Dubrovnik, Croatia
During my SE Asia trip, Mic and I decided to go our separate
ways and we are parting as friends. The simple fact is, we both want more
out of life; I want someone who is free to travel, and I don’t want to live in
Malta anymore. Apparently, the feeling is mutual because they denied my
latest residency request. I flew back for a week to say good bye to some
amazing friends and to send a few items home. Luckily for Mic, it was a
friendly break up; I left almost everything with him.
I’m torn between two options: On one hand, I want to travel
full time; living out of a suitcase and going where ever the mood strikes
me. There are so many places I still want to see. The more I travel
and meet other travelers, the more locations that get added to my list.
The downside to this option is it does get lonely. While you meet some
amazing people on the road, even some you share adventures with, and stay in
contact with, most of the time you’re alone. Ideally, I’d like to meet another
traveler in my same situation. Even better if there were a few of us who
could come and go as the mood struck.
On the other hand, I want my own home, where I choose the
layout, furniture, and design, filled with my own stuff; a garden that I can
plant, and watch grow over the years. The reality is, I can’t afford to
do both. For now, I’m opting for the full time travel. I can
stretch my money and get a better feel for each location, and not wear myself
out, by staying longer in each city and renting an apartment instead of staying
in hotels.
I had long wanted to visit Croatia, so that was my first
stop. It’s a beautiful country, with a long coastline on the Adriatic
Sea. I did several tours while visiting and they all referred in some way
to the war, so of course I had to look it up. In 1991 Croatia declared
their independence from Yugoslavia. Basically, the ethnic Serbs wanted a
new Serb state, within Yugoslavia. War broke out; on the Croatian side,
you had Croats and Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the Yugoslavia side were
the Serbs and Montenegro. They called this the Homeland War.
The next day I went into Old Town, a
beautiful walled city with a small harbor, hidden alley ways and narrow
pedestrian streets. Unfortunately, the streets were packed with
people, tourist shops, cafes, and ice cream stands. I walked around quite
a bit, and once I got away from the crowds, it was pretty charming. What
I didn’t like were all the steps toward the outer edge of the city. They
were steep, never ending, and everywhere; up, then down, then up some more.
I can’t imagine living up there and having to navigate them every day.
You can walk along the top of the wall, all the way around the city, but of course, there were A LOT of steps just to get up there, and like the city below, they go up and down as you walk around. At the highest point there was a cafe with ice cream, so I guess that was a reward in and of itself. The steps were even harder because I was just getting over bronchitis and could barely breath as it was. I have to admit, once I caught my breath, the view was spectacular; both in toward the city and out over the sea. I can see why the city repelled invaders for hundreds of years. The walls of the city ended at the waters edge and looking down, it was both too steep to climb and too rocky to land a boat.
As you look out over the city, it was a sea of red terra cotta tile roofs. According to one guide, those were all new roofs due to heavy shelling during the Homeland War. The old roofs were grey, and I couldn’t see a single one. He remembered being a young boy going to school. All the children weaved in and out of the smaller alley ways because they were less likely to be shelled then the large main street.
Tourism has really taken off in Croatia, in part due to so many popular films being shot in Dubrovnik and Split, it’s a cheap place to visit, and the beautiful beaches. He said there are now about 700 permeant residents of Old Town; the rest of the apartments have all been turned into rooms for rent, which you can tell by the Sobe signs on nearly every residential building.
I took a bus tour that was really
not worth the effort. We basically drove all around the city of Dubrovnik; we
stopped at one point to get a photo looking down into Old Town and another to
take a picture of Dubrovnik Bridge. There was a huge cruise ship in the harbor
which would explain why there were so many tourists before the season even got
started.
I also took the cable car to the top of a small mountain overlooking Old Town. It was a spectacular view, although somewhat ruined by the lines to the cable car itself. The large cables and tower were directly in front of the city so the there was no way to take a picture without them in it. It seems like they could have angled it a big different since people are going up there specifically for view of the city
The TV show Game of Thrones did some
filming there, so of course I had to take the tour. I’m a big fan and it
was interesting hearing about things that went on behind the scenes. Our guide
worked in the film industry and had a lot of inside information. Also, he
lived inside the city and knew absolutely everyone. He said the people of
Old Town make a fortune. For example, when they filmed a scene for Star Wars,
they shut down the major street for several days. They paid all of the shop
keepers for closing the shop, paid the employees for missing work even if they
were not scheduled. They paid a fee to the city, and they paid the
homeowners to keep their windows closed. They filmed for several days, but in
the end, this scene was cut to about 10 seconds. For the Game of Thrones,
they turned a museum into Littlefinger’s brothel. The museum was so excited to
get the money that they didn't read the contract and were not happy to be portrayed
as a brothel. The church was also guilty of taking money without reading the
contract. In the Game of Thrones scene where Cersei did the walk of shame, the
church did not know that the actress would leave the church naked. That cause
quite a stir, so they filmed her coming out of another building. The character
Joffrey was one of the most hated characters on the show, yet in real life, the
actor, Jack Gleeson was one of the nicest people ever. I would like to go back
and watch this show again if only to see the various scenes that were filmed in
both Malta and Dubrovnik. It was a very interesting tour and I did like seeing
a different side of the city.
