Lokrum Island - our last day

We are on our last day in Dubrovnik and fly out this evening.  We took a quick boat ride over to Lokrum Island, home to free range peacocks and bunnies - picturesque areas and ruins that were used for more game of thrones scenes, specifically the gardens.  Great last day in Croatia - we're flying to London, staying the night, then home sweet home...

 Called the "Dead Sea" on the island, small pool that was salt water

 Peacocks were all over the island

 Old Castle

 Botanical Gardens had some unique cactus

 Monastery

 Hike to the top of the island

View of Dubrovnik on ride back to the city

St. Blaise - this one is for John and Mark

So, what do John, Mark and Dubrovnik have in common?  Well, St. Blaise of course.  St Blaise is the name of the school that John and Mark attended from 1st through 8th grades and also happens to be the patron saint of Dubrovnik - there are 37 statues of St Blaise within its city walls. For Catholics and Non-Catholics, St Blaise is the healer of the throats - and I can't recall the story of how that came to be, and it really has nothing to do with Dubrovnik anyway.  The relevance of St Blaise for Dubrovnik residents, whose biggest celebration aside from Christmas and Easter is St Blaise day, is that St Blaise apparently saved the city from enemy attack.  The story goes that in 972 AD, the Mayor of Dubrovnik (at that time, the town was called Ragusa) had a dream in which St. Blaise warned him of an impending attack by enemies.  The Mayor woke the town and prepared for battle, and because of the warning, the town successfully defended itself against the Venetians...so for more than 1,000 years, every February 3, the town celebrates St Blaise - with a festival, period costumes, music, and pageantry.

Above: Dubrovnik Cathedral, with St Blaise on top...see below for close up.

Above: one of the 37 St Blaise statues in town, this one is on top of the cathedral - St Blaise holds a replica of the city of Dubrovnik in his left hand and points up with his right.

This has nothing to do with St Blaise, but it is representative of the many drain spouts around town - when it's raining, excess water from the rooftops comes down the inside of the buildings through drains and exits through these fanciful drain spouts

GOT Cruise and Walking Tour

We had a fun Game of Thrones tour that began with a nice sail around the Dubrovnik bay  - so that we could take in the entire city...beautiful, and ended with a 1/2 walking tour of some of the GOT sites.  Our guide kept us entertained, filled us in on the local gossip related to the filming.  A few film facts: the filming is no longer in Dubrovnik, but they had a good run from 2011 to 2017; the cast and crew initially were friendly and milled about the city just like any tourists, but as their fame grew - their presence did not - and eventually, they just hid from everyone; the extras played by Dubrovnik residents earned around 50 Euro a day - and were on set from 430 AM to well after sunset - the perk was the catered food; and each scene was filmed around 30 times - because there is no stage set and they cannot easily go back to the spot they were filming.  Apparently, the crew left Dubrovnik because of the expense and the tourists - both problematic. Season 8 was filmed in Spain and their Ireland studio.   Photos below of the actual scene and a snippet from the show for comparisons.

Our ship around the bay, a replica of the ships that were made in Dubrovnik up until the 1600s, when an earthquake struck Dubrovnik and destroyed the shipyard - that was the end of the Dubrovnik shipbuilders.

Above: Walk of shame steps - where the below shot from GOT was filmed.

Above: Walk of shame scene from GOT.  Notice the church in the background does not exist in the actual location (two photos above), the guide explained that the area above the staircase had a green screen across it, so that the church in the background could be photoshopped in.  Our guide explained that the items thrown at Cersci Lannister were actually sponges (plentiful here in the Adriatic), dipped in brown stuff. 

Above: Actual location just inside the Dubrovnik city walls. 

Above: Scene of Joffrey arriving at King's Landing - where the townspeople rioted.

Fort of St. Lawrence

In the morning shots, there was a fortress on the other side of a small bay in many of the photos.  We visited it today which allowed us to get an expansive view of the city (aka "money shot").   Another great day for photos.   While grabbing  late lunch, we got the opportunity to see the cliff divers - quite brave.  Looking forward to the tour tonight where we do a brief cruise around the outside of the city.

