Seeing the sights in Dubrovnik….

We did not spend quite all our time in Dubrovnik eating and going to concerts!

We did visit most of the  noteworthy sights….going at times of day when the least number of persons were there from the cruise ships!

First off….. the Franciscan Monastery just inside the Pile Gate.

This has a fantastic cloister area……..

and the oldest pharmacy in continuous use in Europe, from 1317…..

Locals can still go there even today to fill a prescription……

It did suffer some damage in the Serbian aggression in the early 90s.

Then on to the Dominican Monastery…  and another beautiful, peaceful cloister...

This had a beautiful museum which was very tastefully laid out…definitely worth a visit!  No photos allowed..but I did sneak this one…..

The church was quite stark except for this cross, which is from the 14th century, by Paolo Veneziano, who moved to Dubrovnik to escape the Black Plague in Venice…....

We felt in need of a rest before seeing any other sights so made our way to the Buza bar….. a rather different sight and a little difficult to find!  But well worth at the effort. Locals come to dive in, swim, fish…….

….. the cats also liked it there……presumably hoping that some fish might actually be caught!

Next was the Rector's Palace…. again definitely worth a visit!  No photos allowed within the rooms….which was pointed out to me, after I took 2 photos!  I had not noticed….

However exterior photos were OK…..

…...loved this handrail…..

and this is a reminder to forget private affairs and concentrate on public ones!

Last but not least we walked up to the Lovrijenac Fort.  This we saw every day from our apartment!

The way up had 200+ steps before one reached the actual fort….which had still more numerous steps inside.

From the entrance to the fort we had a fabulous view of the little cove we overlooked…..

But from the top we had fantastic views over all of Dubrovnik…

and also a view to our apartment… to the left of the small church.

The fort itself is very impressive…..

Many years ago I went to a performance of Hamlet in this fort…..fabulous! It is used for performances every summer during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival…. and is also now used in the TV series
 'Game of Thrones".

I actually did make it to the top…..if somewhat hesitantly……...

On to our last Croatian stop…..Dubrovnik

Buying ferry tickets in Croatia is not easy!  First we bought our tickets, and then we were told we had to come back the following morning for the boarding card, as they are only allowed to give those on the day of the ride.  So back we went……to find out that now we must go back again 30 mins before the ferry departs as it could be leaving from either port of the town!!

So we decided to have an early lunch on the promenade where we could see boats approach…..
and we left our table once we saw where the boat was heading!  No need to return to the Jadrolinja office!

We were a little surprised that we had to climb up essentially 2 stories with luggage to get on or off the boat!

Unfortunately a catamaran was not an option! And this particular ferry was the last of the season between Korcula and Dubrovnik……so we definitely did not want to miss it!  The alternative was a ferry to the mainland and then a minibus journey!

The mainland as seen from the boat seemed rather forbidding……

Dubrovnik when we reached it looked very busy compared to the islands, or even Split.
We checked into our apartment and admired the view from the windows……..

There is a plaque on the outside wall of the building…. presumably Kathleen Wilkes lived here….

This little port under the Lovrijenac Fort……. is apparently where scenes for the Game of Thrones takes place. Apparently they are filming here for the next few days…..but we have seen no evidence yet…..

We couldn't resist a nighttime stroll into the old town……

but were surprised at the numbers also out strolling……

There was a jazz concert at the end of the town so we assumed this was unusual and most people were here for the concert…

…...… until we saw some night time guided tours!

We had dinner in a very good restaurant, Sesame…

It was a little funky but the food is excellent….

It took us a little while to find as we thought it was on a back street near the fort. This involved going up and down many steps!! However it turned out to be on the main road, a little uphill from the Hilton hotel.  Definitely ask for a table not too close to the traffic noise!

The following morning proved to be more of the same……..many, many tourists. Apparently there are 4 cruise ships in and that means about 7000+ people seeing the sights!

We found a great site which gives dates when the cruise ships are docked so that one can choose less busy days to visit, unfortunately too late for us to change our plans. The September schedule shows that
tomorrow looks better for us to sightsee…. only 2 boats in!

The main square had a local food products market, which was very colourful….with the producers in national costume...

It was lunchtime for some…….

We checked out the port area……

…..looked at the people walking around the walls….but were not tempted to join them!  26+ degrees, full sun!

As we exited Pile Gate we were happy that we had gone into the town earlier on…..

…….looks a little like queueing at Disneyland!!