I did a day trip to Montenegro, a small country bordered by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Albania. There were only 8 of us, including 4 awesome ladies from the UK that I immediately hit it off with, Vikki, Sharon, Barbara and Julie. We stopped at one quaint village on a harbor with a large citadel at one end. We had an hour to walk around; it was quite charming, with narrow pedestrian streets and beautiful covered porches with lots of flowering wisteria.
Our main destination was Kotor. This ancient city is a UNESCO world heritage site and dates back to at least 168 BC. Wikipedia says it's one of the best preserved medieval towns in the Adriatic. It is a walled city, with the stone walls stretching 3 miles. What makes it interesting, is that the walls were built into the steep mountains behind the city in the 10th century. They are still largely intact, as is a fort on top and a church about half way up. I’m not sure who could have invaded over such steep and rugged terrain, but the wall was pretty impressive.
We had a guided tour around the city
for a little bit of history. The ladies and I had lunch in a beautiful
main square, then we decided to try to make it up to the church, which was
supposed to be an easy walk. It was not! It was a very steep hill on rough and
uneven cobblestone. After walking about 30 minutes we realized the we
don't have a prayer of making it to the church and back in time to catch the
bus. We did get high enough to have some stunning views of the city. It
was a fun walk, even if we didn’t get too far, because of the spectacular company
of my new friends. Vikki and Sharon invited me to come visit them in the UK.
I'll add them to the growing list of people to spend time with while I'm
staying in Scotland next month.
The next day I did a boat trip to some of the local islands. The ladies did the same trip, but with a different company, so I never saw them. I think we stopped at 4 or 5 islands, and to be honest, they all blended after a while. I found it a little boring. I’m sure I would have had a much better time had I been with my friends. who said they had a great time. Most of the islands were small, with many, many steps. It was the same at almost every stop; I would see a sign for a church or ruin and start climbing. I climbed and climbed and climbed, but often gave up before I got to anything. At dinner that night the ladies noticed the same thing. We joked that the residents planted these signs to keep tourists out of the town.
All in all, I liked Dubrovnik, but it was much smaller than I expected. The people were friendly, but the steps literally everywhere I went nearly killed me. No wonder everyone was in such great shape!
Link to photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tdIw7ppJYrWQSqWI2
I did a day trip to Montenegro, a small country bordered by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Albania. There were only 8 of us, including 4 awesome ladies from the UK that I immediately hit it off with, Vikki, Sharon, Barbara and Julie. We stopped at one quaint village on a harbor with a large citadel at one end. We had an hour to walk around; it was quite charming, with narrow pedestrian streets and beautiful covered porches with lots of flowering wisteria.
Our main destination was Kotor. This ancient city is a UNESCO world heritage site and dates back to at least 168 BC. Wikipedia says it's one of the best preserved medieval towns in the Adriatic. It is a walled city, with the stone walls stretching 3 miles. What makes it interesting, is that the walls were built into the steep mountains behind the city in the 10th century. They are still largely intact, as is a fort on top and a church about half way up. I’m not sure who could have invaded over such steep and rugged terrain, but the wall was pretty impressive.
The next day I did a boat trip to some of the local islands. The ladies did the same trip, but with a different company, so I never saw them. I think we stopped at 4 or 5 islands, and to be honest, they all blended after a while. I found it a little boring. I’m sure I would have had a much better time had I been with my friends. who said they had a great time. Most of the islands were small, with many, many steps. It was the same at almost every stop; I would see a sign for a church or ruin and start climbing. I climbed and climbed and climbed, but often gave up before I got to anything. At dinner that night the ladies noticed the same thing. We joked that the residents planted these signs to keep tourists out of the town.
All in all, I liked Dubrovnik, but it was much smaller than I expected. The people were friendly, but the steps literally everywhere I went nearly killed me. No wonder everyone was in such great shape!
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