We finally depart (by bus) from the terminal 8 minutes past our departure time. It feels like we are going on a bus tour of the airport to get to the plane!!
Once seated we seem to sit here for a good 10 minutes before we depart. Our two hours in Roma airport has just been reduced to one hour 30 minutes.
We land into Roma airport 13 minutes behind schedule. On landing I notice a paddock full of hay bales.....hoping we have landed into Roma airport and not somewhere else.
As per normal it’s a bus to the terminal. We are the last to get on and thankfully the first to get off. It’s a wait for the bags. In the end we decide to separate - Susan stays at the baggage carousel and I head to the check in desks.
On asking a Vueling staff member if I’m in the line for all flights she asks where I’m flying too - Dubrovnik - I’m told to follow her as the flight is about to close. Don’t have the heart to tell her that I’m waiting for Susan and the bags. Thankfully there is a family ahead of me so I have a bit of time before I need to have that conversation.
Susan appears around the corner - a great sight! We have a few minutes wait before our turn then are off.
Aah passport control - I head straight to the line for “flights in under 60 minutes” while Susan goes through the EU passport line. Thankfully it’s not too long for me.
We have a wait at the gate before having to get on a bus to the flight. Dubrovnik here we come!
We land into cloudy overcast Dubrovnik 15 minutes early. Where is our sun and blue skies??!
The line at immigration is crazy tunes!! Susan suggests I go with her through the EU line. As we get closer to the front of the line I’m getting more nervous. Worse case they send me to the back of the foreigner line - will just mean we are hanging around the airport longer.
Thankfully no issue at all - the immigration officer doesn’t say one word to me.
I’d arranged an airport transfer through the apartment we are staying at so after exiting the passengers only part of the airport we wander around trying to find one of our names. Finally our driver is located. There is to be another person in the car also so we wait for them to arrive.
It’s a quick 30 minute drive into Dubrovnik with lots of see.
We are shown around the apartment then left to our own devices. As we have been up for so long (around 9 hours) it feels so much later than it is. Ooh sleep will be good tonight!!
Susan manages to find out when the French Open women’s final is (in another hour at 3pm) so we decide to head out now for some lunch, or is it dinner??!
Hold on that - the heavens have opened. Noooo this is not what we ordered. Summer sun please.
The rain seems to have moved to a drizzle so off we head.
Our apartment is about 200 meters from the Pile Gate in the Old Town. So nice and close but far away enough to be out of the madness. We had looked for accommodation within the city walls but it was all so small and so expensive!
Man oh man there are SO many people around!! Lots of people had warned me of this but it’s still confronting.
We wander around the Old Town a bit - the apartment lady had recommended a couple of restaurants so we go in hunt of them for later / other nights.
The crazy amounts of people around get to us. It really is ridiculous how many people are in this small place!
Time for the supermarket then to find the apartment office as the safe is no longer working and our passports are in there, which we need for Monday when we head to Montenegro for the day.
Bit of a mission to locate it but we make it in the end.
We have a couple of hours back at the apartment relaxing watching the women’s final of the French open.
Early evening we head out again, this time going in the opposite direction of the old town.
With no fixed abode we just wander and find ourselves in a park overlooking the sea. There is next to no one around, such a pleasant change from the craziness of the old town. We park up on a seat and watch the sea coming and going against the rocks below. It’s super relaxing!! It’s entertaining watching a group of guys playing some kind of game with a ball that every now and again ends up in the sea. We also have swimmers to watch.
The rain drops start again - time to move on.
After purchasing water and dropping it off at the apartment we go off looking for a place (outside of the old town) for dinner.
Dinner for me is seafood risotto which is hot and tasty!
Before heading back to the apartment we head to Pile Gate - there are a lot less people around now which is great!
Aah there is blue sky when I wake on Sunday 10 June - brilliant!! Long may that last. We have a chilled start to the day, needed after yesterday’s crazy early start!!
I wanted a smoothie for breakfast and had seen a place last night on our wandering so we head off there. Unfortunately no smoothies today. Hey Ho.
