Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Croatia, the MOST Beautiful Country

View of Dubrovnik, Croatia from the airplane

Upon landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the taxi driver corrected our new-found friends (earth travelers Rion and Diane from Livermore), "Not beautiful country - the MOST beautiful country."

The driver also commented how many stairs we had to take to get to the Old Town. Stairs schmairs ... they don't scare me. That is the price you pay for a place with a view.

The stairs from our place down to the Old Town

We are spending our first night above the walls of The Old Town - for its amazing view. "For you it's a nice view but for us it is every day," said our host Iva.

Passing through Ploce Gate, you are immediately transported to another time. It truly is cool.

Ploce Gate is one of several gates into the walled town

Supposedly the Stradun, the main thoroughfare of this city since the 13th century, is where the action is. But there was a constant stream of people no matter which of the town's passageways we wandered down (technically climbed up).

The Stradun - the town's main street

Wandering aimlessly to explore the narrow passages, I had no idea where we were. "Welcome to my world," responded Greg.  I'm pretty sure you can't get lost here, except for maybe Greg.

Off the Stadun, the town is full of alleyways leading up

Locals randomly set up shop around town to sell their wares

Lots of laundry hanging everywhere

Cats own the Old Town

Fort Bokar, outside the main gate (Pile Gate), is the key point of defense from land and sea assaults

Apparently the taxi driver knew what he was talking about. After an hour - if that - of walking around all the steps of the Old Town in the 84 degree plus humidity (mixed with jet-lag), I was done with stairs. "We are never going to make it back up to the apartment." (According to our phone we logged 292 flights of stairs by day's end.)

After enjoying wine and a take-away pizza on our patio-with-a-view, and meandering through town again, bedtime didn't come soon enough.

View from our room

The Stradun at night

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