Dubrovnik, Croatia

Well folks, our time on board the Sojourn is coming to an end. This is our last real stop before Venice where we disembark the ship and head to the airport for home.  So here goes my next to final entry in Beverly's Blog for the World Cruise 2014.

On approaching Dubrovnik, the captain gets on the PA system and announced that we would not be anchoring in front of the old city due to high winds and heavy seas.  So we went around the corner to the harbor where there is a large pier.  We finally tied up around 10:30 AM and it was pouring.  It is no fun to walk the old city in the rain.  

    This is from last year. Could not anchor here due to weather.

We took advantage of the terrible weather and stayed in to start packing, a most unsavory chore.  Once again, as this happens every time we go somewhere, Michael is always moaning that I have taken too many things and we cannot fit it all in our suitcases.  Yeh, he says this every time, but somehow we manage to fit everything in.  

After lunch, the rain stopped but there were dark heavy clouds above.  We boarded the shuttle that would take us to the old city and saw the suburbs of Dubrovnik.  The streets are narrow and many of them are one-way, and you cannot go in a straight-line anywhere.  There were many old brick and stone buildings and many newer buildings as well.  

We drove along the outside of the wall.  The beauty of this walled city and the immensity of it can hardly be described in words so let me present pictures of some of the things that we saw.  

All the homes had red tile roofs, many of which are new due to the war in the 1990s when much of the city was damaged by bombs.  Many of the neighborhoods are built upon hillsides, and this is a very clean and lovely town.

    The hillside as seen from the ship

    The bay we were docked in as seen from the ship

The one thing we did not do when we were here last year was walk the wall.  Walking the wall that surrounds the old city, it is about three miles in length and takes about two hours to walk if you are in good shape.  I figured I'm not in great shape to do this, but if I could just get up to the top and walk just for a little bit, then I can say I have walked on the wall.  Take a look at the picture below and guess who came to her senses.

    The girl is not crazy

    This was taken last year; you can get an idea of the size of the walled city

So we walked down the main street and then some of the side streets, running into people that we knew from the ship.  Just like last year, walking in this old town was very trying for me.  This charming medieval walled city has now become a tourist trap, where one shop after another sells the same items that happens to be very expensive.  It is especially crowded when there are several cruise ships in at the same time.  We are in Croatia, but there is a plethora of pizza parlors throughout the city, evidence of the city's Italian heritage. 

    The main street

    A side street that is nothing but stairs

    Another side street that we walk down

We returned to the ship without getting rained on!  It was now time to rest up because we were attending a renewal of wedding vows ceremony with one of our bridge couples, Duncan and Melinda, who we now count as friends.   Up on the 10th deck aft in the spa patio, the captain officiated with a priest and rabbi in attendance.  It was a lovely occasion, and how could you not feel married with all the officials in attendance!  

The wedding party adjourned to the Observation Deck for celebratory drinks and then dinner. 

    Going on 47 years for us!