We awoke to another beautiful cornflower-blue sea and a very sunny morning as our enormous ship was edging it's way gently into the port of Dubrovnik. Our breakfast this morning was taken at the Marco Pierre White restaurant where we enjoyed Poached Eggs Royale (delicately poached eggs, smoked salmon and lashings of hollandaise sauce on top of a soft bap) - delicious.
We could have taken a bus to the old town of Dubrovnik, but we decided to walk there instead. It took us about an hour to walk right through the port area with lots of market stalls, through a residential area, up a great big hill with fantastic views at the top and down the other side towards the old walled town. Having visited here last year, we knew our way around and soon found a good coffee stop with good wifi. The town was extremely busy as there were two other cruise ships visiting today but it was very enjoyable wandering round this iconic place. We thought that as we had spent lots of time in the old City last year, it might be good to look beyond the fortified walls. On close inspection of lots of the houses, you can still see the scars of the senseless war that took place here only a few years ago. Sadly there are many houses that are derelict. Maybe complete families were lost in that war, hopefully some distant relatives will come back one day and restore these large majestic houses.
We hopped onto a little sightseeing bus which took us around the outskirts of Dubrovnik, with many stops for photo opportunities. Some of our fellow travellers left the bus when we called into the port area, but we sat there for the whole 90 minutes enjoying fantastic views and seeing many different houses and hotels as we travelled through the back streets of Dubrovnik. We then set off back towards the ship. The walking was much easier this way as it was mostly down hill. A couple of stops en route to stock up on a few necessities and we were back on board. We were so pleased with ourselves that we had walked over 5 miles today, so we decided we deserved a reward of afternoon tea and cakes!!
After a swim and a very well earned relax in the bubbling hot tub it was time for another gastronomic delight thick cut beef and skate wings a good bottle of Pinot and a visit to watch a show. After such a busy day we slept very well.
