One of our first stops was a cloister. It was beautiful. Reminded me (ironically) of the Isabella Stewart Museum in Boston. The outside was unassuming but inside was a beautiful garden surrounded by stone walkways and pillars. I look forward to seeing Venice where I believe there is a lot of this kind of architecture.
There were many places to stop and get a drink or something to eat but, as usual, we migrated to the water. We sat out on the walkway that surrounds the old port area. It was fun to watch the boats coming and going. Very busy area. The water is very clear. Bill says that is because there isn't much sand. The bottom is mostly rock so there is less stuff to cloud the water.
One cool thing about the port. We walked around to the end and there is a swimming area. There were people there who were swimming in the ocean in the middle of the old city. The water was clean and safe. That isn't something you see very often.
We took a gondola ride up the mountain to a beautiful spot where we could see over the entire old city. We had lunch up there. Pretty spectacular.
They also had a museum up there that had a lot of information about the 'recent unpleasantness' (the war with Yugoslavia that started in 1991). Dubravnek was heavily bombed and many buildings were damaged. I believe that the damage was less than it could have been because all of the buildings are made of stone. I suspect Dubravnek used wood in earlier incarnations and has been destroyed by fire before - as most old cities have. Now there is little immediate evidence of the widespread distruction. Clearly they have worked hard to restore the beauty of this historic place.
We came back to the hotel after 4 or 5 hours wandering around Dubravnik. Hung out by the pool and just had dinner. Tomorrow we go get our sailboat !
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