I was actually quite sad to pack up this morning for the move to our final destination in Croatia - Dubrovnik. It has been so relaxing, a lovely apartment and I’m fond of Ivo and his wife. He jokes about our late get-ups and regularly pops by to see if we’d like some more of his home brewed wine. They are a lovely couple. His wife (I never discovered her name) does not speak English but he translated and we hugged goodbye.
The car was packed and apartment tidied by 10.00am so we set off, navigating the gate on our departure. It was literally seven minutes to the ferry port which unlike Split consists of just one dock and we were the second car in line. It was a leisurely loading and just a fifteen minute journey to the mainland narrow Pelješac Peninsula. This was on my itinerary to be explored on route and it is known throughout the country as the wine area and vineyards were everywhere. We headed straight to a town called Ston which Ivica at our apartment in Split had suggested we visit to see ‘The Great Wall of China’! We had no idea what he was talking about but from a distance we could see what he meant as there is a massive wall - very much like the one in China, across the hill with towers at regular intervals - very impressive defences for Dubrovnik built from 1358. It is the second longest defensive wall after the Great Wall of China.
Ston was pretty and I was lucky to see a water snake - identified as a Dice snake in the little river. It was difficult to capture the scale of the wall but we did try from a number of angles. Then we got back into the comfort of the air conditioned car and drove the five minutes or so to Mali Ston on the coast when Ivica had also recommended a seafood restaurant called Captains House (Kapetanova Kuća). It was not the cheapest place but as Ston is renown for its oysters we ordered three each, followed by the freshest tuna cooked two ways. It was very good and good value.
I spent a little time photographing the oyster beds in the crystal clear waters before we headed on the final hours drive into Dubrovnik. During our trip I have calculated all our destinations using GPS coordinates as roads are often long and addresses not accurate. Today this worked well, no wrong turns and just as we were wondering where the apartment was, Baldo - husband of the owner of the apartment spotted us as he was waiting. The parking was ‘interesting’ as it is on a sort of lift where cars can go up and down but luckily there is no car underneath so we should find the car where we left it!
Our next apartment is a one bedroom modern apartment and well kitted out. It has all that we need although not as big as our one in Lumbarda and I do miss the views and Ivo pottering around in his vegetable plot. Not too late tonight after a brief shop in the ubiquitous ‘Tommys’ supermarket.
