Surprising Croatia

Surprising Croatia

Keen to see the sights of Dubrovnik, we were the first passengers off the ship. Lined up outside was a well organised queue of taxis, and a board with the prices of taxi tours. We initially negotiated a tour for one hour for 50 euros to see the city from a couple of vantage points before being dropped off at the old city, outside the city walls.

Our first stop was just on the other side of the new suspension bridge with a great view back over the new town and the ship in the harbour. Further up the hill, we stopped again, at what seemed to be someone’s private rooftop garage, and took more photos looking down on the old town – a beautiful sight over the terracotta rooftops and the battlements surrounding the city. After a quick photo stop, we headed up the main road and turned onto a ‘goat track’ to head up to the highest point in the area – at the upper cable car station. There was also a museum dedicated to the survivors of the war between Croatia and Serbia in the early 1990’s. At the highest point, there is a large cross to commemorate those who lost their lives in the war. Tony, our driver said that things in Croatia are very good now, unemployment is based around tourism, like so many of these Eastern European countries, and post war rebuilding is almost finished.

Of, course, at the end of the hour, Tony told us about the other things to see around Dubrovnik, before we came back to the old town, and it was so picturesque that we opted to go down to the seaside town of Cavtat, a really lovely spot where the water is so clear that the small fish and rocks are easily visible. Walking around the town, once again we found the entrance to the walled old city and explored there and along the waterfront. Along the way, we had a good view of the pretty coastline and the islands which are very close to the shore – the road goes to within 2 kms of the border with Bosnia. Many parts of these beaches are nude beaches, so many from our ship had unexpected encounters on the beaches and some funny tales to tell when we met up for sail-away drinks, if you know what I mean!!! On the way back, we saw that a tour bus from the ship had been involved in an accident with a water tanker at some roadworks, the police were there, but we heard later that no-one was seriously injured, just shaken by the experience.

We wanted to stay longer on our tour to the countryside, but we also wanted to walk around the walls of the Old City before the heat of the day, so we reluctantly asked Tony to take us back. This just gives us a reason to come back another time.

There are two main entrances to the pedestrian Old City, the Pile gate where all the buses and taxis stop, and the quieter Ploce gate at the north east entrance. We asked Tony to drop us outside the Ploce gate, where we stopped for a cup of coffee overlooking the harbour, before crossing the drawbridge to buy our tickets for the climb to the top. This is also the easiest place to get to the top of the wall, the steps at the Pile gate are much steeper and narrower, so it was worthwhile to go to this gate first and start the walk here.

Tickets are 90kuna each to walk the wall (about 18AUD) and it is the only place in the old city which doesn’t accept US or euros – go figure!!

The wall is about two kms in length, with lots of steps which go up and down, great photo opportunities at every turn, and a few places to stop in the shade with drinks on sale at inflated prices. It was quite strenuous in the heat, but hey, you can’t go to Dubrovnik without walking the wall, can you?? It took almost 1 ½ hours in all, with all the other tourists, but it was a unique way to experience this world heritage city, its walls and forts. There is still evidence of the war with Bosnia in the back blocks of the city, but the process of rebuilding is still going on, as money becomes available.

After the wall, it was time to have lunch and we had been told to go into one of the back streets where the food is much cheaper than on the main Stradun and Placa. After so many Greek salads over the last week, I was ready for something different and light, so I had a great omelette with salad.

After lunch, we followed a downloaded walking tour of the city sights – the churches, monastery, clock tower, and cathedral. The harbour area is abuzz with activity and there are lots of little boats and glass bottomed boats which will take you to the close by islands, and also to see the underwater life in these crystal waters.

The greatest surprise of the day came after lunch as we wandered the back laneways – we sat for a cold wine in a very secluded café in a back alley away from the main streets which were crowded with tourists, when we noticed a model dressed in traditional Venetian Carnival style, and a professional photographer taking photos in the deserted street. We watched for a while and took our own photos with their permission. The older lady who was directing the shoot, Thea, started talking to us and said that they are shooting photos for an advertising campaign for next February’s Carnival festival, cause Dubrovnik has a long history with Venice and also celebrates Carnival. We were interested as she sat and answered our questions about her life in Dubrovnik, she lives in a 200 sq. metre apartment in the old city which has been in her family for more than 600 years, and also a house in Istanbul. She said that she has been single for 71 years, men always want to marry her to get her money, but she hasn’t lost her mind yet, so is still single – what a delightful character!!! She has family in Sydney in Punchbowl, and her sister is married to Mark Latham. At the looks on our faces, she smiled broadly and said ‘not that one!!’ She has written a book about Dubrovnik which she went and brought back to show us, and then took us to her watercolour gallery where she gave  us a small painting as a momento of our day – a priceless memory!!

All too soon, we took a taxi back to the ship and a swim to cool down. Tonight is another formal night and we are all going because it will be the last formal dinner with Anthea and Dennis at our table before they disembark in Venice. This is the third cruise we have done with them so we will miss them, but hope to catch up when we go to New Zealand in November.

We really enjoyed Croatia, it was much more than we expected and we would love to come back again, there are so many sailing boats and catamarans in this area – wouldn’t it be great to come back and rent one to explore the islands.

Captain, pull in those lines and let us head to Venice, we want to be serenaded by a gondolier….