The map gives some idea of the extent of the area

                                                                      Black Down

Southern England may be one of the most populated places on the planet but it is easy to find plenty of quiet spots with miles of countryside all to yourself. Sussex and Kent form a great bowl bordered by the North and South Downs and filled with the delights of the Weald, but in that bowl are numerous ridges and pockets of high ground that sit up like giant lumps of cereal. One such area is Black Down.

View out over the Weald

The slopes of Black Down

 

Black Down is a popular Sussex beauty spot that Lord Tennyson loved so much that he decided to get a house here to get away from day trippers on the Isle of Wight where he lived. You can understand why he liked it because it is the highest spot in Sussex and also in the South Downs National Park (919ft) and sits like a great mound just south of Haslemere, with fantastic views all round towards Leith Hill, the North and South Downs, and of course the Sussex Weald. ill Sussex is the most mature and tame of landscapes and Black Down is about as wild as it gets round these parts, which isn’t very, and shares the same features as other well known southern beauty spots such as Ashdown Forest with its open heathland  and scattered woodland. In fact it’s like a much hillier Ashdown Forest, crossed by winding and switchback little lanes swinging between banks of trees and undulating countryside.

The Weald from Black Down

 

You can access Black Down directly from Haslemere town centre by following the little lanes south up from the main street. This takes you up to Tennyson Ridge and Tennyson Lane. Take the Lane and the road heads upwards in a pretty straight trajectory past some rather large ‘stockbroker’ type houses to end up at a series of car parks at the top where the highest points of Black Down can be easily accessed. There’s lots of sandy paths through the woodland and heath, but in the winter you do need boots as the mud and puddle mix does mount up.

You can do a ‘circular’ route which takes you south to the Temple of the Winds which sounds like a place where you will meet assorted time lords doing funny wizardy things with staffs and the odd Gollam scurrying through the undergrowth. In fact it is a splendid viewpoint looking out over the Sussex Weald and across to such iconic spots as Ditchling Beacon, Chanctonbury Ring and Devil’s Dyke. Here there is a topograph (bet you’ve never heard of that!), one of those steel direction pointers that indicates direction of well known landmarks and how many miles away they are .

Woodland on Black Down

If you swing round to the west from here you can follow the slopes of Black Down along a well marked path which follows the contours and enjoy the more rolling countryside but still expansive views out to the west. Whereas trees hide the horizon to the west when approaching the Temple of the Winds, here the views out to the west are uninterrupted and more treeless heathland. Keep going and the path takes you back into the woodland and then back to the car park.

Haslemere is an ideal place to find respite after a bracing walk on Black Down, although it is a tad well heeled (definite beige handbag area) so be prepared for any steep prices. Actualy it has  a little museum in the town centre with quite an interesting section on Black Down. Visiting this museum was the first time I became aware of the famous local beauty spot.

Black Down at dusk

 

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm centre

Stockholm in winter

Stockholm is a good visit in the winter but just make sure you take a warm jumper/fleece, coat, hat and gloves to be prepared for those cold crisp sub zero temperatures.

Stockholm is seriously expensive, you need a lot of spondulux to survive in Sweden for more than a few days, but it’s also fun to visit, even in the middle of winter. But don't get up too late or the hours of daylight will swiftly disappear mid afternoon! I arrived there one snowy night the 3rd of January leaving an incredibly blustery UK. We landed at Skavsta Airport which is about an hour and a half by bus from the centre of the city. The snow was more of a smattering than a blanket but was a suitable introduction to Scandinavia. Yes, it was indeed Ryanair that I flew with!

Classic Stockholm waterfront scenes

Once I arrived at the bus station in the city centre I asked directions to the hotel without much success. It sounded like it was just up the road but it took a little while to find my bearings, and eventually I caught a taxi as it was on the late side.

