Dubrovnik

I'm still pinching myself. I can't quite believe we're here.

I've dreamed of visiting Dubrovnik for five years or more - ever since seeing a photo of the city in a travel book on my Aunty Chris's coffee table.

What I've learned since then only makes me drool more. They don't call this place the Pearl of the Adriatic for nothing. Check out the view from our room!

After a quick shower, we catch the cable car to the top of the mountain range behind Dubrovnik, so I can see the view of Dubrovnik from that photo with my own eyes.

On the way up in the cable car.

The camera battery dies the moment we reach the top. The spare is in my bag in our room. Luckily, years ago clever photographer Paul worked out that you can give it some more charge by taking out the battery and rubbing it furiously for about five minutes.

So basically, I get the photo in exchange for looking like a complete tool for five minutes. Works for me!

We stayed up there for ages. I now have this photo from about a million different angles. And let me tell you, that took a lot of furious battery rubbing! I could barely tear myself away.

Back at the bottom of the hill, we bought an amazing gelato and booked a daytrip to Montenegro for tomorrow.

Then, we caught a ferry to a tiny pedestrian only island 15 minutes away called Lokrum. They have a twelfth century monastery:

 

A tiny salty lake dubbed the Dead Sea:

And wild peacocks with babies! Lots of them:

Most of the peacocks were up trees. That was weird!

 

But best of all, they have crystal clear water and dozens of great spots for jumping in:

We swam the afternoon away there.

After ferrying back to town, we grabbed a quick feed in old town and went exploring a bit. You can still see bullet holes in walls from the Croatian War of Independence, 1991-95.

To cap off our first day in paradise, we headed to the Dubrovnik Museum of Modern Art.

We got home just in time to see sunset over the city.