Unfortunately, without a map, it was still very hard to figure out which exits to take from the highways. We ended up leaving the highway and getting lost straight away. Some locals pointed us in the right direction, but when we arrived at the road, it was fenced off. This would have been fine, if they had given us some sort of indication of where how to get around it or how to rejoin it further along the road.
We were driving in through tiny villages that were too small to be on our directions, and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We stopped many more times asking for directions, and then coming across more roadworks or detours that caused us to get lost again. We spent about 3 hours driving around the same part of Serbia, in circles. If that wasn't bad enough, our airconditioning had stopped working, and it was getting close to 40 degrees celsius. Not fun!
Eventually, we decided that it would be wise to buy a map, so we looked for one at the petrol stations. Armed with our map, we were feeling a lot better, and we managed to find our way out of the maze of country roads. After 3 wasted hours, we were back on track, and heading for Dubrovnik again.On our way, we drove through Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was just beautiful. We were driving through the mountains for most of the way, and the scenery around us was incredible. We were up so high sometimes, and at other parts we were right near the bottom of valleys.
Artur was very frustrated driving on these roads though, as there were lots of cars that were driving slow. On the mountain roads, there are only two lanes, so it's very hard to find a good place to overtake. At one point, the road even became one lane, as we drove between highways. We desperately hoped that no one would come from the opposite direction.We got pulled over twice by cops as we neared Dubrovnik. We didn't even think that we were speeding. Thankfully, they couldn't speak English, so they just waved us on.
The view over Dubrovnik was spectacular as we approached. It was very dark by this point, and all the lights from down below sparkled back at us. Loren was getting very excited about being in this town, as it just looked so pretty. People were riding around on scooters and motorbikes everywhere, because the streets are so narrow, and the traffic is generally bad.
We had book our accomodation already, and were told to meet the owner at a certain street. He came to pick us up, then we followed him to his house. In order to get to the house, we had to drive up a hill so steep that we barely made it on 1st gear! It turned out to be an enormous house that a Croatian family had turned into a hostel. There were lots of rooms with bunkbeds, and a couple of double rooms as well. There were bathrooms and kitchens available on each floor as well. We had booked a double room, but they had given away our places because we arrived so late. They gave us rooms in a dorm room, but promised they had a room for us the next night. We didn't care by this point, we just wanted to sleep, so we followed her to the room. The lady was really funny, cute and very eager to please. There was a guy asleep in the room already, but she just waltzed in, turned on light and kept chattering away in broken English about where we could find things and where to put our bags. We found it hilarious, but we doubted that he was impressed.
The next morning, we woke up and stared from our balcony at the incredible view over Dubrovnik. We realised that we were quite high up after we drove up that hill, but we were still amazed at how beautiful everything looked from here. 
We decided to go to the beach and chill out for the day, so we drove to the far side of the city, where we were told a good beach could be found. We had originally tried to book places at a campsite in Dubrovnik, but they didn't get back to us on time, so we booked elsewhere. This beach turned out too be right next to this campsite!
The beach was pretty cool, as it was the first rock beach that Loren had ever been to. It was so weird to be walking on little pebbles instead of sand. It felt like an artificial pool or something. There were little cafes built near the beach, and people renting deck chairs.
It was worth the wait though. The Old Town of Dubrovnik is like an outdoor museum. Everything in there is just spectacular, and perfectly preserved. The walls around the Town are enormous, and we had to cross a big drawbridge with guards on it to get in.
Loren was entranced by the place from the minute we stepped inside. The main street was really long, and it was tiled with big marble blocks that had been polished by people's feet to a fine sheen over the years. On either side of the road, there were little boutiques, restaurants and icecream shops.
As you wandered away from the main street, you found little alleyways that crisscrossed each other like a maze. We found a lovely little pizza place amongst these alleys, so we stopped there for a while. The pizzas were fantastic, and it turned out that they were about the only thing that Croatia served. It must have been the influence of Italy, which is only a body of water away. The only truly Croatian thing about the pizzas was that they had Dalmatian ham on them.
After our meal, we decided to walk around the Town for a while, and take in the sights. We explored the pier for a while, and then wandered up to the higher parts of the town. We found an entrance to a bar, which was built onto the side of the cliff.
The view from the cafe was absolutely spectacular. We could see Lokrum island nearby, which was covered in birds, and the view over the sea was endless. You felt like you were on a ship, you were so close to the sea.
We ordered some drinks and just sat back, breathing in the view. There was music playing in the bar, and there were so many happy people surrounding us. You just couldn't help but feel like you were in paradise.
On the way back, we visited a book store. Loren bought a book called 'The Death of Yugoslavia', by the BBC, based on their documentary. She didn't know much about the reason for the wars, so she figured this was the best place to buy a book on the topic. Artur bought a less serious book on the history of the USA and Kazakhstan by Borat Sagdiyev. Great success, high five :)
As we were about to leave the Old Town, four guards in medieval dress came parading past. It was their formal changing of the guard, and one of them was playing a drum to keep the beat.
We stopped to buy a watermelon on the way home, at a little fruit shop. We wanted to buy half, but the only half they had was one that had split in half when the watermelon was dropped. We didn't mind though, as it didn't damage the fruit, and he threw in the other half for free!We headed back to our hotel, to watch 'Memoirs of a Geisha', on the laptop. It was a really great film, and epecially interesting after we'd been to Japan, and seen real Geisha with our own eyes. Watching the movie and eating our cold, juicy watermelon was the perfect end to a perfect day.
Second Day in Paradise
Our beautiful blue hostel.
