Day 41: Dubrovnik – The Pearl of the Adriatic

Any place given that title by none other than Lord Byron himself has to be worth a visit!  I’d heard mixed reviews about Dubrovnik – beautiful, incredibly touristy, overrated – but I just had to see for myself.  And anyway, it’s yet another World Heritage Site to tick off my list!  🙂

I teamed up with a couple of other backpackers I’d known in Korcula and we were able to score a good deal on a private room just outside the gates of the Old Town.  At the top of my agenda was a swim, so I walked quickly through the town to a fantastic swimming area just outside the city walls – it was quite an experience swimming with such a massive and historic monument on one side and the blue Adriatic and green islands on the other.  I explored the city and found a couple of other similar but even better swimming holes over the next couple of days.

I liked Dubrovnik, although in small doses.  I could only ever do a few days there.  The highlight for me was the walk along the city walls around the circumference of the Old Town.  The vantage point gave you a great view down into the city with its jumble of red roofs (many of which were replaced after the pointless shelling of the city by Bosnian Serbs a decade ago) and narrow alleys.  The lowlight was definitely the cuisine – every restaurant served pizza, pasta and salads.  Boring!

Hot, hot, HOT! (not me, the weather!)