Men Staring at Trees


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Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia » Dubrovnik
September 5th 2016
Published: June 14th 2017
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Issy decides that we need some exercise. It seems that walking up and down 351 steps two or three times a day is not enough. I begin to wonder if she's training for the Olympics. We decide to head west along the coast towards the village of Lapad, which looks to be two or three kilometres away. The map shows a walking track through coastal parkland, which will hopefully be very pleasant. It's very overcast and humid, and Mt Srd is in the clouds.

We pass a large grey concrete monolith that looks like the archetypal communist era building. When we get closer we see that it's actually an extraordinarily ugly beach resort hotel. I'm glad we're not staying there. It looks more like a bomb shelter than somewhere where you're supposed to enjoy yourself.

We can't find the walking track shown on the map. We pass a road that looks like it might lead to it, but it's closed. We trudge determinedly on. Issy follows me uphill along a path between some houses. She says it looks way too steep and narrow to be right, but I pretend not to hear her. It leads us into a forest which is apparently used by the locals as a rubbish dump. This isn't exactly what we'd envisioned the green parkland shown on the map would look like. There are no other people around. We come to a clearing piled high with empty dog food cans. The anticipated attack by a pack of rabid canines doesn't materialise so we walk hopefully on. Suddenly, a sign of life. We spy a man standing by himself in the middle of the track ahead of us. He's staring vacantly at a tree trunk about a metre in front of him, and doesn't move or react in any way as we walk past him. I briefly consider saying hello but I'm afraid that I might wake him from some drug induced trance and he might attack us. He looks very creepy. I wish we were somewhere else; almost anywhere really.

We emerge from our creepy rubbish-filled forest onto a road, with Dubrovnik's new cruise ship filled port in the valley below us. We stop for lunch at one of the many restaurants on the edge of a cove overlooking Lapad's attractive sandy beach. Issy drools; there's tuna sashimi on the menu, and it even comes with wasabe. We follow a path further around the edge of the cove. It starts to rain. Issy says that's enough walking for now, so it's into a bus for the trip back to the Old Town.

I tell Issy that I'd like to visit Fort Lovrijenac, or St Lawrence Fortress, which is part of the town's defences. It's near the main town gate, but separate from and outside the wall. We trudge up the many steep steps to the Fort's entrance, but Issy then decides that she's had her fill of Olympic training for the day, and declines to go any further. I wonder which event she's planning to enter. I suspect it's probably not the marathon. I climb more steep steps to the top of the fort's walls. The views of the Old Town from up here are excellent.

We trudge back up the hill to the apartment. I take a quick dip in the apartment complex's small pool, but as I lie on a sun lounge to dry off a thunderstorm decides to unleash itself upon me. I sprint for cover. The rain gets progressively heavier. We want to go out for dinner, but the rain seems to have set in. We're really hungry, so we start munching on the only food we've got - handfuls of Corn Flakes. Issy says that she's not too convinced of the wisdom of stumbling down 350 steep slippery steps, in the dark, and in pouring rain, to satisfy her hunger. I try to think of a counter argument, but nothing immediately springs to mind. We consult the Google machine for pizza delivery restaurants, but the menu of the only one we can find is only in Croatian. The rain eases off slightly. We discover a takeaway pizza restaurant only half way down the hill. Issy says that 200 steep slippery steps in the dark and rain should be a breeze, particularly if it's only me that has to navigate them. My pizza is very cheesy, and Issy is looking a bit concerned. She knows that when I overdose on cheese I can sometimes get a bit restless during the night. I've been known to dream that I'm playing football and try to kick things. She carefully arranges a line of pillows down the middle of the bed.

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12th September 2016

I can't believe Issy says you both need more exercise after all you have done, are you taking count of your steps each day? - I'm sure it would be massive.

Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0293s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb