6/7/2019 - Dubrovnik - a new home for us

After breakfast at the hostel we packed up our gear and left it in the public area of the hostel, before walking down to the  bus station with Harry and checking out the bus times to the airport (he leaves tomorrow).

Once we had done that we had the times for our bus on Monday, so that helped us with planning.  We figured we could catch the bus just after 2pm and be at the airport in plenty of time.

We messaged our airbnb host, Mato and waited at the Hostel until we heard back from him, and then walked the 700m or so with our bags to meet him just a little closer to the old city.

Mato was very helpful with the bags - taking mine for me and leaving me with the slightly lighter one of  Trevor's as we traveled up the 20 or so steps of the narrow laneway

looking back down the laneway

, through the green painted door

 and along an inner terrace

to his door in a wall at the end.

Our home for the next couple of nights was under his house - at the ground level,  with a small kitchen, dining/ living room (sofa made into a bed) , bedroom (with double bed) and bathroom with shower and toilet.

We have access to the terrace outside the bedroom window, which is shaded by vines,  by walking around outside.  We also have an airconditioner. (thankyou, thankyou)

view from terrace

Having moved across successfully, we headed into the old town again.  We had been issued with a "Dubrovnik Card" as part of the tour and this was for yesterday and today.  We used it for the town walls tour yesterday.   Since a number of other institutions were offering free entry with the card, we decided to make some use of it.

First stop was the Ethnographic Museum.  This museum was designed to show normal life through the times.  There were a lot of articles used in normal day to day life on display, but you could not touch anything. (olive presses, bee hives etc)

old shears

beehive

Beehive roof

The decorated eggs reminded us of Zita and I took photos to show her of the patterns on them.

We stopped and had some lunch at a cafe in one of the narrow laneways. This one was not much wider than the verge out the front on the footpath at home,  but had tables on either side between the stone buildings and still people walking through as well. 

I had to take a couple of photos of the amazing lolly shop  (we didn't buy any of the super sweet looking morsels)

We had a brief stroll through a church - but it was fairly plain and uninteresting except for the lovely stained glass window at the front.

The Maritime Museum was next.   This was recommended by fellow travelers, but it was hot, we were getting tired and I guess we are not that interested in boats.   The building tools were the most interesting part of it. What do they use them all for??

 As we walked past the clock tower I took a photo from the side of the green man who rings the bell.  There have been a number of these mechanical men over the years.  It must be a wearying business ringing the bell for years on end.

We met up with the remains of our tour group at the fountain  at 5pm as agreed and we all bought ourselves some early tea.  Trev and I had wraps.  We all sat perched along the step of a gutter in street,  slurping and dripping the sauce out of our very well loaded wraps and trying not to get it on us.  Some wet wipes to follow could have been very useful.  

There was a bit of discussion about the plan of attack.  The end goal of this foray was to see the sunset from the top of the hill that overlooks Dubrovnik. Harry had already walked up earlier in the day and said it was a really tough walk and difficult underfoot.  Michael was keen to prove himself and Trev would have gone with him, but the rest of us were not keen, so we all agreed to take the gondola up together.  The walk to the gondola was a fair walk as it was.

This got us up there in plenty of time to find a good spot for viewing the sunset.  The challenge is to find a view of the city and the sunset without people, buildings or gondola towers and cables in the way. We settled for a rocky outcrop on the sunset side of the cafe and official viewing area, which worked pretty well for us.  The sunset was fairly unspectacular, but passable and the only one on offer.  We enjoyed watching the little boats leaving their trails in the sunset and the last of the sea kayakers coming back into the safe harbor as night time came along. 

view from the top of the hill of the city

We sadly said goodbye to Harry, Michael and Kristen as they headed down the hill track, and stayed with Tracey to admire the city as the lights slowly came on.  

You can really make out the main street easily because of the lights.

  

Then we headed down on almost the last cable car to the bottom and walked through the old city one last time to get to our bus home.  Pity help the people who are here should a natural disaster  ever hit.  The narrow rabbit warren of lanes to get lost in and the limit of three exits for the entire city make it a real disaster trap.  

Having said that,  I love this city.  I could wander these old walled cities with the narrow lanes for days on end just people watching and admiring and wondering... but it would drive Trevor crazy.

After a farewell to Tracey at the bus stop (she headed one way and we another) we headed home to our comfy beds for a well earned rest.