The journey to Dubrovnik was over 150 km and for the most part, followed the coast road. This meant that what could have been a journey of less than 2 hours took almost five, The first stop was at a gas station where we had to pay for the privilege of using the restrooms. This part of the Dalmatian Coast is known as the Croatian Riviera. While I wouldn’t go so far as to compare it to the beaches we enjoy on the mid north coast back home, the little bays and sheltered boat harbours brought forth many "oohs" and "ahhs" as we rounded each bend.
The second stop came as a surprise to all of us. There is a small section of the Croatian coast, some 25 km that was ceded to Bosnia many centuries ago (done as a deal with the Ottoman empire to buy protection from the invading Venetians). Complete with border check points at each end of the strip, we crossed and found ourselves in another country. After a short drive, we stopped at the little town of Nuem for a drink break. Underneath the restaurant was a super market at which our tour guide advised us, we could purchase duty free items - bottles of wine, souvenirs, CDs (we bought 2) and any thing else a super market provides. I bought an umbrella for less then A$4 - only as a guarantee that it would not rain, of course! 
We crossed the border check again and re-entered Croatia and soon arrived at the Neretva River delta which has been extensively farmed for over 150 years. This part of the world is known as the California of Croatia because of all the tangerine orchards. Directly after crossing the flat delta, we climbed into the coastal ranges, stopping for a Kodak moment at the local lookout. The panorama was truly spectacular, with the cultivated fields spread out like a carpet below.
We arrived in Dubrovnik just after 1 pm and after stopping for the obligatory Kodak moment just outside the city, we headed straight for the old town. Our walking tour of the old town was scheduled for 3:30, so we had almost 2 hours to amuse ourselves. Liz expressed a desire to walk the top of the city walls - a distance of 2 km even before we had anything to eat! Dave and Marie, Gert and Steve decided that they would tackle the wall walk when we came back to Dubrovnik after our cruise. So, Liz compromised about starting immediately - Jill and I shared a ham, cheese and tomato roll and a cup of tea while Liz and Ron had a cold drink. We purchased our tickets for the wall and set off. The very first part of the walk - climbing the first staircase proved to be the most challenging part of all. While not overly high, the stairmakers of the 11 th century didn’t bother about even height stair risers or equal depth stair treads. We were obliged to rest for a moment to regain our breath before we set off along the top of the wall. On one side is an almost sheer drop of 40-50 metres to the sea; on the other, we gazed down into privately owned back yards, complete with washing drying on lines and freshly dug vege gardens. Like the Great Wall of China, the wall around the old town of Dubrovnik rises and falls according to the shape of the rocky outcrop on which it was built. There are many look out towers, each with their own set of stairs and many vantage points for Kodak moments - thank goodness Jill has a 4 gb card in her camera!
The wall itself is thickest on the mainland side - up to 6 metres thick in places. That part of the wall facing the sea is somewhat thinner - maybe 2 metres at the thickest point. Our tour guide had explained that the builders had believed that the most ferocious form of attack would be coming from the mainland, the ship mounted cannons couldn’t provide the penetrating power of land based weapons - very efficient use of resources!
After the walk on the wall, we still had about 45 minutes to wait until our walk through the old town spread out below. So, Liz and Ron decided to have their ham, cheese and tomato roll while I - you guessed it - enjoyed a large ice cream! Jill invited a local stray dog to join us - after staring at us, demanding something to eat, the mutt shook itself and deposited a fine mist of assorted crap over Liz’s jacket! That, of course, was in addition to the deposit that a passing pigeon had made on Liz’s head earlier!The city walk was interesting, but by this time, I was walked out! The history of Dubrovnik is extremely interesting. The city walls had never been breached until the Serbian-Croatian war of 1991. The old town suffered terrible damage during several intense missile attacks and credit must go to the people living here that they have rebuilt and restored the old town to its former glory.
After the walk had finished, Tatjana, our lovely guide in Slovenia met us and escorted us to a tucked away bar built into the wall. We had spotted it earlier on our tour and thought that it would be a great place to relax, looking out over the sea. She gave us a box of chocolates to share - such is the nature of the person she is. Unfortunately, Tom, our guide in Croatia had told us quite sternly that we had to be back at the bus pick up point by 6 pm. So, it was skates on and Tatjana guided us back just in time.
The final surprise of the day came when we arrived at our hotel. The view from our room and from the restaurant was post-card material. Not only that, the buffet for the evening meal far surpassed anything we had encountered on our trip so far. We can hardly wait to see what breakfast brings.
I am reading your blog and cant help smiling. poor Liz she really must have some good luck coming her way after 2 messages from some of gods creatures. Keep up the blogging love
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