When I got back to the apartment, my driver was already waiting for me as he was concerned about the traffic, so I quickly went upstairs and finished packing and off we went to the airport, saying goodbye to beautiful Prague. The driver's english was excellent so we spoke all the way to the airport where I learned he spoke a number of languages. He also told me he visits Croatia regularly, as the vicinity means that they can just get in the car and drive there easily. It is highway all the way now. This reminds me how small the countries in Europe are and a pang of yearning shoots through me every time I think about it. I think that if I lived in Europe, I could visit all these countries so easily. And of course then I think that if I lived in Europe, I probably wouldn't have the means to live the type of life I lead back home. Sigh. The driver was a lovely man, and we shook hands on farewell.
At the airport, I had to pay 30€ for excess weight. My bag was 17.9 kgs, as I had managed to offload a few things to Sabrina as I will be able to pick them up on my return to Italy. But I had in turn packed my big camera (instead of carrying it), which in hindsight, may have put me under the allowable of 15 kgs if I didn't pack it (would it weigh that much?). Anyway, I was pissed off. I'm sure I would have noted it if it had been made obvious to me when I booked it (I had noted the allowable limit of other flights), and the girl at the counter said "it's in our conditions". Well I could hardly argue with that. Who the fuck reads the conditions? I felt like saying, "why don't you weigh me and you will find that I weigh much less than the average adult, but you won't charge excess luggage to the 100 kg tall guy sitting next to me". But of course, I bit my tongue and handed over the cash. This was with Smart Wings by the way, avoid them if you can.
Then I find out that the flight was delayed by an hour... However, when I eventually got on the plane, I suddenly became very very excited to be on my way to Dubrovnik. I have been dreaming of going for years. I was 'little girl' excited. Butterflies in the tummy excited!
On landing I was supposed to have someone waiting to pick me up. But there was no one there, so I went and got some cash out of the ATM, then checked again, still no-one. So I went to enquire about the shuttle. Then the dude arrived. This was lucky for me, because on arrival to the Old Town (my apartment is right in the old town), the guy carried my luggage up quite a few stairs, seemingly effortlessly, but it could hardly have been. I started to wonder how the hell I was going to get my luggage to the harbour for my sailing trip. Bugger!
Anyway, I checked in. The apartment is a funky little thing, with the bathroom up the stairs. A very weird design, but I suppose that's how they make use of the tiny space. (When I get up off the toilet I need to be careful not to hit my head on the angled roof.) I had a shower and changed into summer clothes - the first time since leaving Italy!.
I then left to explore, and oh my what an absolutely stunning old town. The stone ground is like walking on ceramic tiles. They are all shiny (and probably extremely slippery in the wet). The streets on the high part of the town (where I am staying) are so narrow, but very ordered. The streets on the flat part of the town are also narrow, but there are some wide streets too running through the town and around the squares. All the buildings are of the exact same stone and the design barely differs unless it's a church or some other important building. I don't really know how to describe the beauty of this place. It is nothing like I have ever seen before.
I grabbed an ice cream, chocolate and hazelnut, expecting it to be like gelati in Italy, but it wasn't. But it was still good.
I booked a day trip to Montenegro for Thursday.
By this time, it was time for dinner and I went back to a pizza/pasta place I had seen on my wanderings. I had been reading that there aren't a lot of great restaurants in the town of Dubrovnik. That as a result or as a hangover from the package-travel days of the 80s, Dubrovnik in particular can disappoint. Dishes are served standard dishes in bland ways, and often, despite it being a fishing area, frozen fish is the norm. Unfortunately the pasta I ordered wasn't great, but at least my expectations had already been set! But an Australian girl came and sat at the table next to me so we spoke at length. She is actually from Belgium and living in Canberra. We spoke about travelling, and our travels mainly, and then about social and political issues back at home and in Belgium. A truly lovely girl.
I found the town to be even more beautiful by night.
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