Dubrovnik - walls, wars, walks and politics.

On the top of Dubrovnic

The plastic beach Mijet

Mijet for a swim with the locals

Dubovnik

The Blue Merc amongst the olives

Back street Dubrovnic

St. Blaise patron saint of Dubrovnic with 2 fingers up instead of 3

Kotor bay from Perast

On the wall at Dubrovnic

Sunday 6th May.

We sat and had Breakfast amongst the olive trees, and then went to see if we could get down to the sea but it was all steep cliffs with no recognisable pathway. To keep to some sort of schedule we opted to go and explore  the beaches at Saplunara rather than the Mijet National Park. There are 3 beaches at the eastern tip of the island the furthest one is supposed to be the best and indeed there are 300 or 400 metres of sand and there were only 3 other couples there. As there were no bars or cafes nobody seemed to keep the beach clear of rubbish and there was pile of plastic detritus enough to give David Attenborough a heart attack. We retreated to the next one which was obviously used by the locals much smaller and clear of rubbish. I went for a swim and Liz sunbathed. We then returned to Sobra and caught the 3pm ferry back to the mainland. It was then a quick run into Dubrovnik through Ston. Important in the past for its salt pans and accordingly fortified with a long wall and several towers. We pitched up at the only camp site in Dubrovnik about 3 miles from the old city. We took the bus into the city  to arrange our next day activities and while unlike Saltsburg we got on the right bus but over shot our camp site by 2 stops.

Monday 7^th May.

We made an early start to meet our walking tour guide Victor. It was a multi national group with a couple of retired teachers from San Diego California, an Irish couple from County Clare, and a Chinese lady who didn’t say much. Victor had studied political science at Zagreb and was able to present a lucid description of all the salient history of his city in a 2 hour continuous spiel, very interesting. In the afternoon we did a circumferential tour of the city walls again Victor provided information about all we could see. I would estimate he was around the mid-twenties so I asked him what his father thought of Tito, what he thought of the E.U. which evoked a pretty passionate response in as much Tito was rubbish like all dictators and pointing out that at Castro’s funeral only Trump amongst world leaders described Castro for what he was, fortunately he added the caveat it was probably the only true statement to issue from the current White House team. He was ambivalent about the E.U. and Croatia’s membership but was categoric about the BBC’s reporting of the Bosnian war as it was not a civil war but an act of aggression by Serbia against a Nation State and what is more Douglas Hurd tacitly supported the Serbs as UK’s foreign secretary.

After hundreds of steps we came off the wall and took the lazy option of a cable car up to the Napoleon Fort on top of the mountain behind Dubrovnik. We amble around mountain tracks where Liz frightened off the lonely goatherd by taking his photo. We returned into the old city and had drinks in a cliff top bar perched outside the walls on the seaward side of the old city. We bussed halfway back to the camp site and had a nice meal in a taverna next to the modern harbour. This was served Indian style i.e. the courses in completely random order.

Dubrovnik is a wonderful city that has survived the ravages of war siege, well worth a visit. It was under the influence of the Venetians for 450 years, so they now feel they should charge Venetian prices. The saving grace is that they do so with friendly good humour unlike the Venetians.

Tuesday 8^th May.

Today we were off to another country – Montenegro. The border is only a few miles east of Dubrovnik in fact Dubrovnik airport is almost on the border. Non E.U. country so actually a stamp in our passports. Then onto Herceg Novi supposedly a the picture postcard destination on the bay of Kotor but after a little contretemps with a Montenegrin Traffic Warden we decided they could keep their photo opportunities. The next whistle stop was Perast where Del Boys Montenegrin cousin tried to hassle us on to a boat ride to the island just off the village where we could see the lady of the rocks or we could just use his car park for €5 which was reduced to €3 as we drove out, so we struck a deal – I think it was a municipal free car park anyway. I must admit on my previous trips up and down this coast I found the Montenegrins friendly and the Croatians more demanding obviously time has moved on. In spite of this Perast is an attractive village with on the whole sympathetic restoration of the Venetian Villas taking place. This coast with its backdrop of huge mountains is very dramatic and an experience to drive along. We arrived in Kotor and our faithful camper stop guide directed us to a bay side car park while on the pricey side was the only alternative anywhere near the town. It was a splendid location and my attempts at fishing just resulted in loosing my end tackle in weeds and rocks.