Dubrovnik

Croatian city and port.  Originally called Ragusa until its current name was adopted in 1918 after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The republic of Ragusa received its own statutes as early as 1272.  The first pharmacy, still operating today, opened in 1317.  Following the catastrophic earthquake in 1667 that killed 5000 people and leveled most of the public buildings, the republic gradually declined.  Following 1918 the city was incorporated into the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later to become Yugoslavia.

Dubrovnik has 6m thick city walls which run around the city.  The official currency in Dubrovnik is the Kuna but Euros will do in most places.  There are around 7 Kuna to the Euro so one Kuna is worth about 11p sterling.

We didn't have such a good day in Dubrovnik, things just didn't go our way.  I’ve not been to good these last couple of days with an upset stomach.  I have been taking those tablets which stop the problem but leaves you with your stomach rumbling around.  We had a day at sea yesterday so I stayed in the cabin most of the time and we arrived at Dubrovnik at about 8am and we got off at about 9am to look for an internet cafe.

It was hot and we had a long walk before we found a nice one and sat down for a cup of coffee.  I got the password but couldn't get a connection and we eventually left in search of another one.  Same trouble again so they suggested we went inside where the signal is stronger.  I was ages but eventually managed to get a connection and by this time I was completely fed up with it so didn't move the text to the right places.

I tried to phone Mum without any success as well, not sure what is up with my phone.  We spotted a castle and walked around the bay to it ending up opposite to our boat.  There are very few taxis in Dubrovnik and it was a one way street so we couldn't have got back with one anyway.  Claire thought there was a ferry crossing the bay so we carried on.  It turned out to be a three island cruise so we had to walk all the way back around without any shade.  As we had to be onboard by 1pm and by the time we got back around the other side it was already to late for a taxi tour so we got back onboard.

Last night was a Gala dinner and we had a good time but we find the food is better on ordinary nights.  The picture is of Phil and Pam who have been sharing our table since the third day, they are a really nice couple from south Wales.  We had a few drinks and an early night because Im not to good still.  Last night on the boat tonight and we have to be out of our room by 8am in the morning.  Not a problem, we will leave our bags outside the door and go to breakfast and maybe even have a couple of drinks while its still free before heading off to our hotel in Venice.  We have agreed to do our own thing in Venice so I guess we will be walking miles and drinking in the heat again.  Have to make sure we don't fall in like Tom and Youngja.