Dashing Dubrovnik

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Hi again followers of thy blog!

I am writing this entry whilst at my cabin in Sorrento, Italy, in the background an incessant church bell is ringing. I've never heard so many church bells since being in Europe. Dubrovnik was a pearl of place to visit, The Pearl of the Adriatic as it has been famously quoted. Situated in the lovely Adriatic coastline, Dubrovnik is highly pleasing to feast thine eyes upon. After being landlocked for the past few weeks, seeing the coastline again reminded me of home. I am most happiest when near the ocean, so the immediacy of love towards Dubrovnik was thus only natural. Secondly, I love castles. The old town is essentially a fortified castle built into the hillside. The moment our airport shuttle rocked through the gate into the old town, I was bewitched by the place. We arrived super late as our flight was severely delayed. Flying budget airlines and having minimal ground staff at Gatwick did not bode well. There were so many planes queued for the runway that day. The hostel we stayed at was great due to the more than welcoming gent and proprietor called Neno. He was a local and pointed out all the good eateries and places to go which proved to be very useful.
The next day we were up reasonably early to "walk the walls". It wasn't a cheap activity - but an entirely necessary one to walk all around the old town's walls. The walls afforded you the greatest views of the gleaming azure ocean and surrounds. The photos I took look rendered to an almost over saturated intense blue colour, when in fact the sea really was that divine a blue shade. Interestingly the whole duration of our stay in Dubrovnik was suppose to be forecast as having thunderstorms. Late in the evenings some impressive fork lightning could be seen dancing on the horizon of the ocean, but there was never any rain or weather impinging on our days there. Walking the walls took over an hour as we were very camera happy. We got to view all the terracotta looking rooftops, distant hills, islands and beyond. In a word, mesmerizing. It looked so mediaeval, and fairy tale in many ways. We walked down many white limestone cobblestoned side streets and main areas after completing the walls circuit. We also had some of the best fruit I've had the pleasure of eating. Their peaches and nectarines are top notch here. We climbed up some stone stairs to a large fortress, otherwise known as the Red Keep on Game of Thrones. It was a pretty surreal experience seeing so much of "King's Landing" in all its three dimensional glory. That evening we had dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the sea and the Red Keep looming in the distance. It was lovely. I had a delicious pasta dinner. I am not a big seafood fan unfortunately, so couldn't eat the range of seafood options Mediterranean cuisine is renowned for. We also booked a sea kayaking and snorkelling tour which ended up being a non event on our last day due to windy seas prevailing. The next day we caught a 20 minute ferry to the nearby Lokrum Island. I was highly anticipating sitting on the Iron Throne (Game of Thrones reference to those of you not familiar). We took some photos on the throne, and after being getting our fix of fantasy royalty out of our systems, we explored more of the island. The botanical gardens were basically some cacti and foliage masquerading as a garden. However, the little fort on the top of the island held extraordinary views of Dubrovnik and the coastline and the vast expanse of Adriatic sea. I was spellbound. We went and swam in the Dead Lagoon. Some people were cliff diving into it with reckless abandon and hollering. I was hesitant to do it as I would prefer jumping into a very deep body of water, namely the ocean. We then went and sunbathed in the ocean and basked on some rock outcrops like a group of marauding seals. We had a nice cocktail of the day at a local bar there, a Rosemary Gin, which was sublime. The music there too was an 80s station. Drinking a cocktail whilst listening to Duran Duran's "Is There Something I Should Know" and Guns N Roses "Sweet Child o' Mine" plus other great jams on a serene island was just too cool. The ferry whisked us away mid afternoon and we went and had an early dinner at Toni's, the recommended local Italian restaurant which we stumbled upon by pure chance. I ate a five cheeses lasagna, little did I realize it consisted only of pasta and cheese, no meat. It was delicious but I feel like I'd overdosed on cheese. My constitution for cheese must be lacking as I get older. We had some gelato that day also (so much delicious gelato to be had here!). The hostel dorm I stayed at with my friend and I had two roomies. One a Canadian lass who had been doing a year of travel, and an Irish lad exploring Croatia. Quality folks. The following day we walked some more around Dubrovnik and explored the shops and streets.We spent some time walking over to the other side of Dubrovnik outside of the old town. We again basked as you do in a sunny European country. I saw a rather cool "pirate" ship at the poet which was a neat tour boat really. In the evening, we also ended up walking up a very big hill to catch a pretty sunset, we walked as to not pay the exorbitant cable car fare and because, fitness and scenery. We blundered our way up there without a map and went up seemingly nondescript staircases past people's abodes, and a precarious walk down a narrow busy road, followed by some uneven rocky walkways up the hill til we finally emerged at the apex. The sunset was one of the best I'd seen, mind blowing and worth the slog. Such a spectacular vantage point of all of the city. Our last dinner was at a port restaurant. The food was grand, I had an excellent Margherita pizza. There was a guy playing piano at the restaurant also. Hearing him play Your Song by Elton John and other great ditties whilst stuffing one's face full of quality pizza was cause for great joy. We spent the rest of our eve packing and preparing our farewells to the sunny joy that is Dubrovnik. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Next stop, Italy! Photos of course will be uploaded when energy is more abundant.

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Comments

[Lisa]

Gorgeous throne
That is an exceptional image of grandeur!