On Tour - Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia: Pile & Ragusans

Dubrovnik was initially known as Ragusium, perhaps before the 6^th c and Pile was the settlement outside the walls, facing the Pile Gate (1537). 

And we point blank refuse to be drawn into ANY discussions re: pronunciation of Croatian names (even after 3 weeks of cruising experience!).

Having recovered sufficiently from our challenging sail and with Bertha set deeply in river mud (having survived 30kt winds at the anchorage - what is this place?) we set off to explore UNESCO World Heritage listed Dubrovnik. 

We caught a local bus outside the Marina supermarket which conveniently took us to the Pile Gate.  From here, we walked into the old city (with several bus loads & cruise ships worth of visitors) and explored our options. Dubrovnik is well set up for visitors though and offers a series of “Dubrovnik Cards” with museum entry, discounts and transport included.  Sounded like the perfect deal for us!

So we filled in the afternoon with a visit to a Salvador Dali exhibition, took a round of the wider city on a Cabrio bus learning something of the area’s history, were treated to Croatian customer service at an ice-creamery (perhaps considered blunt), and discovered “Irish” internet at the Irish Pub (there was a signal but we just couldn’t pick it up, begorrah Paddy!). 

We found a few old friends

 

And studied Modern Art too...

After discovering the marina restaurant offered a similarly unresponsive internet connection, we decided on buying yet another “Visitors Data Sim” for the Croatian trip.  We now have a dongle to match each courtesy flag stashed away in the bulging bilges. 

Thus armed, we walked the 2 km city walls – not an easy jaunt – took a break halfway to visit the well-stocked Naval Museum (2 floors, NO photos allowed), the inspiring Ethnographic Museum (3 floors, NO photos allowed) and the attractive Rector’s Palace (2 floors, NO photos allowed). Sigh!

In all, the museums were well presented and worth visiting.  And they did have the cleanest toilets in town.  So the visitor’s card proved its worth.

Looking down at the old city from the very high walls

Rector's Palace Cherubs

Following a decent work morning on the boat and then a re-provisioning exercise, we hankered for a steak lunch in a pleasant restaurant we'd seen on a cool grape entwined balcony deep in the old city.  We discovered the intent of “when in Rome” exists for a reason.  When surrounded by deep Adriatic seas, choose seafood!  (Note to self that surrounding hills are almost too steep for goats, let alone cows.  So steak ain’t steak, Sol and butter doesn’t appear to exist…I want to go hooooome!)

On our return journey, JKip, left to his own devices, managed a complete tour of Dubrovnik without perspiring once and GS spent a day picking up a few little things, including local embroidery, and taking yet more photographs.  She also learned that the well travelled Agatha Christie had visited Dubrovnik, perhaps in search of crime scene settings... 

The Cap’n stayed on board, turistico-ed to the water line.  We celebrated our imminent Croatian departure with a pleasant dinner poolside at the marina restaurant. This time, we had the seafood…

Seafood is a very popular local choice

It is possible to walk all the way around the City walls, so we did!