Dubrovnik

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Well yesterday I said that Split was beautiful well tonight I have to tell you that Dubrovnik is amazing lots of wow moments again today.. and I was told at dinner time by one of the senior staff on board that tomorrow is another amazing day.

Col and I awoke as the ship backed into its parking spot at the pier beside a massive suspension bridge which was most impressive as a first glance out of the window at 8.30am as well as being in front of two other cruise liners... mmm first time we have arrived into a port where there have been two other cruise ships already docked and I wondered what the city was going to be like with so many people trying to get around however I think they must have been here yesterday as they were gone fairly early today. I was glad that we awoke as we did as it was only moments after that our breakfast was bought in for us to enjoy.

Today we were off to experience the old city of Dunrovnik, life in the country and some village life, the weather was cool as we left the ship to meet our very funny guide Vlhos. Dubrovnik is a unique and beautiful city it is a place of ancient streets lined with stone palaces, churches, monestries and it is another UNESCO site.

As you arrive in Dubrovnik we were met with the sight of a replica of an original old sailing boat 3 metres longer than the ship that Christopher Columbas used to discover America. Around another corner we came across a huge fortress castle with a moat ( col went looking for the crocodiles and sharks no luck) around it which is now of course a road to take you into the area. The sight of this huge amazing fortress was breathtaking. It has a colourful history and of course some of that history is quite recent. There are two fortresses actually the Lovrjenac Fortress is built on the bluff just outside the city walls and is oftern used for shakespere plays etc.

As you walk through the gate of the city you are met with an amazing pedestrian promenade called the Placa which extends before you all the way to the clock tower.. ahh every place has a clock tower.. I might get Col started on one as soon as we get home.. the whole area is preserved and has unique marble paved squares, cobbled streets,etc. We were shown many of the sites including one of the first orphanages that used the process of anominity and mothers use to place their babies onto a table that turned and the baby was moved inside a record was kept by the means of a coin being broken in half and one half went to the mother and the other was with the baby. Mothers had 8 years to come back and collect their babies..

We were there when the green market was on so bought some local produce, fresh lavender oil and dried figs, sugared almonds and crystalized orange pieces and col bought some of their rocket fuel to drink.

Back on the bus we drove along the sea front and came across many beautiful views across the bay and towards many of the 130 or so islands that are within the Adriatic sea. Anyway we went inland and were taken to a place where they used water to make life easier for them back in the earlier centuries or should I say when they had no electricity which they didnt get until the 1960's.. not that long ago really. Croatia has many beautiful springs and the water flows very fast from the mountains and today we saw how they built structures to manage to use the water to build structures that crushed wheat and barley and beat woolen garments once they had been weaved to make them strong and warmer to wear.. amazing and of course you can't do any of that without trying their local brew (rocket fuel) and dried figs ... the area we went to could have been anywhere really it very much reminded me of Morialta falls but no I was in Dubrovnik.

Once we had all experienced this site we took off then into the real mountains around and around quite narrow roads to a persons house and there we were welcomed in with local musicians singing and playing instruments and the local brew, hic, hic, and once again some figs before being taken into their dining area and enjoying lunch together and their specialty red wine. yummo, we had a lot of fun again with the musicians and our guide joined in also as they sang some songs without music.

Back onto the bus tummies filled, heads being affected by the rocket fuel, sorry local brew and a good ol laugh had by all. Once again we sat on a table with the united nations and it was fun chatting about all sorts of things related and not.

Our guide was very informative and was alot of fun, he kept us all entertained and had us laughing many times. He did go through the history of the country which was very interesting and it was only when Col and I went back to the old city and looked through the first pharmacy museum that we saw some of the evidence of the seige in 1991-92.

Back onto the ship, nanny nap and dinner finished we are off to have our coffee in the coffee lounge as we wait for the ship to leave at 10pm for Kotor Montengro.

Well thats about it, hope all is well with you all.. we are almost on count down, tomorrow we have only a week left.. from Dubrovnik hic hic Croatia hic hic xxxxx

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