Wall etiquette

Rule #1: If you aren't moving, get the hell out of the way.

How hard is it, really?

First things first: our first port stop is Durovnik, Croatia. It's another glorious day, and our ship is docked a few kilometers from Dubrovnik. We can catch a shuttle bus for fifteen Euros per person, or all four of us can catch a taxi for ten Euros.

Go figure.

The taxi dropped us off just outside the old walled city, some of which goes back to the 7th century. Emma's not keen to deal with steps today, so Anna, Mario and I go up to do the two kilometer walk around the wall.

Good call on Emma's part. There are a lot of steps.

What I hadn't factored in was just how crowded it would be. Just getting up the first set of stairs to the wall took around five minutes.

Most of the way around the walls is narrow, perhaps wide enough for two people. Factor in this peculiar thing about people in tour groups, who semi-randomly stop in the middle of the path to take photographs. I say "semi-random" because the probability of stopping is inversely proportional to the amount of space around them.

Tiny little section only wide enough for one person? Great place to stop. 

Big wide area? Nah. 

Anna and Mario were climbing up the ladder to the battlements at the top of the old city, and some woman stopped on the top step to take a photo of her husband. Because, you know, it's a much better shot if you have twenty people trapped behind you.

Whinging aside, we had excellent views of the sea, the marina, and the old city from the walls. It's easy to see why Dubrovnik is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. From the walls we spotted a little cafe on the rocks outside the walls, giving an unimpeded view of the Adriatic, so when we rejoined Emma we set out for that.

It took a while, being a windy medieval town, but eventually we found a hole-in-the-wall (literally, the way out was a hole in the wall), and had drinks under an umbrella, soaking up the sunshine.

Lots of sunshine. I cooked a bit over the course of the day, although I did manage to avoid getting sunburnt.

In the afternoon we took the gondola (the hanging from a wire kind, not the paddling through a canal version) up the mountain, which gave us a spectacular view of the town and surroundings.

From there another taxi ride back to the ship. Possibly not a taxi. The tiny yellow sticker in the window said "yes", the lack of a meter and his unwillingness to drive into the dock area suggested "no". The price was the same, so I don't care.

Another night without a production show. Or movie. Or much of anything. Perhaps tommorrow, after a day on Corfu.