Roemin abit

It's the last day of our holiday and as we are not going to fly until after 9:00pm we decided to keep our room until 5:00pm (cost £20 extra). This allowed us to walk down to the local Copacabana beach for a few hours. It was another lovely day and there were a few people on the gravel beach sunbathing or swimming but non of the facilities (restaurants, bars etc) were open. We sat and kindled/played mp3 and watched the Costa Mediteranea cruise off to its next port of call. The small Thomson Celebration was also berthed under the road bridge. We walked back later through the Crown Hotel complex and found a nice restaurant overlooking Lapad Bay. We treated ourselves to the sharing fish platter and a glass of wine at a table for two under an olive tree. Perfect lunch to finish the holiday. We just got back in time to freshen up, finish packing, checkout and hang around for our airport pickup at 6:15. The Monarch flight was early and we arrived back in Birmingham after a b...

We did not do much today except take the bus to Gruz port where the cruise boats come in and the main market is located. There were no big boats in so it was quiet and the market was packing away. We wandered a bit and caught the bus back, getting off at the Post Office roundabout to walk down to Lapad bay. This another popular hotel area, with plenty of pizza and fast food outlets but no MacD, KFC, Costa or Starbucks in Dubrovnik! We took the coastal path, more like a pedestrian roadway, back towards our hotel at the end of Babin Kuk, passing  the Hotel More with is famous cave bar. Well, we didn't pass actually but stopped at the waterside terrace bar for beer and snacks in the hot sunshine. The weather forecast was wrong after all! The cave was discovered when the hotel was being constructed and is interesting rather than impressive. It certainly has a bar and room for a few customers but is used mostly to serve the tables outside on the terrace. Great place for a sunset d...

We decided to have a more relaxing day today. It did not happen.  We took the crammed ferry to Locrum Island on the recommendation of a young waitress in the hotel restaurant. Its only a 20 minute ride from the old port, costs £12 return and its a very popular way of escaping the crowds in town. There was a Viking cruise ship in port today and lots of tour groups around the Pile gate and on the Stradum. We sat with an Irish couple on the ferry who had been to Dubrovnik twice before. I must admit it was a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle in town. Despite the tourist hoards in Dubrovnik and the recent history we have found Croatia a very friendly and welcoming place to be. Although the ferry takes about 200 passengers at a time they soon spread out in all directions. We walked over to the west side of the Island passed the old monastery to a rocky shore where there is space for sun bathing and swimming. There were plenty of people doing both, but I just paddled in a rock...

Today we are planning to take the cable car to see Dubrovnik and the coast from a higher vantage point. We caught the no5 bus to the cable car station for the 3 min ride up to the top of Mount Syrd which over looks Dubrovnik. There is a fort at the top which now houses a war museum but played an important role in the 1991 war between the mostly Serbian Yugoslavian army and Croatia. Dubrovnik and the fort were  pounded by shells and mortars from the hills and by a gun boat blockading the harbour in Dec 1991. A lot of damage was inflicted with around 100 people killed. The fort which is in a key strategic position did not fall, although it was severely damaged and became a symbol of defiance for the people in Dubrovnik during the siege. We tried to make sense of the war from the displays, which were in English, but it was very complicated. The most useful information came from archive ITV news footage. We gave up and had a lazy snack and a beer in the nice open air Panorama res...

We went into Dubrovnik today on a mission to walk the city wall. The wall completely encircles the city to make it impenetrable even from the harbour. It is a substantial structure and can be walked upon all the way round its 2km circumference for a fee of 120Kn, about £15 at 2016 exchange rates. Its Dubrovnik no1 must do, and almost everybody does it seems. We climbed the first set of steep stone steps by the Pile gate, they were not to be the only ones, at 12:37. We spent the next two and a half hours strolling round, going up and down, taking in the views over the tiled roofs on the one side and mountains or sea on the other. We have seen a number of equally attractive walled towns/cities/villages in our travels but the walk around the Dubrovnik walls is truly spectacular and unique. There are a few places to take a break for a drink, or a snack, but apart from an ice cream toilet break we kept going. There are two more gates where the walk can commence and we encountered some tou...

In the morning we took the no6 local bus on a nice sunny day to the gates of the Old Town, a journey of about 15 mins standing, The Pile gate is the main  gate for all tours, taxis, cruises and practically everyone else to be dropped. So it is crowded and surrounded by nunerous booths selling excursions or guided walks, ATM machines  and several restaurants. Dubrovnik's finest restaurant Nautika, by the gate, is rated the 6th most romantic place to eat in the World by Conde Nast Traveller with highly inflated prices to match. We walked through the gate with the crowds and wandered down the main street, the Stradun, with a few detours down side streets before reaching the small market. There were many small stalls selling local produce including crystallised orange and lemon and sugared almonds. We bought a few bits and had an expensive coffee on the main street. Visited the official Game of Thrones merchandise shop, did not but anything, then had a look at Kings Landing in...

Well it was forecast and its pouring down again. Just watched one of the cruise ships disappear into the gloom. Its on its way to Venice passing all the Croatian islands, but it is not going to be very scenic in this weather.

Woke up to find we had a nice view of the sea and Elaphite Islands from our room,  but it was raining. By the time we had breakfast and an informative chat with our rep Josef, the rain had stopped so we explored our local area. We walked over to the nearby Cava cove/beach, but did not go down to the seashore. Then back round the peninsular to the President hotel. It's also in the Valamar group and we had a cappuccino on the terrace in warm sunshine, before walking back through the gardens to our hotel.  It's clouding over again and looks like more rain. The hotel is busy now with a conference and tour groups checking in.

The flight from Birmingham was delayed and we arrived at the hotel about 10:45 after a 30 min drive from the airport. We are on the third floor and should have a sea view but it's too dark to see anything. Hotel had left a cold plate of ham and cheese for our supper.

Arrived in plenty of time for flight which departs at 16:35. Rosemary shopping - me blogging! Mark and Christina have rented a large house in North Wales for the same week that we are away

We booked a late holiday to Dubrovnik with Monarch a few weeks ago. Fortunately they did not go bust last week, so we are flying off to Croatia tomorrow afternoon from Birmingham.

We all left late Sunday morning after brunch. I had previously booked tickets to see a filmed recording of the Miss Saigon stage show in the evening. Rosemary had seen the original with Jennifer, but not me. It was filmed in 2014 and included a gala finale to celebrate the opening  25 years ago. We both enjoyed it, Jon Jon Biones, as the Engineer was outstanding.  

We helped tidy the house ready for the carpets to be fitted. We went out for the afternoon to the World Food festival at Letchworth and then called in to Hitchin for tea and coffee. Both are very nice old market towns. Christina made a good chilli using the Jamie Oliver recipe.

We had another weekend in Luton with Mark and Christina and Katie. On the way we called in to see Mathew and Mia at Stevenage and we had lunch with them. Mathew took me for a walk again. Mark had cooked a piece of pork in the slow cooker for pulled pork supper.