Dubrovnik Day 2, and a Happy Reunion

 May 27, 2025

Carol and I allowed ourselves a bit of a sleep-in after our long first day, and met up around 9:00 to go to breakfast. Today, there is a cruise ship in town, springing some 2000 extra tourists into town, and it was apparent right from the start. Tomorrow there will be two ships, spewing forth 4000 cruisers.

Lots of people, milling about or following guides with flags

We went for breakfast just outside the walls, at a breezy outdoor restaurant with reasonable breakfast prices: €10 for a large, beautiful omelet with breads and spreads. We planned to visit the 14th Century Lovrjenac (St. Lawrence’s Fortress) that sits on a hill just outside the Pile Gate. 

Lovrjenac, and the first of two coves we passed by to get there.

 

Looking back towards the old city

We walked by a couple of turquoise coves, one with a kayak rental place, and the other with a pebbly swimming beach. Yes, people were swimming. Gorgeous spot. Walked back through leafy lanes, and noticed a “Love Stories Museum.” I wondered out loud if it was something to do with pornography, and Carol said, “I don’t think so!” Maybe that tells you something about me and about Carol!

We climbed the hill to the Fort. Not a lot to see; the usual cannonballs and cannons aimed out to sea, defending the city. Carol thought those cannon balls would barely clear the cannon before flopping into the water, but I seem to remember that they could fly as far as a mile (sorry about the unit, but I learned this in the UK) and do incredible damage.

Long-range cannon, I'm sure

Cannonballs, caged, I presume, so that no one's tempted to perform feats of strength

We passed by a bench carved with a good motto for life, and certainly for the traveller. I sent the photo to Bettyanne to encourage her. She will be a skilled pirate indeed after navigating this rough sea!

I like to imagine my grandkids' rolling eyes when I quote this to them

Next stop was to go to the top of Mt Srd, overlooking the city. We had planned to walk up, on a switch-back gravel trail that takes about an hour to climb. When a hustler tried to sell us cable car tickets, I told him we planned to walk up, and he backed up, somewhat awestruck maybe, and said, “Respect!” That may have been what convinced us NOT to walk? Have I mentioned anything about climbing in this town? We really didn’t need the workout. We rode the cable car!

Dubrovnik is all about views, and we got some good ones from the mountain. Up there, there is an overpriced restaurant (€20 — $30 CAD — for a sandwich), some ATVs you can drive, following a guide, and a zipline. We didn’t partake of any of those, but wandered around on terrain that was barely walkable because of the coarse gravel (good thing we took the cable car!), checked out the cellphone tower and a broken down ancient fortress. Rode back down again.

View from the very top. No zipline for me, it's scary enough standing on solid ground!

We then took a couple of hours down time in our respective lodgings. I’m convinced that this is how to survive travel. It’s easy to burn out if you go go go all day. By the time we were rested up, it was time to meet up with Bettyanne, who had been able to communicate all day and had sorted out a new flight

What had happened was that her departure gate from Frankfurt was changed, and she never heard the announcement, and since her data plan wasn’t working, she never got any messages about it. She shed a tear or two at the Lufthansa desk when they told her they’d put her on a flight today for €1300, which was more than she’d paid for the entire trip from Vancouver. Besides, the guy at the gate had said they’d do it for her for €100. Confronted with this sad-faced woman who made no move to go anywhere, the agent finally consulted with his manager, and sold her the ticket for €100, telling her repeatedly that this was a one-time exception, never to be expected again. 

She made it!!

 
We met up with a very happy Bettyanne, took her up to the Franciscan Rooms to shed her gear, and headed out for dinner. From a road chock a block with restaurants, we chose a Michelin-mentioned place, outdoors of course, just around the corner from Carol’s apartment. A Michelin mention is not the same as a star, but it means the food will be good, and it was! Sea bream and with pea purée, a few twigs of sea asparagus, and dabs of mystery colour, such as nice restaurants are wont to offer. It was pretty, and delicious, and full of contrasting flavours. Then, of coursec we had our after-dinner gelato, too! We were happy. Still.