07/06/07

Well this is a holiday with a difference. One evening many months ago, I was set the task to arrange a long weekend away for Lyn, Paul, Alie and I with the destination to be kept a secret until the final moment. After many hours of painstaking research, today we are leaving. All the preparation work is now complete. Let’s just hope the plan works and everybody has a fantastic time. It was an early start at 07:00 to give us enough time to sort things out. Cats fed and watered, house readied and all bags packed. A quick breakfast and then a short walk to the train station to get the 08:40 to Birmingham International train station where we all to meet. We duly arrived at Birmingham International train station and met up with Lyn and Paul (my sister and brother in law). I then handed out the highly important envelopes to everyone, where the secret destination would be revealed. Everyone swiftly opened their envelopes and read the contents with earnest glee. I had made up a small piece of blanking tape so everyone revealed the destination at the same time.

Your holiday destination is ………………… Dubrovnik.

Everyone seemed really chuffed with the chosen location. Lyn and Paul had had numerous thoughts as to where it may be whilst they waited for us to arrive. Watching bicycles go past! Waiting for message boards to appear or receive further instructions via text message. Having checked our baggage in, we chilled out in Costa with a suitable cup of refreshment and discussed the things we would all do once we got there. At this point I gave them the location of the accommodation we would be using. Literally a stones throw form the old harbour, right in the heart of the old city, which is what we had come to see. Any picture of the old harbour will have a picture of our accommodation on it. On the aircraft time was spent relaxing and reading more of the guidebook. We flew over Split as well as Dubrovnik itself so you get a fantastic view of the layout of the old city as well as the small island of Lokrum. Everyone was getting excited.

We arrived at Dubrovnik airport and stepped out to a sunny, warm and humid afternoon. It is not the biggest airport by any means with only a couple of passport officials and a solitary baggage carousel. We were through customs and outside the airportbuilding in less than 10 minutes. Straight into a taxi for a swift 20 minutes drive along the ruggedly beautiful coastline dotted with trees.

Due to the fact that the old town is pedestrianised, we were dropped off outside the Ploce gate and entered the ancient city on foot. We wandered down the narrow high walled entrance to the main square. Following my travel nose we went straight to the accommodation:- 2 apartments I had rented for the holiday. Ideal for what we needed it even had a small kitchen should we feel the need to cook (unlikely but hey…..). A swift change into something cooler and we were off into the city to investigate what it was all about and soak up some of the atmosphere and history of the city. In the warm late afternoon sun we all just ambled down the main street Placa Stradun taking in the architecture and get a feel for the place as well as the ice cream. We then left the city via the other vital entrance to the city, the Pile gate at the other end of the main street. We then found ourselves a little bar down by the sea in a little harbour just a short walk away. Toasting the start of our little holiday with beer and wine we relaxed for a short while in the sunny tranquillity. More aimlessly enjoyable wandering around the city ensued, before we started to look for somewhere for our evening meal. We eventually decided on a restaurant in the main harbour, somewhere Marc, the accommodation owner had recommended. Cuttlefish risotto, mussels, seafood risotto and calamari were the very obvious order of the day given our location of the increasingly beautiful Adriatic coast.

Historically, Dubrovnik has had strong religious connections and it was celebrating Corpus Christi. Numerous small candle lit lanterns were placed all over the city. We then walked up the steps to the Jesuit church. This made for a very enjoyable meander through the streets at the end of the day. A final beer and coffee watching the smartly dressed concert goers at the Rectors palace before some well earned rest at the end of a fantastic start to the short break.