C l a r i M i c h e l e

Ah Dubrovnik… The city on everyone’s bucket list (thank you, Game of Thrones). The first port of call on our Mediterranean cruise was this picturesque walled-city, and we were determined to squeeze as many activities as possible into the 6 hours we would be there. Walking the wall was top priority, so we bought tickets online ahead of time to ensure we wouldn’t miss out. There’s a daily limit on how many people are allowed onto the walls, and we didn’t want to take any risks.

We were ready to go before the ship even docked, and were greeted by a line of taxis as soon we stepped off the boat. Within minutes we were on the road headed to Old Town. So far so good. The taxi dropped us off just outside the gates, and sped off to go collect more tourists at the port. Then disaster struck. (All the best holidays must have at least one disaster.)

Andrew realised his phone had fallen out of his pocket, and must still be inside the taxi. He started running after it, but it was too late. Now, Andrew is the smartest person I know, but when he’s upset something happens to his brain. It takes a coffee break, and let’s Angry Moody Andrew take over. After a few muttered curses and strangled noises from AMA, we established that the phone was in fact gone. It wasn’t the end of the world, phones are replaceable, but it was how we planned to track our spending and find our way around for the remainder of our trip.

I started calling Andrew’s phone, but it was on silent. We walked over to where other taxis were queuing up, and asked the drivers what we could do to retrieve a lost phone. They were very sympathetic, and asked what the taxi number was. We didn’t know. What kind of car was it? White. What was the driver’s name? Didn’t know, but he was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and had a moustache. The drivers were very nice and didn’t even call us stupid tourists.

AMA was ready to give up all hope, but I reasoned that the taxi driver would probably pick up another tourist at port and bring them to Old town. It was about a ten minute drive back to port, so we could hang around for 20-30 min and see if he came back.

So we waited, and waited. I put my glasses on so my blind little eyes could spot our taxi driver. And behold! He came back with more tourists 30 minutes later. Andrew ran up to the car and his phone was still in the backseat. We went into Old Town with a sigh of relief and happy feelings.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, we bee-lined to the walls. By this point it was noon, and HOT. Ok, less than 90F, but we’re used to English weather now, and had forgotten what real heat feels like.

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We took exactly 1,000,000 photos of the walls because 1) the views were amazing, and 2) we were delirious from the heat.

After completing a loop around the city, we were pretty hungry for lunch. We descended from the walls and found the main road through town was much busier than when we first arrived. We wandered towards the swimming area and found a shady spot to eat next to an old church.

Since Old Town Dubrovnik is pretty small, the tourists pouring in from cruise ships make it feel very crowded. As more and more people continued to arrive in the afternoon, we decided not to spend as much time there after lunch. We headed to the fortress just outside the gates to get another view of the city and coastline.

I think the photos speak for themselves… Dubrovnik is stunning and it was a great way to start off our cruise!