enthusiastic about climbing up to the top of the walls, particularly since there were lots more steps once we got to the top (the walls climb up the hills - they aren’t level).  We strolled down the main drag while I considered ascending to the top of the walls on my own.

I made a new friend.

One of the city gates opens to a small boat harbor, now full of private boats of various kinds and sizes, but during Dubrovnik’s heyday as a maritime power it would have been full of merchant ships.

From there, we decided to look for a bar that’s located on the outer wall above the ocean - John had been there when he was here on his motorcycle tour.  We climbed a lot of steps and found it.

I nixed the idea of walking down the steep steps to the bar, despite the railing.

We looked for a way to get to the walkway on top of the wall - since we were already up near the top at this point - but we found ourselves on a walkway between the defensive double walls.

There were lots of apartments - many of them vacation rentals - built into the walls.

We could see the wall, but couldn’t find any way to get over to it.  

We came across a group of young guys (who sounded American) and asked if they knew how to get to the top of the wall, and they said we’d have to go all the way down to the main level to get to the stairs up to the wall, and that we’d have to pay to go up.  We didn’t care about the cost, but clambering down then climbing all the way back up was a non-starter for both of us.

We walked down a long, steep staircase, then found an outdoor table at a cafe where we paid €12 for a couple small bottles of Coke Zero and access to nice restrooms.  Money well spent.

Of course, there’s a Game of Thrones gift shop - they must have filmed some of it here.

And, typically, John was interested in the construction sites.

We took a shuttle bus back to the ship, had lunch, and put up our feet and relaxed for a while.  Then we went for a walk along the docks.

There were a couple more cruise ships in port.  

John noted that this “rat guard” on a neighboring cruise ship wasn’t too effective - the gaps around the rope (line?) were big enough for several rats to slip through at once.

This sign has the Croatian spelling of “Croatia.”

I’m still trying to sound that out.

Great weather today - pleasantly cool.

Once back on board, we took in a couple more lectures and signed up for two of the 20 spots available for a talk on the Bayeaux Tapestry, sections of which are reproduced (and enlarged) on the stairwells.  I saw the tapestry a couple of years ago when Diane Hallstrom and I took a Rick Steves tour in France.  Here’s how I described it then:

We caught the shuttle and returned to our bus in order to make our way (with a lunch stop en route) to the town of Bayeux, famous for its Bayeux Tapestry, a 230 ft, long intricately embroidered comic strip describing the Norman Invasion in 1066.  It was created sometime fairly soon after that and has miraculously survived intact.  Wikipedia explains it all pretty well :  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry

No pictures of the original tapestry, unfortunately - photography was strictly prohibited.