Day 24: Dubrovnik

Since we had actually ported the previous evening, we had a pretty early start with the Diplomatic Briefing.  As usual, the consulate went over some political issues and took questions.  Working as a diplomat would be a very interesting job.  During the presentation, he got three or four calls, all ignored, from the Croatian Ministry of Justice and brushed them off because it was probably "just some American getting arrested again."

After the ship was cleared I went out with a couple of others to walk around Old Town Dubrovnik for a little while.  As far as things to do here, it's all pretty much centered in that area which is good few miles from our port.  Thankfully the bus system is really easy and pretty cheap.  We walked around for a bit and got a quick lunch of Croatian pizza.  It's supposed to be pretty good and was since there's a lot of Italian influence here.  I then made the trek back to the ship to meet for my city orientation that was scheduled in the afternoon.

The orientation started off by bus up to a really neat spot with a panoramic view of Dubrovnik.  The entire area is extremely picturesque and beautiful.  The hills are green and spotted with white houses all with red roofs.  The islands and deep blue shades of the ocean are really incredible, I can't wait to share some pics.  The tour continued on foot down in the old town.  We hit a number of small museums and five of the 37 churches within the famous city walls.  There's really nothing spectacular about the museums and churches we visited but they were all pretty quaint and and a unique touch to them.  My tour ended with some free time so I met with Daniel, Kyle and Danielle to walk the city walls.  The city walls surround the old town and were used as a defensive barrier back in the 17th Century.  I had to keep true to my duties as a Crane and made the climb to the tallest point (dragging the others along with me).  It was definitely worth it; the views were absolutely spectacular.  It was a pretty intense walk but a lot of fun.

After the City Walls we went for dinner at a place recommended by the inter-port student.  Croatia is known for seafood and meat so I decided for the latter.  I figured there was enough Hungarian influence around to merit getting the beef goulash.  It was quite good.  We walked around the city a bit more before making the journey back to the ship.

So far, I've found Croatia to be a really tourist-friendly country.  It probably helps that tourism is really the only industry in Dubrovnik so everybody speaks English and is helpful.  It's a very "clean" atmosphere compared to some of the areas in Spain or Italy.  I'm looking forward to seeing more, stay tuned.