Day 14 Dubrovnik When Harry met Francis

The Dalmation coast of Croatia has always been a favourite of mine. Dark green mountainous fiords are interspersed with scattered villages and towns.

 The buildings are steeped in history and offer a wealth of discovery to their visitors. Dubrovnik is no exception. Founded in the first half of the 7th century by a group of refugees from Epidaurum, their settlement was established at the island and named Laus. Opposite, at the foot of the mountain, Slavs developed their own settlement under the name of Dubrovnik (named by "Dub" - type of wood). The settlements were separated by a channel which was filled in 12th century, and since then the two settlements have been united. At that time the city walls started to be built as a protection from different enemies (Arabs, Venetian, Macedonians, Serbs, etc.), who wanted to conquer Dubrovnik.

So, it was close to this city that our ship sailed this morning, arriving over an hour late as another ship had temporarily ‘stolen’ our berth. This was not my first visit to Dubrovnik, but I was struck with how the city had developed since our last view of it shortly after the end of the war. The city walls were cleaner and had been repaired. It was also thronging with tourists, and far more expensive than a few years ago.

We caught the 10$ shuttle into the city and joined the crowds to tread on the wide marble pavements and admire the architecture. Fortunately we had remembered to bring Sir Francis and decided to allow him to ‘pose’ on a statue. Just as we did so, an American gentleman, sat a small teddy beside him. ‘This is Harry’, he said, ‘He travels all over the world with me’.

We also spent some money, on us, on a grouper fish made of palm leaves, really. It sounds mad, but I will upload a photo when we reach home. It is currently ‘bubble-wrapped’

I swam again today in the afternoon. The weather is due to break tomorrow, so this was probably my last chance to mitigate against the impact of some of the eating with a gentle swim. I doubt I lost much weight, but I did feel the effects of the sun.

Tomorrow we visit Corfu, weather willing. See you there.