Dubrovnik last day - 31 May

Breakfast done and dusted, bags out and waited for our ride to our hotel. It has been a mixed bag in both the cruise itself and the company. Still never met anyone better than myself, but did enjoy the NZ company and hope to remain in contact with them. Little Louise from Melbourne was travelling alone due to her travel friend having to cancel at the last minute due to a breast cancer diagnosis. We kind of took her under our wing and included her in a number of our wanderings. She will be staying in the same hotel as us and she has another day as well before heading off to Scotland. Time to say farewell to all. The weather has turned quite bleak with low cloud and likely rain so we were very lucky that we never sailed in bad weather. On the dock I noticed the building opposite that is under the bridge. Bullet holes in the building facade were a stark reminder of the war experienced here in 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Dubrovnik was besieged by the Yugoslav People's Army for seven months and suffered significant damage from shelling.

After undergoing repair and restoration works in the 1990s and early 2000s, it has re-emerged as one of the Mediterranean's top tourist destinations. Apparently Dubrovnik is the most 'over-touristed' destination in Europe, with 36 tourists for each resident however the tourist season is not all year but desgnated as 1 April to 30 November. I'm jumping ahead a bit but our Uber driver today told us how expensive it is to live here where a small basic 2 bedroom apartment is likely to cost a million Euro. A supermarket employee is likely to earn about 800 Euro per month but pay rent of at least 500 Euro a month. During the war, many left the country due to the danger, and again many left during Covid but this time because there was no work to be had. It is an interesting place, but apart from the old walled city I don't see the attraction. We arrive at our hotel, the Royal Neptun which us 5 star and has amazing coastline views but it is quite a dustance from the old city. We are too early for our room to be ready so are offered breakfast or a drink. I only had breakfast 2 hours ago so opt for the free drinks. We have hours to fill until our room might be ready so decided to get a ride back to the old city where it appears the hop on hop off buses leave from. I am able to book an Uber car that is atthe hotel within a minute. Louise elects to come with us even though she has been able to check into her room. Dropped at the Pile gate we eventually agree to a hour and a half tour for 20 Euro each. We have found out that they aren't actual hop on hop off tours where you can get off at designated spots and then return later from that spot. You are on the same bus the whole time and have 10 minute stops to take photos. Anyway, that's what we do and it filled our morning.

We end up back at Pile gate and as it is now midday we head back into the old city and find a quiet spot for lunch. There are many more people here today now that all the shops are open, and clearly more tour groups.

Finally able to get the internet long enough to be able to book an Uber back to our hotel. This is the driver who told us specifics on cost of living here. Mind you he eas driving a Mercedes sedan that is also a taxi and he does Uber rides like ours for ciffee money! Back in the hitel we are pleased to bookn our room which is lovely. Shame the weather wasn't nicer with clearer skies, but still great views from our little balcony. It was lovely leaving the balcony door open for thefresh air for a couple of hours. About 4 o'clock we ventured back downstairs, collecting Louise on the way, and headed to the bar fir our free drink of Prosecco.

We had thought about going for a walk around the hotel walkway along the coastline but it has started raining so we head back to our room, saying our farewell to Louise. We agree to an early night in. Neither of us want dinner so will finish off our snacks, have a wine (maybe) and hopefully have a good night sleep before our pickup from the hotel in the morning at 7.15.