Dubrovnik

---

Dubrovnik
What an amazing little place. It really is the jewel in the crown for Croatia. Nestled right in the the bottom cornier of Croatia it sits on a tiny peninsula looking out over the Adriatic. It is just like it looks in all the pictures.
On arrival it was soon very apparent that parking was going to be an issue. Most visitors either come by plane or boat. As we were staying inside the wall of the city we needed to be close as we didn't want to be dragging our bags for miles. After going round the one way streets about 4 times we did mange to find a park. We then had to race off to the main entrance and then follow the instructions on the map to find the apartment. It proved to be quite a simple task thank goodness as its just a mass of narrow streets. Our apartment was very tiny but the space was well organized. Tim hauled the bags up a couple of flights of stairs.
The next morning we went back to we if we could find better parking as where were parked was very expensive and only a 2 hour park. Yes we didi get our first parking ticket. Not sure what we should be doing with it.
The day was once agin cloudless and the sky for a change sparkling blue. We got ourselves a 24 hour pass to the museums, buses and the wall. The wall goes round the city and is complete with castle like turrets and lookouts. You need to be prepared to walk and climb many steps! The walk around the wall took about 2 hours and really was the highlight of our visit. You can see so much and also you are able to look down on the city. While we were up there we spied a little restaurant underneath a vine. It proved to be a good choice as the food was lovely though there were many flights of steps to get there.
During the 1991 92 war Dubrovnik was heavily bombed and about 60% of the city was destroyed. Along with UNESCO they have painstakingly put it back together stone by stone. From the wall you an see all the buildings that have new roofs. There is a big display just inside the city gates that show the buildings and streets that were hit and who was bombing them. It seems throughout history Croatia seems to be constantly having to defend itself.
Once again the number of bars and restaurants seem to out number the number of people. There was also plenty to choose from. Prices vary according to where you are, whether you sit, or stand, especially for coffee. Coffee is cheaper if you stand and have it. Sometimes the price of coffee covers the view, fancy waiters and tableware etc. This is very much so in Italy.
We just loved our few days in Dubrovnik, its quite an experience staying inside the city wall,even if it is a little noisy at night.

---