Deep breath.....Old Town here we come!!
One of the things to see / do in the Old Town is to wander around the City Walls.
My trusty lonely planet informs us the first set of walls was built in the 9th century. In the 15th century the current (then) forts were strengthened and new ones were added. This was due to the threat of attack from the Turks. Interestingly the walls today are thicker on the land side (up to 6 meters) and are from 1.5 to 3 meters thick on the sea side.
We enter the walls close to Pile Gate (the gate closest to our apartment). The views are amazing the whole way around!
We stop for a fresh juice at some stage of our walk - great to be out of the sun and enjoying a breeze.
We continue wandering around the City Walls.
We had come full circle. I had read earlier that people spend between 1 to 4 hours here. I thought that seemed crazy until I realized we had been up here for 2 hours 40 minutes.
Gelato is purchased for Susan then we wander the streets. While there is a lot of people around it doesn’t seem as many as yesterday. Hopefully that’s due to the cruise ship departing late yesterday afternoon.
As we hadn’t heard from the apartment place this morning before we left on the safe we decided to head there. Unfortunately they can’t get anyone to come out to 9am tomorrow morning. This means we need to reschedule our trip to Montenegro - what a pain!! The lady does it for us, and advises it’s not the same tour as we had booked. Buggar!
We continue our wandering of the streets, going into the Cathedral of the Assumption before heading to the water.
As we walk into the apartment I notice my arms are red :( nice to be out of the sun for a bit! Time for the men’s final of the French Open.
Late afternoon we head to the information centre to get some information about going to an island tomorrow. The lady is far from helpful!! So we decide to head to the port ourselves to find out the situation for tomorrow.
It’s a short wait for the bus. The unhelpful lady had told us it would be 20 minutes to the Port, nice and easy. Unfortunately she was incorrect, we end up going too far so get off. At the bus stop going back to the old town there are two people waiting. Hopefully that means the bus will come soon. Bingo it does. They are also helpful and tell us where to get off.
The lady at the information desk at the port is super helpful. What’s not good is there are no other boats to Korcula other than what I researched online. As we don’t fancy spending 12 hours on Korcula Island we decide to look at doing a tour.
Feeling slightly dejected we get back on the bus to the Old Town and head straight to Amico Tours to arrange a day tour with them tomorrow to the Islands.
We are greeted like long lost friends as we enter. As soon as we set down Susan remembers the Island tour is only on Wednesday - ooh dear! Hey Ho we book for Wednesday and we’ll have tomorrow around Dubrovnik.
We had spied a Mexican restaurant on our wanderings earlier so head there for dinner.
Monday 12 June - the day we were supposed to be going to Montenegro - I have a wee sleep in. I have fallen off the exercise band wagon here.....not good!
The safe man arrives at 9.20am and within minutes has it open and is on his way. We are told not to use the safe and that Croatia is the safest country in the world so no issue with leaving our things outside of the safe.
Sunscreen is put on before we leave the apartment - don’t need a repeat of my red arms!
We walk up to St Lawrence Fortress (or Fort Lovrijenac) - seems so much hotter than yesterday!
The views are amazing and thankfully there is a small breeze.
Wikipedia inform us St Lawrence Fortress is a fortress and theatre with three terraces. Depending on which direction the walls are facing depends on the thickness – facing outside to sea they reach 12 meters thickness; facing inside to the city the walls are only 60 centimetres thick.
On arrival at the bottom we decide a sit down is required - we end up the same place we had dinner a couple of nights ago. OJ and coffee is ordered. Lovely just sitting here relaxing.
When we come down from the Fort we wander back into the Old Town and head to Franciscan Monastery and Museum. As we walk inside we are greeted by a 14th century cloister, a small museum and an extremely old pharmacy.
By some stroke of luck the bus we need is at the bus stop when we arrive - talk about timing!!
It’s hot, sweaty and packed on here!
We miss the stop we were supposed to get off but it’s a nice easy walk downhill from the next bus stop.
