Dubrovnik & Cavtat

Dubrovnik

It rained cats and dogs, hamsters, giraffes, oxen - fucking everything came down on our first day in Dubrovnik. Unforgiveably, I'd decided to leave my coat back at the van. Drenched. What a place though! It's not hard to see why it was chosen as the setting for the popular HBO show, Throne of Games. I've not seen it myself, but Rach tells me it's good.

As we explored the backstreets it really did feel like we were in another time, with the illusion only ocassionally broken by a passing resident messaging on their phone or carrying a Lidl bag. Even the rain had it's benefits, as it meant that we had to take intermittent cover, which allowed us to really take in all the little nooks and crannies of the beautiful city - the stairways descending and ascending the alleys, the cosy archways and underpasses, and the holes in the city wall which gave you a view out to sea. The holes also housed the city's many homeless cats (we found a cat donation box on one street which Rach put some change into).

We had a drink in a smart Irish bar called Karaka. Is there a single town in the world which doesn't have an Irish bar? God fucking bless them. They had the handball on. It was the European final. Croatia - who we'd watched beat Norway a few nights previous - versus Spain. The bar seemed to have it playing on two separate systems, so the commentary was echoing. It was also booming. It was the loudest I'd ever known a bar to have its TV. I was having to shout my protestations to Rach who, of course, did absolutely nothing about it.

We left after a while to watch the rest of the game in a bar called Buzz Bar. Croatia lost. After that, there was certainly no buzz about the place. There was the opposite of a buzz. Erm...

Torpor. There was a real torpor about the place. The lad behind the bar turned off the commentary and put on some 70's British rock, presumably to try and lift spirits.

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh, Lord, yeah!

You could argue 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath wasn't the best choice to lift the collective mood. We finished our drinks and left to find something nice to eat.

As we were finishing our meal at a nearby restaurant called Dalmatino, the heavens opened again. The rain was so heavy it could be heard loudly even with the door closed. We were gonna have to run for the bus. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and ended up going the long way round to exit the town, soaking and nearly throwing up our puddings as we ran (I don't actually remember if we had puddings - I normally don't, which normally means Rach doesn't, because apparently I have to have one with her so that she doesn't feel bad for having one).

We ended up getting an Uber. They don't have Uber in some European countries but thankfully they did here. The driver was extremely kind and insisted on driving us into the campsite and parking up right next to our van so we didn't have to be in the rain. I immediately 5-starred him. It was at this point that I noticed my passenger Uber rating was a lowly 4.51 - what the hell?! I'm a delight.

Our second day exploring Dubrovnik was spent under blue, sunny skies. Not to worry though, I'd taken my coat with me this time. We paid 20 euro to walk the city wall, which runs all the way round the edge of the city. It was so worth it. We got some brilliant views of the city from above, the roofs forming a brilliant sea of orange.

We conducted an impromptu fashion shoot for Rach in her fancy new trainers at western harbour, then had an open steak sandwich at a great bar on the main street. I naively didn't know what an open sandwich was when I ordered it. Suffice to say I was a bit disappointed when I discovered it just means you get the filling on untoasted toast i.e. it lays on one slice of bread.

Not to end on a complaint though. Dubrovnik is an incredible place. A magical maze of a town that's a real pleasure to explore.

Actually, I will end on a complaint... Nah, I'll leave it.

Cavtat

We enjoyed our day in Cavtat, a small town about 15 miles south of Dubrovnik. It's a lot smaller than Dubrovnik, and less impressive (no disgrace), but it is reminiscent, with it's pale yellow streets, old doors and fruit trees overhanging the alleyways.

One of the great things about doing a trip like this is that you get to see the smaller places that you would never normally choose as your 10 day holiday destination, or even long weekend. You realise that many of them are just as deserving as the more famous places. It's a real shame that Brexit means that it will be even harder for UK people to loosely explore Europe in future.

Sorry, I'll shut up. Everything doesn't always have to come back to politics. We saw a black squirrel up a tree near the beach in Cavtat, which excited me as I'd never seen one before. Apparently they do exist in the UK, but only in safe Conservative seats, like northwest Cambridgeshire.

At one point we also saw about five tails swirling around in a bin. Yes, cats. They shat themselves when they noticed me tip-toeing over, and shot away in all directions.

It started hammering down once again on the walk back to the van. There appeared to be no other place to put the van near Cavtat, so we'd parked in a rest area off the road about half an hour out of town and had to walk along the edge of the main road to get back. Two drivers honked us as they passed which, rather than making us immediately disappear to a safer location, actually made us both jump, which is exactly what you want when walking in torrential rain on a road with cars whistling past your ears. One of the honkers was driving a fucking ambulance. Unbelievable.

Later that evening we stopped off at a beautiful location surrounded by water, tall trees and distant mountains. We got out to sit by the water. It was clearly a popular spot and there was certainly plenty going on. A youngish lad was serenading his girlfriend with a ukelele. I would have loved to have done the same for Rach, but I was too busy watching a lazy fish hover dead still next to a rock for five minutes. It was weird. We also noticed a couple of scuba divers searching for a dead body in the water. Well, I didn't know that for sure, but thats's what they're normally up to isn't it? There was also a guy near the van fishing. I thought about informing him of the lazy fish's location, but didn't.

Change of plans

The plan was to move on to Montenegro next, then Albania, then Greece. Sadly, we only got about five minutes into Montenegro before we decided to turn around. There were two reasons for this. 1 - it wasn't possible to buy van insurance at the border (even though we'd been advised it would be) and 2 - Voxi messaged us to say we were now out of their Euro Zone and would be charged 12p per mb of data used. Sod that.

It was a shame, as we were really looking forward to doing those countries. We were especially looking forward to even warmer weather. Now, we'd be traveling back northwards, back into the cold. The only question was, did we go back through Croatia and into Slovenia, or did we ferry across to Italy?

Recommended campsite for visiting Dubrovnik:

http://park4night.com/lieu/30188