It's a glorious feeling to wake up just before my alarm: I actually feel rested, I can have a slow stretch, I can enjoy the bird singing... at least until I realise there shouldn't be birds singing and it's much lighter than it should be for 3am. Then the panic set in.
I overslept on Sunday by nearly three hours because I'd accidentally set a weekday alarm rather than a weekend one. There were over a dozen messages and missed called from David, who'd sat outside for 45 minutes trying to wake me (my phone was, of course, on silent). It was 5:50. My flight to Croatia left at 6:40. I don't think I've ever moved so quickly; I was out the house by six, almost sprinting to the train station, calling a taxi on the way in case there weren't any fast trains to Gatwick. There weren't and my taxi still took almost ten minutes to get to the station. 'Gatwick please!' I said as I scrambled into the backseat. 'My flight leaves in half an hour, can you get me there in time?' 'I'm the fastest driver in Croydon. Put your seatbelt on, and don't complain about my driving!' It was 6:12 and we were flying through the empty streets, hitting nearly every light on green. By 6:29 we were pulling off the motorway and into the airport when I got a message from David: they're closing the gates. They can't wait. No amount of begging seemed to sway them, despite the fact that I was at the airport and could rush through security. I missed my flight to Dubrovnik. Writing this today, I can look back and be pretty impressed by just how quickly I made it to the airport. Not quickly enough, but still - less than an hour from wake up to airport arrival is a solid effort. I can also see the humour in the situation, though at the time, standing in the British Airways customer service queue, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to cry or swear or do both. I paid for another flight, one leaving the following morning, and made my very unhappy way home again (though a small part of me almost decided to just stay in the airport, after spending fifty quid on a taxi to get me there!). It was a miserable Sunday morning, but I went to Watford to spend the afternoon and evening with Sean and his family and that really took the edge off, so by the time I made it to the airport Monday morning, I was feeling fairly relaxed about it all. By midmorning I was sitting on a bench in front of Dubrovnik's Old City, waiting for Wanda, David, and Kyle to meet me, sunglasses on and holiday mode fully engaged. There was, naturally, plenty of stick given for having missed the flight, but it was hot and sunny and David had waited to walk the city walls with me, so as far as I was concerned, everything was just fine.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful city that curves around a rugged, rocky coast and works its way up a steep hill. Our Air BnB was up the hill a ways from the Old City, which wasn't a problem as Dubrovnik is an incredibly pedestrian-friendly city, but it did mean that we had lots and lots of stairs to climb to get back to the apartment at the end of the day. It is also very obviously a city that all but shuts down in the tourist off-season. The streets were quiet and there didn't seem to be much of the buzz you'd expect from a popular tourist getaway spot. Even so, there was plenty to do.
David and I walked the Old City walls, stopping briefly to enjoy a drink at one of the cafés overlooking the sea. While the views were gorgeous and the walls admirable, there was no information anywhere and no option for an audio guide. This was true of most things we did in the city; while beautiful, it was not exactly easily educational. As we walked, David pointed out various sites that had been used as filming locations for Game of Thrones and filled me in a little on the history that he'd learned from the walking tour I'd missed on Sunday afternoon. After that we met up with Wanda and Kyle again, who'd gone for a very chilly dip in the sea, to hike up the mountain the city backs onto, following what felt like a never-ending switchback trail to the summit. I'd been teasing Wanda about walking slowly earlier in the day, but she definitely made me eat my words as I was left about 20 or 30 meters behind her, breathing heavily and with aching legs, for most of the last half of the walk. That being said, we made it to the top in 30 minutes, after everyone warned us it would take at least 45. We rewarded ourselves with a couple drinks at the restaurant, which had stunning panoramas of the city and the sea. David and I then took the cable car down the mountain for a gorgeous view of the lowering sun over the islands beyond the city.
The following morning we had a few hours free between waking up and sea kayaking in the afternoon, and David suggested we take a ferry to the island Lokrum, which is also a national park. The ferry only had about ten people on it and they arrive once an hour, so Lokrum was very quiet; we only rarely saw the others as we wandered around. It was obvious, though, that the island was designed for very heavy traffic in the summer months. We explored the coastline, a few pools and wells, and an old fort in the centre, dodging peacocks and rabbits along the way. We also found a museum that had an exhibit about Richard the Lionheart and the Benedictine monks who had their monastery on the island. It was really well set up, and the bit where they explained the 'curse' of Lokrum was actually really creepy. Lokrum was also a filming location for GoT and they had a replica of the Iron Throne in the monastery, which we all thoroughly enjoyed taking advantage of, especially since there were no queues and we could take as many photos as we liked.
As we made our way back to Dubrovnik the weather turned and it began to drizzle steadily so in the end the kayaking was cancelled. Of course, we only found this out after standing at the meet point for half an hour in the rain! There had been a mix-up earlier that morning and the email notification didn't get sent out to our group. They were very apologetic and offered to pay for a comparatively-priced tour in London when they found out we were leaving Croatia the following morning. I was quite impressed by that, considering we didn't pay a deposit or anything like that to reserve our spot, though very disappointed. The sea kayaking was something I had been very much looking forward to since I booked it! We did try to convince them that we were all English, we didn't mind a bit of rain, but no luck.
So instead of kayaking around the bay, we made our way over to Lapad, just over the hill from Dubrovnik, where Wanda had found a bar built into a cave that had great reviews. It took us about 45 minutes to walk, though it was more driver-friendly than pedestrianised. The Cave Bar was really cool, with a great range of drinks, comfortable seats, and a playlist straight out of high school. It was in the basement of Hotel More, an upside-down hotel built into the cliff facing the bay, somewhere that would probably be a beautiful place to stay (if, you know, you can afford hotels). So yeah, Dubrovnik was a great get-away, despite being cut short by a day. My top recommendations in terms of food and drink would be Spaghetteria Toni in the Old City - amazing pasta dishes with a great selection of local sea food - and the Hotel More Cave Bar. It was quiet when we were there, but I'd imagine it has a fantastic vibe in the summer evenings. tags
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