I arrived home on Thursday night, but it has taken this long for me to catch my breath and gather my wits enough to put this journey to bed. In a sense, I hate to write this last post because it makes the trip feel like it is truly in the past.
I left you with a peek at the old city of Dubrovnik. On Tuesday, we intended to walk the city walls, which as I understand it, is obligatory. The weather was clear and hot and we set off without really knowing what we were doing. We didn't research where you were supposed to access the walls, so we wandered aimlessly for about an hour - up stairs, down blind alleys, down stairs, around corners....you get the picture. However, if we hadn't been so goofy, we would never have found the little cafe that hangs off the cliff face directly below the city walls.
The view from under the canopy
Alex and I climbed down some very steep stone steps where you could get to the water. Later in the day, people were swimming, sunbathing and diving from the rocks.
The view from down those steps
After having hauled Mom up and down and all around in the hot sun for about an hour, we left her by a fountain in the shade to people-watch while Alex and I went in search of the entrance to the city walls. It was a more exhausting trek than I had anticipated, in part because of the sun. By the time we were 3/4 of the way around, I was feeling scorched, so we missed the last leg of it. But what we saw was gorgeous.
Looking back at the entrance by the Pile Gate at the gondola that takes you up the mountain.
Thank goodness they had ice cream stands in the shade in a couple of spots. We never told Mom she missed out, but I guess now she knows. Sorry not sorry.
Looking down at the cafe we visited earlier from the city walls. You can see the sunbathers and divers from here.
We had a light lunch of prosciutto and cheese, and I ventured to try the Croatian beer I had been seeing advertised. It was alright, but not up to Asheville standards. I am now officially a beer snob.
That evening we had a lovely seafood dinner right at the base of the grand staircase, then strolled the piazzas a bit. The swallows are ubiquitous at all times, but in the evening they are a special treat to watch and listen to.
A drink in a courtyard where a band was playing some fantastic gypsy jazz, and then off to bed - flying back to London the next morning.
The weather had been quite warm, but never unbearable on our trip, until we got back to London. The day we arrived back it was 91 degrees. Do you know what London smells like when it's 91? Let's just hope you never find out. We made the best of it with a drink in Clapham Commons, and then BBQ with my niece at Bodean's, because BODEAN'S! Yep, it's actually as good as what you get here in North Carolina.
I'm a fairly hardy little troll, and pride myself on putting up with a lot of aggravation before I lose my shit, but my suitcase pushed me right over the edge. I had been having trouble with the wheels for the entire trip - the rubber bits around the wheels kept coming off and jamming up the works. By the time we were ready to leave our Airbnb in Dubrovnik, one of the wheels had completely broken. My only option was to drag it through the city streets until we could pick up the Uber outside the city gates (which took us across town to where we'd had to leave the rental car). I then had to drag it a long way from the rental car drop off to the airport terminal in Dubrovnik. And through the terminal in London (twice) and again at Charlotte. By the time I got home, two of the four wheels were completely gone.
Guess I won't be running away from home anytime soon.
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