Dubrovnik

 The water is so clear! And I don't mean in a luscious turquoise Thai sort of way, more like looking through the floor of a glass-bottomed boat into the depths below. The sea is dark blue, but transparent for metres down to the ocean floor. And boy was it rocky, and a little chilly, but incredibly beautiful.

But, I get ahead of myself. We landed in Dubrovnik with a bump. Not in a cultural way you understand, but by literally dropping onto the tarmac with a hard smack that made us understand why planes have seatbelts. You know when you come into land and sometimes the plane speeds up; sometimes the plane slows down, and if you're lucky you get a smooth landing without any side wind? Well not on this flight. The pilot had clearly misjudged his landing, and due to a rather large range of mountains directly ahead of us, couldn't veer up and have another crack. As the plane coasted over the landing strip, and it became clear that we were still several metres up in the air, the pilot made the decision to drop the plane on to the ground. We bounced, we swayed, we braked bloody hard, and we all gave each other that acknowledging look of 'that was close'. Still, safe we were and after collecting our forever swelling bags we hopped on a bus and ventured down to the twinkling lights of Dubrovnik.

Who has been to Croatia? Anyone? If you haven't been I strongly urge you to go. I have seen a fair bit of France, Italy and Greece in my time, you know, the classics, but none of them compare to the sheer beauty and history of Croatian towns. Perfect picture-postcard scenery wherever you look, layer upon layer of historic architecture all melded together, where Roman ruins are still part of the inhabited landscape and ancient pavements are as smooth as marble after serving for centuries as well-trodden walkways. And this is after a war only 20 years old that nearly decimated the heart of Dubrovnik. And did I mention the sea was blue?

Getting lost in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is clearly the jewel in the Croatian crown. Thousands of tourists, mainly from visiting cruise ships, pour into the old town daily and fill its winding streets and cobbled stairways with countless languages, flashing photography and Jesus sandals. The best way to see it, is to throw away the map, duck down a less busy side street and immerse yourself in the narrow lanes and billowing sheets that smother the skyline. The town is still very much lived in and I can only begin to imagine the frustration of the locals, having pictures taken of their smalls while trying to enjoy a relaxing afternoon in their garden. And heaven forbid if anyone ever wanted to build an extension, such is the preservation of authentic building materials throughout the old town. In between local abodes, restaurants and bars vied for custom with inflated prices, which could only further damage our wallets. But, if you're going to spend money you might as well do it in style, so we opted to have a drink at a bar perched precariously on a cliff outside the city walls where the view looked out to the sparkling waters of the Adriatic and Croatia's yachting elite. It was only marred by several groups of drunken Australians daring each other to jump off the surrounding rocks and plummet into the waters below. Bless their cotton socks. And they missed the rocks every time. Shame...

Chillin'

And the view behind

 After getting our fill of historic buildings, sweeping landscapes and half-witted bogans we opted for a tour of the city walls, the second best-preserved in the world, so we were told, although we never did find out whose walls they were second to. Having seen the city from the inside looking out, it was time to climb the defenses and see the city from the outside looking in. We weren't disappointed, being rewarded with glorious views that gave my camera an extremely good workout and me another small dose of vertigo. (It really gets me at the strangest times).

View from above...

After successfully navigating our way back down to ground level Ais took the opportunity to take a quick dip in the crystal waters. Refreshing for her, freezing for me (and that's after getting used to Melbourne sea temperatures), so I sat on the not-so soft rocky shoreline and read up on the next leg of our trip: island hopping from Dubrovnik to Split.

Sunset from our balcony