Dubrovnik, the end of the road... for now.

Dubrovnik - The pearl of the Adriatic!!! We were both really looking forward to getting to Dubrovnik; we had heard so much about the place, it was our last stop, and we had a solid week there without moving around.

The accomodation market in Dubrovnik is fierce. When we stepped off the ferry there were about 20 people waiting for us with pictures of their apartments trying to get us to stay. They all have their cars there to drive you back and you really have to make a decision on the fly and hope you make a good pick. We went with a younger girl who seemed cool, she had a pretty cheap place, partly because it was a bit further away than some of the others....

This was the walk from our apartment to the old town every day, not too bad, but the hundreds of stairs made for hard going on the way home for sure.

We took a walk around after we got settled on the first night. Dubrovnik is well known for the spectacular walls that surround the city.

City walls by night.

As the weather was ordinary on the first day, we decided to skip the beach and take the walk around the city walls to get a look at the city from above.

The main street behind us as seen from the city walls.

The spectacular sheer cliffs and city walls made Dubrovnik extremely well protected against invasion back in the day, also makes for ripper photos.

View over to the Lovrijenac tower (on the left) which guarded the gap in the walls. It was really windy for the first couple of days, and the seas in the keyhole were pretty rough. I couldn't look at it without trying to figure the best way to paddle out....

Angie on the corner of the walls.

Me sitting in one of the lookouts, there is a sheer drop of about 20metres on the other side.

The inside of the walls.

A view from the highest point back across the city towards the ocean.

Lovrijenac tower from the sea. This is taken just inside the keyhole that you can see in the other photos. There is a nice garden behind tha camera where I came down for a few beers one night.

We picked a nice day and jumped on the ferry that heads to Lokrum Island to spend the day there. Its only 15min or so away on the boat, and you yould almost swim to the near side from Dubrovnik if you were keen. It was so beautiful over there.

Beautiful old Benedictine monestary that is right in the centre of the island, apparenly founded in 1023, it looked like a lot of it had been rebuilt though. There was also a botanical garden where thay had cultivated plants taken from similar climates from all over the world, including some gum trees from down under.

There were loads of peacocks all over the island.

Natural bridge on the ocean side of Lokrum, away from the port in Dubrovnik.

The weather was great so we walked a bit and found a secluded cove, swam, laid on the rocks and soaked up the sun for the arvo, magic ;)

Our cove... No one around for miles.

Back in Dubrovnik
Prosek!! Our favorite, finest, cheapest drink in Dubrovnik. So many little squares littered with cafes and outdoor tables, we sat for ages.

Same cafe, different Proseks

City square by night, that's me underneath the flag pole.

Even though it was a little quieter than what it would have been in peak season, there were still plenty of people around most nights, eating and drinking in the hundreds of cafes that line the squares and narrow streets.


On another day we walked up to the Lovrijenac tower that guards the keyhole entry to the city.
Fantastic views back over the city.

Us at Lovrijenac tower, you can see Dubrovnik in the background, behind the city walls.
Where has my Zooyork hat gone?
View from the tower looking the other way


This was our last stop on our original itinery that we had planned from Australia. What an awesome trip! We had traveled through England, France, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia + Herzegovina and Croatia. We saw and did some fantastic things that we will always remember, met some great people, learned heaps about the history and culture of the places we stayed and also got a better understanding of where Australia fits in to the whole picture. It was worth every dollar, pound, euro, lira, lev, dinar, convertible mark and kuna and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

These are my top picks of places and people from the first leg of our travels:

PLACES:

French Pyrenees

Monsegeur

Venice

Cappadocia

Sarajevo

Rome

PEOPLE:

Salim (Hostel owner in Sarajevo)

Scottish Ronnie (Publican in Fethiye who hooked us up for the grand final)

Shelley (Aussie who we met in Fethiye)

Valerie (wine maker in Monseguer)

As great as it was, we were definitely ready to get back to London, regroup, change clothes, and not worry about booking the next room to stay in for a couple of weeks...... But that wore off pretty quick and before we knew it we were packed and heading off to Prague for the next leg!

See you there

Matt and Angie