Thursday 26 May.
It was an early arrival in Dubrovnik this morning and going ashore started from 8:00 am. We weren't docking there but anchoring just off the town and being ferried in by tenders. They were issuing numbered tickets for the tenders from 7:00 am at reception and Moira went to collect ours while I showered. She was near the head of the queue but got tickets for No 4, it looked like those going on tours got preference and were first off.
As we went for breakfast the old town could be seen just a short distance from where the ship was now anchored. The hill, Srdj Mountain, behind the town had a cable car running to the top but it didn't look too high and steep so we now made the decision to walk to the top instead of spending money on the cable car. After breakfast we got our lunch packed into the daypack and headed down for the tender. We thought it would be quite quick but it was long wait until our number was called and it was 9:00 am when we eventually reached dry land.
The trip over in the tender was good fun with it tossing about a bit and there were wonderful views of the old town with its walled fortifications, with the large round turrets, towers and domes of the churches inside. When we reached the quay it was then a walk through an archway in the walls to long narrow rising streets until we found our way out to the cable car station. From there we headed uphill as 'up' was the direction we wanted to go and asked some people of we could get to the top the way we were going. Nobody seemed to know but they told us to take some stairs instead of the zig zag road, but as far as they knew it came to a dead end. They were wrong the stairs came to a path then more stairs that crossed the main road to a wall that we had seen clearly from the ship. From there it was more stairs and a path winding upwards to reach a narrow road along the ridge along the top. We had outstanding views all the way up, the walled town was nestled in the rocky coast while on the other side of a cove was a large castle, in the other direction the Sinfonia lay anchored beside a large island. Further up the coast were more small islands and another town.
The road at the top ran along the ridge all the way to the cable car station at the high point. Inland from the ridge higher mountains ran in a range as far as we could see in both directions. The road was narrow but it busy with taxis taking tourists to the summit, there were lots of bottlenecks as there wasn't room for traffic in both directions and there was lots of reversing and diversions on to the fields. There was a notice telling us about the damage to the area in the wars of the 90's, there was a lot of ruins about but they look more ancient. It was a steady climb up the road to the top and the weather was now getting hot but our main concern was avoiding the traffic, the drivers seemed to think they were on a motorway. The taxis stopped at a few spots to let their passengers out for the view. At least with walking up we got varying vistas from all angles. At the top there was a restaurant/bar and we stopped for a much appreciated beer, we were hot and sweaty. We sat at a seat near the edge and it gave us a wonderful view with a lovely cold beer even though it cost 'an arm and a leg', €7 each. We chatted to a German couple who had come up by the cable car, they didn't like the prices either.
After we were refreshed and rested we started back on the way down. It took us 75 minutes to come up but now being downhill we were back at the old town walls in 45 minutes. It was now lunchtime but there wasn't any supermarkets available to get a beer to go with our sandwiches. We sat on a wall and made do with water to wash them down. The next attraction was the walk round the city's old walls. We had difficulty finding where to get up to start, there didn't seem to be any signposts showing the way and the map we had didn't help. We walked along the bottom of the walls on the inside until we reached an access point to the top. Then we got the next shock, the price, €16 each. We just had to accept that this was a tourist trap and everything would be very expensive.
Even at the price the walk along the walls was worth it. It wasn't flat, the walls undulated in conjunction with the underlying land. All the way the view into the town was over the red tiled roofs of the houses with the towers, spires and domes of the various churches poking up above. On the outside the scene change from the mountain ridge where we had just been to the rocky cove with the castle on the promontory at the other side, then next out to sea where people were canoeing and others jumping from the rocks below into the cool water for a swim and finally the harbour and in the distance the Sinfonia beside the green wooded island. It was a very enjoyable walk and the walls themselves were series of fortresses, towers and bastions that encircled the city preventing attacks by enemies in ancient times. At a few points on the walls there were souvenir shops, cafes and bars. We stopped at a bar and had another beer, this wasn't to bad, only €5 each and they had free WiFi we could use. I downloaded the newspaper, published my blog, and posted something on FaceBook.
It had been about a 2 km circuit on the walls and with our stops for refreshments and photographs it took nearly 2 hours. So when we came down into the town centre again it was nearly time to make it back to the ship. We strolled through the streets that were now very busy with tourists in the shopping area. We did stop for an iced cream cone that was surprisingly reasonably priced, only €1:50 and it was nice and cooling. Soon we were at the quay and on to a waiting tender. When it was full we were on our way but when we arrived at the ship there was a delay for some reason in getting off, people began standing and queuing but we sat patiently and waited until the line started to move. On the way up the gangway Moira managed to drop my ID card for the cruise into the water. Fortunately there was no problem and they let me aboard all right and it only took a couple of minutes to get a new one from reception.
After dumping our gear in the cabin we headed for the stern of the ship as usual to watch us sailing off. We went via the tea/coffee machines and got a drink to take with us. The last tender was at 4:00 pm so it wasn't long after it had discharged its passengers than we were on our way. It was probably faster as there weren't any ropes to untie and a dock to manoeuvre out off, just the anchor to raise and away, though it still required the pilot to take is out to deeper water. I began to take photographs as we departed but the battery on my camera was dead due to the number of photographs I had taken today. I had to use the camera on my iPad instead.
Once we we out to sea we went to the buffet for dinner. As we sat eating we could see the Croatian coast in sight as the ship steamed along it. There was a long range of quite attractive high mountains for some distance. This place is another that is well worth coming to again for a longer visit. There was a show on in the theatre after dinner, I don't understand why they said last night's performance was the last. Tonight was the classical music group and they basically did a repeat of some of the songs from their previous performances. It was good, much better than what we endured yesterday.
It was another early night again once the show finished. In bed I read the paper and attempted the crossword for an hour before getting to sleep. I gargled with salt and water before going to sleep and dosed up with more pills.
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