DAY 8 - SPLIT TO DUBROVNIK
9.00am (only just) car ferry back to Split for a wander through the remains of the Diocletian Palace - what is most interesting about these old towns are the age of the buildings and often the variety of decorations eg. Egyptian sphinxs' adorning the outside of churches. It was also amazing that houses were built over and using walls of old ruins.
We then set off for the coastal drive down to Dubrovnik. Although a slow start (traffic for an hour), we spent the few hours of driving oohing and aahing at the views both the mountains on our left and the ocean and islands visible on our right. The holiday town of Maraska proved a well timed stop over for lunch and a refreshing swim to cool ourselves as the temperature was steadily warming.
After a brief visit through Bosnia (which claims a very small portion of the coastline in this area) where we essentially ran the borders, we drove down into the popular town of Dubrovnik. Having decided not to camp for a few nights our next task was to choose and converse with one of the many Croatians advertising 'apartmani' on the side of the road. Randomly stopping at one lady's sign, we essentially 'solicited' two twin bed apartments opposite the old town walls with the bonus of having it's own (albeit VERY small garage).
With the walls of Dubrovnik enticingly close we headed down into the Old Town where dusk settling made for an enchanting walk around a buzzing town. Acquainting ourselves with and losing ourselves around the streets (including cat alley - 9 counted in all) we eventually let ourselves be led into a small restaurant off the 'main drag'. It seems the gimic of 'carafe of wine on the house' is popular world wide - not that we would let it go to waste!
DAY 9 - WALKING TOUR OF DUBROVNIK
Heading off on the normally informative LP walking tour the soaring temperatures found us escaping into the Dominican/Franciscan monasteries to cool down. As many churches were closed (Sunday trading!) we bypassed these and instead followed the history of Dubrovnik through it's Rectors Palace and the monasteries.
The feature of the old town I found most fascinating was the fact that after a destructive earthquake in 1667 and the 1991/1992 shellings of the Yugoslav army (2000 direct hits to the old town), the restoration of buildings remains true to its original self.
After a brief wander outside the walls where we found a lookout with a brilliant view back to town, including the Fort, we ventured back to tackle the wall walk. For 30 kuna we gained access to the 25m high, 2km walk around the walls of Dubrovnik old town. A great view over the city and ocean. Most fascinating though was the bar we spied - with people disappearing in one side of the wall only to pop out with drinks on the other side, where they could either sip in the shade of brollies or jump straight into the ocean. Unfortunately this we had to save for next time. Two hours later and extremely hot and bothered we descended back to the throngs of tourists. Although the town was enchanting during the day and at night, the busloads of tourists being dropped off at the gates and hightailing through the 'attractions' disappointed us somewhat.
Not keen to battle the restaurant bartering we slowly trudged up the long, long trail of steps with food for a home cooked meal and 7 litres of alcohol (cheaper in bulk....).