Dubrovnik

The “Pearl of the Adriatic” as it is called. I can’t disagree with that. Dubrovnik is a cruise port destination that attracts as many as 7 cruise ships at a time during the peak summer travel season. It was recently features in the last year on the Amazing Race reality show as one of their “race around the world” destinations.

Dubrovnik’s old town is an entirely enclosed walled city. It was an independent city-state for several centuries up until a couple hundred years ago. In fact, it was the first independent nation to recognize the United States as a new nation back in 1776.

The city walls, bright blue oceans, the famous red roofs and sunshine are all Dubrovnik trademarks. It’s very picturesque. I spent the entire day on Tuesday in the old town. Doing a 90-minute loop on the city walls is a fun activity. There is one church within the city with a treasury dedicated to the Saint Blaise (centuries ago). They had his leg, forearms and part of his skull encased in precious metals as a religious relic. Kinda scary keeping body parts in the back of your church’s treasury. And you thought those old church Halloween party’s, where you put your hand with the bowls that contained various “fake” body parts was a laugh....lol...not in Dubrovnik!

My trip into Dubrovnik was a little interesting. Nothing like a little drama to get me started into another destination. Dubrovnik has a lack of hotel/hostel options. I’ve only truly run into this problem one other time, when I arrived late into Bratislava and had to sleep on the airport’s metal benches. For Dubrovnik, I booked two days early, but hotels were too expensive, so I had to book a homestay. I’ve never done this before, so I was mildly apprehensive, but moreso because I wasn’t supposed to get a confirmation email until the next day. Of course, it never comes. My bus is 15 minutes late into Dubrovnik at 9p and the booking agency is supposed to meet me at the bus station. He left. I was stranded...it’s late and nothing is open. I called him for a solid hour and only got busy signals. Ok, so it’s time to panic a little. I pull out my rather crude map and attempt to hunt this agency down. Again, nothing is open this late except bus lines, so I’m on my own. After MIDNIGHT, I finally find the place and the guy just happens to still be up. He had to contact my homestay and pull him out of bed to pick me up! It wasn’t my fault. The whole situation was one marked with confusion. Anyway, I finally got t sleep around 1a and stayed in Mladen’s “Villa Banana” separate house for three nights. I’ll post Mladen’s room rules on the next posting if they come out clear. His English needs some work and they are hilarious.