Dubrovnik, what a gem!

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Spent Friday night in Gatwick... tried to sleep, was very much unsuccessful in my endeavour. First it took me forever to find two seats together. Once I finally got all comfortable rearranging my bags and getting a make-shift bed going, have my ear plugs in, eye mask on, am totally comfortable... and this lady comes over, starts poking my shoulder and asks to sit.

Now, airport sleeping etiquette: you do not ask someone who is clearly either asleep or almost asleep to move their bags. There are other seats. It’s a damn airport. Also, you, under no circumstances, POKE SOMEONE WHO MAY BE ASLEEP. Seriously.

I told her I was trying to sleep, to which she snarkily replied: “I think that’s what most people are trying to do.”

Whatever. You want to break the code, you do that. I got up and said fine, I’ll go find somewhere else to sleep then. She gave me such an incredulous look - but seriously, I'm not fighting you over a chair when it's an airport full of chairs.

Not 5min walk down I found benches... once I was all settled in I discovered there was a small child in the vicinity. A small child who would not stop screaming and yelling and playing. And although that is normally very cute, at 2am in a busy airport where everyone is trying to sleep... not so cute. I gave up and watched King’s Speech on my mac instead haha. Sleep is overrated.

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Flying into Dubrovnik is honestly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen - you come in along the coast, the city is near mountains, you come in south of the city so you get to see the town in all its glory... just stunning. The drive into town from the airport is just as picturesque - zig-zagging the coast, coming down the cliffside... the view out to the sea is superb.

I was very thankful I did my research as to where this hostel was - it’s basically a person’s house with a separate wing as guest-rooms. As such, it’s in the “suburbs” (Dubrovnik is small, so no worries there)... and there is a maze of streets. Although thankfully they believe in street signs here. Always a bonus.

Oh, did I mention it’s on a cliff? So. Between every street is like 50 steps. Yeah. It’s a long walk up to the hostel, but well worth it for the view and the warmth of the hosts. Very sweet family. And they have about 6 birds who love to sing. It's so charming up here!

I met another girl on her travels - we were the only ones currently in the guesthouse, so we decided to be partners in crime for the next few days (we both head out the same morning). We headed off to the Old Town around lunch (ha, 32 degrees, we laugh at you!). Of course, 32 on the ground is not quite the same as 32 on a fortress wall... baking on the stones below. Ahem. But it was well worth the sweltering.

The views from the City Walls are just breath-taking - you get to overlook the actual Old City which is littered with the orange rooftops, and you can look at into the sea, towards the islands, watching boats, etc. or just listen to the waves crash in. It’s wonderful. We took a really long time going around the Walls - it was such a huge climb to get up there (all the steps... all... of... them) that we were both pretty certain we wouldn’t make the trek again over the next few days haha.

Other than the Wall, we kind of just puttered around the Old Town, popped into some shops, got some ice cream (which quickly became ice cream soup) and checked out the ferries heading off the islands - definitely something to look at for tomorrow.

It randomly started to rain then, but the sun was still shining. Kind of the best of both worlds really... light rain and you still get a tan.

We went to the grocery store on the way back to the hostel and I am amazed by their beer selection. I am not kidding you. First off, you can buy 2L bottles of most beers. Hello, convenience. Second off, they have a whole bunch of fruit-infused/flavoured beers that actually taste really, really, nice! I tried an orange-beer and a lemon-beer tonight, both were fantastic. Definitely planning on trying another flavour or two tomorrow.

We have some more roomies now, so looks like we're doing a group adventure tomorrow to one of the islands. Ah, relaxation.

(I'm going to try and get organized and add photos later... but no promises since my time seems lacking on this trip.)

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