Aliways and Ulice

Ha, so having decided NOT to go to Dubrovnik, it occurred to me at about 3 pm that a cocktail in Dubrovnik would finish my day nicely. I can see the old town from my apartment and it just seemed like a good idea. The boat left at 3:30 and there I was, out at sea.  Despite the place looking near, it took an hour to chug along, we passed a couple of cruise ships moored in the harbour, and a huge personal ship with a helicopter on the top. I have very fond memories of Dubrovnik, a romantic dinner or two..  Because it was late in the day, the crowds were less than expected, but the volume of people in walking groups was scary. I wandered along the back streets just trying to capture the place for those dear readers who haven't been there (yet). The main street is wide with what was palaces on either side (now shops and apartments) with tiny side streets - flat on the right hand side with a gradual rise, but dramatic steps on the left hand side going up the hill.

I'm sitting in my new temporary home - three nights in Cavtat. It has been the most stunning day, three hours of which I spent alternating between reading in the sun and swimming in the sea. Hard life I know. After all the travelling I thought a few days rest would be needed... Cavtat is the new preferred Dubrovnik - 15 minutes boat ride from Dubrovnik but much calmer, low key. The walk from the Centar to my apartment is about 10 minutes along a single lane road lined with cypress trees. The voices I'm hearing are French, Irish and  English (but Coronation St accents). I swam at 7.30 and then at about 8.30 headed into the old town to find coffee - not that there isn't coffee in the cafes around me, but decided that coffee looking at the super yachts would be fun - but I got distracted by the little churches and lanes heading up the hill. One lead to another corner, another church, another lane - my favourite sort of town. The church

The end of the Intrepid Tour: A night of thunderstorms and rain, a clear morning but with damp clouds hanging on the top of the mountains. We piled into a van to head north to Croatia - two hours and two passport controls later and we are there. And then down came the rain, and it was insistent for nearly two hours. We sat in the hotel cafe - too early to check in, too wet to go to the old town for touring. Two cups of delicious coffee. I've been to Dubrovnik five times before - the first time it was full of life, people going about their daily lives, the market, chatting to neighbours. This was ten years after the end of the war, and things were starting to settle, repairs were being made to roofs that had been bombed. Our hosts then had spent three days hiding in their bathroom. And then the tourists came back - the  local residents were told not to hang their washing out as it made the place untidy. The old people moved to the villages and rented out their apartments.

I promised you a boat trip but... I launched myself out of bed, shower, into my shorts and headed to the 3euro toll booth to the turret walk before I talked myself out of it (oh you'll miss breakfast, it will be hot, you only have jandels on, you don't have a map etc etc). Now, yesterday, Ivan (Intrepid Tour Guide) said "I encourage you all to climb the track to the fortress - don't go in jandels though" or words to that effect. Bah, last year I walked it in jandels, and sto raditi (what to do), I left my sports shoes in France. In the bin. Up I went - by half way I was dripping like a tap, and it was only 7.15am. Check out those steps! My actual destination was a little church which two local people said didn't exist ('no, there is only one church up there') until I said, no, you climb 'kroz', through the turret wall. This church is my mecca so to speak. Small. Photogenic.