After wandering down the pedestrian street we come to the sea. The views are amazing!! We finally locate one of the hotels - unfortunately they don’t allow non hotel guests to use the pool. Buggar! Back to the other one we had been told about last night. Yes non-guests can use the pool but not today as the pool is closed. Ooh bloody hell - not our day!!
The beach is a rocky beach but needs must and all that. We pick a restaurant for lunch on the water’s edge. I spy a place where you don’t need to access the sea by the beach, instead it’s by steps down. Bingo. It looks like there is a restaurant right near it as well so we decide to head there for lunch. Failed attempt at ordering.....oh dear it’s not our day!
After moving places we order lunch. 5 minutes later we are told that there is no burrata cheese left, back to the drawing board! We have the menu explained to us again, as it’s not in English then order.
We move to the comfortable seats and aah relax! Sitting hear relaxing and reading is wonderful after being on the go for so long.
I get into the water once - it’s cool but warmer than I thought it would be.
I’d been told and read about visiting Cave Bar. As the sun is starting to come down we wander over there.
The cave is not as I expected so we elect to sit outside. Drinks ordered - this is the life!
We wander back to the pedestrian street for dinner, deciding on Mexican again. It doesn’t disappoint.
As we walk out to get the bus our luck with buses continue as the number 6 is at the stop. Great win for us! A/C and a shower is needed!!
Thursday 12 June - day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Refer to travel blog Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It’s still light when we get off the van - love day light savings! Dinner is calling so we wander into the Old Town and after looking at a few places decide on one. It doesn’t disappoint!
As soon as we walk into the apartment both a/c units are switched on - time to really cool down before having a shower. It’s been an awesome day!!
Wednesday 13 June I’m woken by my alarm at 6.30am - thankfully I slept better than last night but it’s still early. Today we are doing a tour to Korcula Island. Refer to travel blog on Korcula.
As we walk down the hill to the Pile Gate the heat hits us - it’s 6.30pm but there is still fire in the sun!!
We have an hour back at the apartment relaxing and packing. Not sure how long tomorrow’s trip will be (we are off to Montenegro) so doing it now makes sense.
It’s lovely walking outside at 7.30pm and it still be day light! We wander into the old town to the apartment office to confirm and pay for our airport transfer on Friday.
Now the fun task of deciding where to eat. After looking at a few places we decide on a place in the old port and lucky get seats on the each.
Great sitting here staring out to the port. Great for people watching!
I have a delicious Sailor Style risotto (seafood with a tomato sauce) for dinner. Super tasty! We may have to return here tomorrow night.
My alarm wakes me from a deep sleep on Thursday 14 June - our last full day in Croatia and we are off to Montenegro for the day. If only I could switch off my alarms and go back to sleep......
Refer to travel blog on Montenegro.
We decide to head straight to dinner as we get out of the van. If I go back to the apartment it’s highly likely I won’t leave to tomorrow!
Aah day light savings - makes it seem earlier than it is.
As we walk through Pile Gate I fill up my water bottle from the fountain. I’m thirsty today - not enough water has been drank.
We had reviewed a menu last night that looked good so headed straight there.
Thankfully we had exactly the right amount of money and all our Croatian Krona has been spent!
As we left dinner I commented to Susan about not seeing any sunsets since being here. We walk around the corner and bingo we can see the sky colouring. As we walk out the Pile Gate the sun set is a lot clearer. A nice end to the day.
My alarm wakes me at 6.30am on Friday 15 June. I had planned to get up for a run but was just too tired. Must go tomorrow!! Instead I enjoyed relaxing before getting up to start the day.
We have an airport transfer coming at 9.30am so the last minute packing happens in between reading.
It’s an easy half hour drive to the airport. Check-in is easy then we wait wait wait for the plane.
We are late boarding the plane - no surprises we need to get on a bus to get to the plane. Fingers crossed we aren’t too late, I already feel like I’m going to be running to the train station to make my train from Roma to Orvieto.
Thankfully it’s only a 10 minute delay departing. Goodbye Croatia - it’s been interesting!
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