For various reasons (but mostly just one!), I was relatively late getting into Dubrovnik, which meant a) I hadn’t eaten anything all day, except an egg and cress sandwich in the Manchester airport at 9am b) it was a national holiday in Croatia, so many things were closed and c) it was a bit late to get into the old town.
Why was I late I hear you ask? Good question! I was (mostly) late in because my flight from Munich to Dubrovnik was held on the tarmac for 2 hours while a MASSIVE thunderstorm went over. So, that meant being held on the tarmac, in the plane for longer than our flight was due to be! It was okay. I had a very cute German girl sitting behind me who kept declaring “Geblitzen!” And jumping with each thunder/lightning clap.
Due to late plane and public holiday, my main priority when I got in was food! So instead of trying to get into the old town (once I’d found my boat), I zoomed down the harbour for dinner! My priorities are nothing but consistent!
I was determined to see the “Old Town” before we left up the coast to Split, so I set my alarm for stupid o’clock the next morning and got up.
At 5:40am I caught the bus into town and jumped off at the ancient city walls. At this time of morning, old Dubrovnik is deserted(ish). It is sans the 8,000-9,000 visitors is gets per day, but is full of locals restocking shops, delivering food etc. so therefore, my views were relatively empty.
As you can imagine, I missed the history tour, but what I noticed as I walked through the old town (and may have missed with 8,999 others squeezing through), were the tributes to those who lost their lives in the Old City during the war. There were memorials to journalists who lost their lives, and in my mind, 1991 isn’t that long ago. But it was so hard to imagine in that place.
The Old City was hit quite hard and I passed locations that commemorated sites and people that were completely destroyed.
I walked the 5kms back to the harbour, very aware that the boat has a strict time to leave and I didn’t want to be left behind.
When I rounded the corner near our mooring, my heart hit the roof…. All the boats were gone that have been there when I left in the morning (they had been mored 3-4 boats deep and three rows of them). My heart calmed down a bit when I walked a little further on to see our boat sitting on its lonesome….!
From Dubrovnik we head north to Spilt. I am joining the trip half way through, so that is always challenging!
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