Spectacular Dubrovnik

We arrived very late by ferry in Dubrovnik, and did not make it out to the city last night.  But we were up with the sun to walk the city wall.  This is the number one attraction -  walking the wall that encases this beautiful old town -  we read that it can be very crowded and turn into a lemming line-up, thus the reason we beat feet very early.  Apparently there are limited cruise ships in town today and we were fortunate, there were no lemming sightings - this must be what it feels like to go to an amusement park which is only half full - no waiting in long lines.  We have also been fortunate with the weather.  Rain has been predicted all week, but not a cloud in sight and the forecast has vastly improved to reasonable temperatures without precipitation.  We'll share what we learn from our GOT tour later tonight.  Just some shots of Old Town Dubrovnik - notice the majority of roofs are new - lots of bombing here during the 1990s war.

Evening hike to the Fortress

As we approached the harbor, we could see the fortress sitting above the town - I think it was calling our names to climb the hill.  Our sunset hike was a great choice to visit this fortress that was almost 400 years (~1200-1600) in the making - slow and steady wins the race - this puppy isn't coming down anytime soon.  Very well kept, complete with church, medieval prison, and hosts of living quarters.

Fortress on the hill

View of the city at sunset

Islands off the coast with heavy boat traffic

Busy harbor

Anne with a great view from the cannon slot

Small church on the way down

Star Sighting

The island of Hvar is another storybook Croatian town - beautiful, historical, bringing great weather and service!  And, of course - the beautiful people.  Anne spotted Robert Herjavec (of Shark Tank, and incredibly successful in business) and Kym Johnson - wickedly talented dancer on Dancing with the Stars.    Robert Herjavec was born in a town not far from the island of Hvar...this yacht is their mode of transportation through the islands.

This gem of a yacht rents for $200K a week, plus expenses.  5 bedrooms.  Yep, we looked it up. :)

Hvar - another gem on the Dalmatian Coast

We took a catamaran to the Island of Hvar - a one night stop on our way to Dubrovnik. What a beautiful city, very picturesque.   Below are 1. a panoramic shot from the window in our room and 2. the view from the other side of the harbor.  We're headed out for a hike up the hill to the old fortress...to work off the fabulous food and wine that Croatians love to create!

Roman Clocks

The majority of Split was built by the Romans, so there are many traditional Roman features including the clocks.  View out our hotel window below shows the main clock tower at the other side and as you zoom in, you can see it is a 24 hour clock with Roman numerals.  We were told on our tour it does not adjust for daylight savings time (duh), but otherwise keeps perfect time.  We are still confused by the long second hand though.  This picture was shot at 7 am on the dot...see here the shorter hour hand clearly shows 7, but the minute hand sure looks like it's at 16 minutes after given the roman numerals.  We will just continue to rely on our cell phones!

Morning Walking Tour

Our walking tour with Marco was a hit - he is in his 20s and just received his tour guide license - and brought a fresh and cheeky perspective to life in Split - where education and healthcare is "free," but at a cost; the young want to leave for life in growth opportunities; and everyone knows everyone's business.  We learned about the history of the romans, followed by 1000 years of being ruled by foreigners (French, Venetians, Italians to name a few) - and recently independence has brought a true sense of pride.  The Bosnian border is just a few steps away, which is why boat travel is necessary for our next stop - otherwise we would need to go through Bosnia to get back to Croatia, along the same coast.   There are just a few shots below of the tour.  The first is the market - and it is massive going on for several city blocks - with the most appealing fruits and vegetables; the second is one of four gates into the city;  the third photo is another music group, singing acapella - beautiful; and finally, the clock tower. 

Split is one more reason we love Croatia!

We improvised our travel plans when the weather took a hard turn on our second day in Plitvice, with heavy thunderstorms, so we decided to head to the seaside village of Split a day early - we've been pretty blessed to have been able to alter our plans on short notice.  We've been piecing together things about Croatia, and love this country that we know so little about.  These are things we have come to know: warmth and hospitality, and its issues are not healthcare or immigration, but emigration  -  the "yutes" are leaving for Australia, Germany, Norway - to make a better life, free from the 'old people' who do nothing but talk about the war; we've also enjoyed terrific food but what we have really loved aside from the people is the music - it's everywhere.  When we were in Motovun, the dinner was accompanied by an old soul with a saxophone; in Plitvice, we were entertained by a guitarist playing folk music, and a classic pianist in our park hotel lobby; and here in Split - no different, every corner delivers a new serenade - whether it's rock and soul, or traditional Croatian music.  We love the spirit and joy in the few places we've visited in Croatia, but we are also mindful that to live here brings with it a constant reminder of yesterday.

 

So a bit about this town - it's beautiful!  Our hotel sits in the middle of the old town area built in ~300 AD.  Below are some photos from an early walk around the city this morning.  We'll share more from our walking tour later.