Dubrovnik, Croatia – Rest Day

After checking on the wellbeing of the rest of the group (sure enough, Aussie John had contracted it) we set out to the supermarket this morning. Tommy’s Hipermarket (sic) is about a 10 minute walk and has everything one needs. Sort of compares to the Superstore at home.

After breakfast (the buffet was one of the best settings so far - sitting outside on the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean) we met up with John and Gail (John is just a little rocky this morning) and shared a taxi to the cable car station. Our hotel is just a little too far out of town to walk. We then travelled via cable car to the top of the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik. This is the site of the Imperial Fort built in 1812 by Napoleon. It was used as a secure fortification during the Yugoslav War of the early 1990s as the Dubrovnik Croatians attempted to defend their city against the Serbian forces. The 200 year old Imperial Fort walls withstood the pounding from modern artillery. The old city (a 17^th century UNESCO World Heritage Site) was not so lucky and was severely damaged, perhaps the stupidest thing the Serbs did as it turned the world against them. This act and some horrible massacres in Bosnia resulted in a NATO 15 country force basically putting an end to the conflict. At any rate we went through a museum at the top of the mountain and rode back down to the old town.

There seems to be a Croatian belief in the luck of lady bugs and we were seeing this symbol and home crafted articles everywhere. We did purchase a leather lady bug to bring home. At the fort at the top of the mountain there had obviously been a new hatch as there were literally hundreds of lady bugs up there.

We stopped for a cold drink in one of the many lovely outdoor cafes on the ocean side and later for some ice cream, before we shopped. A wedding photoshoot was happening there today. There was also a lady with her numerous exotic birds letting people take pictures holding them for a fee. She would not disclose how much she made in a day but had a pretty brisk business going, especially with the kids with birds on their heads, etc.

When we were in the Mediterranean five years ago we were intrigued by many spice markets and how smartly they were arranged. Here is Dubrovnik they have candy stores with the same kind of barrel displays. We couldn’t identify any of it so needless to say did not make a purchase. We did look in one of the other stores where they had truffles, all sorts of olive oil and balsamic vinegars and olives. If we could have found those lovely little olives we had purchased in our previous trip you can be sure we would have been bringing some of them home.  We taxied back to the hotel in the early afternoon.

Have included a picture of one of the motorcycle friendly roads leading to the city.

Tonight's dinner was a pizza - very good - with some of their excellent ice cream for dessert. Tomorrow we will ride to Hvar - a island accessed by a ferry.