Dubrovnik, Croatia (days 63 to 67) - March 10 to 14, 2023)
Fort Lovrijenac
Day 63
Separated from the old town walls by a small sea inlet, Fort Lovrijenac sits up on a cliff. The fort dates back at least to the 1300s and possibly even 1000s. It was an important structure built by the Republic of Dubrovnik to resist the Venetian rule. The initial construction was completed within three months, but the structure underwent multiple changes afterwards. It is in an important location, overlooking the land and sea entrances to the old town.
Leaving the fort, we made our way back into the old town to another museum, the Dubrovnik Natural History Museum. It is a fairly small museum, with different animal, fish, and insects on display.
Day 64
Our final morning in Dubrovnik was spent walking on the opposite side of the old town along the coastline. We met a middle aged man named Matteo who was a city worker keeping the sidewalks clean. He noticed my camera as Joel and I walked by and told me, “don’t shoot!” and threw up his arms :D I told him don’t worry and we kept walking a few more steps before he asked me what kind of camera it was. He then went into a big discussion about who he was, what he thought about all the tourists and how foolish so many of them were, he was not shy about telling us how he felt about things :D Matteo had a really good sense of humor, and kept us smiling most of the conversation. We made it to our destination, Betina Cave (maybe we know someone with that middle name :) ), right along the water. We found out the only way to access the cave was by boat, but we didn’t have much time before our bus ride back to Split, so we walked our way back to the villa and said our goodbyes.
I recommend staying at Heritage Villa Nobile. Beri is a great hostess who had lots of good recommendations of places to visit and eat. She went above and beyond to help make sure we felt welcomed and comfortable.
Pretty uneventful bus ride back to Split where we would stay for two more nights. We went out for some sushi at a place called, “Adriatic Sushi & Oyster bar Split”. I ordered the Tataki Tuna, which included: tuna, arugula, cauliflower cream, wasabi mayonnaise, caper flower, capers, olives, and lemon. It was one of those places that are slightly too fancy for my liking :D Small portions that don’t quite fill you up, but it was very delicious.
Day 65
Sunday was spent relaxing at our Airbnb in Split. I finally decided at this point to head back home with Joel the following morning. I had been considering traveling to Rome or Malta next, but the forecasted weather wasn’t looking to appealing at that point and I felt ready for a break from all the packing up and moving every few days.
Day 66
We hoped to be back home on this day, but ran into some issues along the way. Leaving our Airbnb early in the morning, we got to the airport in Split and made our plane from Split to Munich and the next one from Munich to London. However, we were delayed in taking off from Munich because there were high winds in London, causing delays to incoming flights over that way. We eventually landed in London just 5 minutes before our next flight was supposed to take off for Vancouver. Hoping our next plane would have been delayed as well, we ran through the terminal, which is not small as we found out, for about 10 minutes. Nothing like running through the airport with a 30lb backpack on, only to find out the boarding was closed. We had missed our flight. The most frustrating thing was that the plane was still sitting there and the walkways to the plane were still attached. We spent the next 7 hours waiting in the airport while the airline found us tickets to Vancouver for the following day. After what seemed to take forever, and a few curse words later, the airline found us tickets, but the ‘nearest’ hotel they could put us in for the night was 13 miles away. 13 miles is a long ways when you are in the city of London… We ended up booking a hotel about 5 minutes from the airport ourselves and went straight to sleep after the long day. I was a little tempted to just stay in London for the next week and continue the tour, but I was ready to be back home, at least for a while :D
‘Bonus’ Day 67
Waking up at 4am, we headed back for the airport and took a plane from London to Frankfurt then Frankfurt to Vancouver. We made it, minus our checked luggage which wouldn’t show up till a few days later. ‘Surprised’ the family back home, it was nice to be back after the crazy last two days of travel.
I’ll probably make one more post wrapping up my final thoughts on the trip. It was a quite the adventure, and I am thankful for the opportunity. Not everyone is able to leave home for 2-1/4 months to travel the world.
Don’t make introverts rush things. They’re built different. They like to take it slow, calmly, and patiently. Observe, think, compare, reflect, and then they decide. That’s how they roll. If you push it, they may smile and nod and say yes, but trust me, they ain’t coming.
The first 26 days of my trip can be found at: https://jwworldtour2023.blogspot.com/
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