The next day, we decided to have the breakfast that our hosts offered on the verandah, for a good price. It was a beautiful day, and it was so nice just to sit there waiting for our food. They brought us a feast of scrambled eggs and bread with lots of spreads. The funny lady, kept repeating the same thing all the time, because she didn't know many other English words. She kept saying, 'Sorry, sorry, sorry', so fast that we struggled to repeat it at the same speed ourselves. She would say it as she walked past, as she put food on the table, anytime. Very funny!
Getting lost has its photographic benefits.
After breakfast, Loren called her Dad in Australia, as it was his birthday. It was cool being in Croatia on his birthday, as his father is Croatian, and from Dalmatia, the area where we were. After wishing him well, we got ready for a big day of sightseeing. We were planning on exploring every nook and cranny of the Old Town before the end of the day.
We didn't learn from our mistakes the day before and decided to drive there. We weren't keen on walking back up that hill. We could not find a park anywhere, and the street to the Old Town was closed because it was just so crowded. After driving around for about an hour, we ended up finding a park just at the bottom of our enormous hill. It was still a bit of a walk from the Old Town, but we didn't have to walk on that huge hill.
Eventually we reached the gates of the Old Town, and struggled to push past the crowd to get inside. It was chaotically filled with tourists. We managed to get find our way to a wall near the entrance, where there is a stone with a funny face on it, that sticks out from the wall. We were not sure of the reason, but people try to stand on it. It has been very polished by people's feet, so we assume it is a long held tradition, not something some weird tourist came up with. We tried it ourselves, and it was a lot more difficult than it looked. One little boy stood on it, and removed his t-shirt while he was balancing up there, very impressive!
Next we went to visit the Franciscan monastery, which also housed the third oldest pharmacy in Europe,dating from 1391. We had a look at the little pharmacy first, which was still running and serving customers. It was filled with old pharmacy items in cabinets, like the one in Tallinn, Estonia.
There was also a museum dedicated to old pieces of equipment from the pharmacy, and old record books of the treatments that they used to give people. It was pretty cool to look at. There was also a section displaying religious items from the monastery.
There was a little chapel that was part of the monastery as well. It was quite pretty inside. It was no cathedral, but it had beautiful altars with pictures of the saints, and marble columns framing each of them.Next we walked along the main street to a small museum that was dedicated to the fighters that died in the struggle for Croatian independance. There was only one room, and it was filled with information about the war and the impact that it had on Dubrovnik. The names of the people that died were listed there, and people were offered a guestbook, in which they could leave messages.
In the square in front of the musuem, was Orlando's Column. It was not extremely big, but it had carvings of knights on the sides, holding weapons. It was a very old structure, and had been there since 1419.
There was a fountain here as well, which the pigeons were very fond of. Lots of people were filling their drink bottles here. They must have a lot of faith in the old water pipes here, or maybe they didn't spot the pigeons.
Not far from the Column, we found the Sponza Palace. We bought tickets to look around, as it is now a museum. The central courtyard was pretty, and there was a ginger coloured cat in there waiting to be patted.
As you climbed the staircase, you could see the really cool banister or handrail. There were marble hands coming out of the wall, and they held a big iron rod, which served as the banister.
At the top, there were several rooms exhibiting paintings, and original pieces left from the Palace. There was a great view from the windows of the Palace, so we had just as much fun looking outside as inside.The City Walls
After having lunch, and wandering around the town for a bit longer, we decided to climb the city walls. There was an audioguide that you could hire to tell you all about what you could see on the way. The walls and the Gates are some of the finest in the world, and they are a big claim to fame for Dubrovnik.
Our tour started at the Pile Gates which are at the side of the town that we usually entered through. The view was amazing over the town, and outside the walls. The roofs of the houses were probably the most impressive thing that we saw. The colours of the ttiles were the same all over the town, creating a beautiful uniformity. Any new tiles that have been added to the houses recently are coloured in yellow. This helps you see the which are the original tiles.
We could see all of the big churches and monuments that we had visited already. We started to realise just how big the Town really was. We had only seen a small part of it. Most of the town rises up on a steep slope from the central street, and tired tourists don't want to climb all the way up just for a bit of a peek. So this area generally remains untouched.
There were some cool cannons on the walls, placed as though ready for battle. We also had fun looking at the little sentry booths that are located all along the walls. They have little dome roofs and tiny windows for protection.
Soon we came around to the part of the wall that faced out to sea. It was incredibly windy, but the view over the water was breathtaking. We could see the cliff face below us, and how the walls were built to follow the shape of the cliffs. We could see some of the beautiful islands, some of which are almost untouched.
We even came across the bar that we had visited the day before. We were much higher than we were then, so we just looked down at it on the rocks below.
The port was extremely beautiful to see from the walls. There were lots of little motor boats and the occasional yacht. In the background the little white houses of Dubrovnik, with their little red roofs made it absolutely picture perfect.
At the end of our walk, we made it to the highest tower of the walls. We could see over the whole of the old town, and the islands surrounding it. It was just spectacular.
When we came down to main street again, we found a street busker that we had seen the night before. He was playing traditional Croatian music on a tiny string instrument, and he was wearing traditional clothes. It sounded really good, but he kept stopping to pose for pictures though, and then he'd keep playing the same thing over and over again.
Artur grew quite fond of the Rockstar Stavros, who appeared in posters all over Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik was definitely one of the most beautiful places that we had ever been. It isn't somewhere that we'd want to live, as we prefer bigger cities, but it's definitely a great place to go to relax and to have a holiday.
To see the photos from the post in slideshow mode, click on on the link below:
Dubrovnik pictures
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