After a hellish 48 hour ferry trip from Patra in Greece via Bari in Italy, we finally arrived in Dubrovnik at 7 in the morning. Luckily our host was a really good guy and transferred us from the port to our accommodation for free - we really didn't feel like another trek by that time!
The coastline around Dubrovnik is stunning - crystal clear warm water everywhere, lots of cliffs and beaches. Unlike a lot of places in Europe, the natural environment has been mostly preserved here. We spent a lot of the time swimming, either at the beach or off the rocks at various places around Dubrovnik. It was beautiful. :)
The culture is very relaxed here. Everything is very quiet out in the suburbs of Dubrovnik at around 2 in the afternoon, as there is a widely observed siesta time. It is a really great place.
Dubrovnik has to be one of the richest places I have seen, you can tell that the city has a very aristocratic heritage. The whole old town is paved in this sort-of marble stone, and everything is extremely clean and well-maintained.
There are about 2 ks of city walls to walk around, you get fantastic views over the old town and surrounds - check out the photos.
Dubrovnik was right in the thick of war in the early nineties and you can tell that this experience has scarred the city culturally. Our own host lost his wife and relatives in the conflict. I get the feeling that there is no love lost between Croatia and its neighbours to this day, which is a shame.
We also spent one day over on an island very close to Dubrovnik called Lokrum Island. It is a nature reserve, and it had some really nice places to swim.
As for the food, you can have pizza or pasta. Turns out you can have too much of a good thing! Looking forward to Munich for a bit of a wider variety of food choices!
This has been a really relaxing stop for us. I think we will definitely have to come back to Croatia one day. Now we catch a 21-hour bus through the rest of Croatia, Slovenia and Austria to get to Munich. Will post again soon.
