5 May 2014

5 May 14 - Dubrovnik

Occasionally, I will let the blog drift onto non wildlife posts & the afternoon visit to Dubrovnik looked so good that it deserves a post of its own. It's just another example of why Croatia would be a good location for a family holiday. It is only about 20 km up the road from Cavtat & is an easy drive. Although there is apparently a boat which also goes from Cavtat & might be a fun option. But we decided to take the car as it would allow a quick return visit to the Velji Do road on the way back.
En route to Dubrovnik, I tried to get into Bosnia as there is a road which goes across the border. I hadn't expected a checkpost, but I had forgotten that Croatia is in the EU & Bosnia isn't. The car hire company had said there would be no problem taking the car across the border. But it looked like it would take some time crossing the border with the car & it didn't help that one of the team, didn't have his passport. So a second dip on getting Bosnia onto the Country list (after the failure to translate a border sign by Velji Do till after we got home).
Bosnian hills: With Croatia in the foreground
We were advised parking close to the old walled city was limited, but we drove down anyway, just to have a quick look around. We then returned to the large well sign posted car park on the road in. It was about a 15 minute walk down to the town walls. I will leave the photos to tell the story of this great city.
The outer walls
The outer walls
Looking South towards Cavtat
The old port: The cruise ship port is a few miles North
Old canon: It wasn't any use from stopping the old city getting shelled in the wars during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia
The old port
Another view of the old port
The old port
Inside the old city (at last)
Don't know who this is: But he was above the gate in the previous photo
The cathedral
The main street in front of the cathedral
Looking the other way: There is a great clock tower
The old city is a maze of narrow alleys
Some of the alleys are steep
Ice cream stand: Anybody who followed the Israeli trip posts will know that know that ice cream is an essential way to celebrate a tick (& we had seen the Rock Partridge, so just had to choose the appropriate flavours)
The Northern city walls
Fortunately, we didn't have to walk up this alley on the way back to the car
We did get back to Velji Do for a final short visit, but there was little new in the way of species seen. After collecting the bags from the accommodation, it was time for the evening flight back to the UK. It had been a great trip with a good bunch of mates.