I stayed at the Crystal Plaza Hotel on the street Birger Jarlsgatan, an art deco nineteenth century apartment type hotel on this main thoroughfare in a central part of the city, just north of the waterfront. Adequate for a short stay, it is warm, has great décor (colourful carpets and paintings, great chandeliers), a spiral staircase, and a brilliant breakfast with very attentive staff. It provides a welcome lair at the end of a cold winter day, with TV and internet access, a minibar and a nice clean bathroom. (By the way the best hair gel I have ever bought I used here and it was a mini tube from Gatwick Airport Boots which I have not since been able to find again). The downside was that the shower door was not quite fit for purpose as it was broken and took a little adjustment to position properly, and the mattress was a little hard for my liking (I am a soft bed/pillow fan, bit of a wimp really!)

Stockholm - Venice of the North

A ten minute walk from the hotel lands you in the middle of the city centre. Here you can mosy up and down the long straight walking streets and visit the indoor shopping centre with its very helpful tourist desk and scrumptious confectionary displays. Stockholm is strewn over a haphazard shoreline which twists in and out around a substantial harbour and island setting. Around the city lies an archipelago of islands which provide a summer playground for the locals and plenty of work for the ferries that ply their trade between the city and its surroundings. There's not much sign of water activity in the winter with lines of boats tied up against the promenade hibernating for the winter. The city centre is concentrated on a small number of compact islands, the tiny island of Gamla Stan (the Old Town) being right at the heart with its classic government buildings and chic shops and eating joints. It's an ideal spot to start a Scandinavian murder mystery! You can walk easily from one island to another or use the transit system, the efficient trams or the extensive underground. To the north of Gamla Stan is the modern city centre, Norrmalm with its grid iron pattern streets and modern shops, and here is the main railway station. South of Gamla Stan takes you to Sodermalm which I got the impression is quite a hip and trendy area to coast around. Its northern shore rises quite steeply to the settlement above, and once over the bridge you can ascend to a viewing platform high above the city for great views all around the city centre and waterways. It was icy cold up there on a brisk blue sky day which will leave your eyes watering and your nose running. The main street cuts straight through the island from north to south, again splitting the characteristic street grid pattern.

To the east of Gamla Stan is the tiny island of Skeppsholmen which I breezed round in double quick time in the evening. It has the Modern Museum for international art, with a great collection of Swedish and international masterpieces.

Entrance to Gamla Stan

Waterfront view

The green and parkland style island of Djurgarden can be reached by a short tram ride along the harbour front, then over a little bridge to find the rather large Nordiska museum on the right. This is an island of at least three museums, but be ready to part with a tidy sum to get in! I managed the Nordiska museum at a cost of about £9. This is a hulking old bulk of a building with a massive atrium and comprehensive exhibits on several floors, tracing the history of Sweden down through the ages in architecture, dress, furniture and decoration, lifestyle, Swedish minorities, customs and religion, photography and goodness knows what else. You need at least half a day to get around, and roller skates would be useful.  It's got a nice cafe as well. Just shy of the Nordiska is another evocative museum, the Vasa museum where you can study the 230ft  Swedish warship, the Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 in Stockholm Harbour! and was salvaged in 1961. It has been restored to almost original splendour. The museum is described as a five star attraction.

Attractive harbour front

Winter sun central Stockholm

You can't beat the cold crisp high pressure, admittedly short, days when the sun casts a beautiful hue upon the pastel coloured Swedish buildings, as in the above photo.

You can buy a Timmarskort, a 72 hour card that gives you three days travel throughout the Stockholm area by bus, underground, tram and train which costs you 230 kr. This is about £20. The trick with krona is to divide by ten and then knock a little bit off to convert them to pounds. This card can take you way out of the city to far flung towns as well as give you quick mode around the city centre.

For instance you can take a train from Stockholm Central Station north to visit Sigtuna, the oldest town in Sweden founded in the tenth century, where the first Swedish coin was minted. You have to take a bus for the last part of the journey. The rail north takes you right out of the urban area into a landscape of gently rolling countryside of fields and interspersed woodland under a leaden sky, a dusting of snow covering everything in the near zero conditions. Once you get on the bus, it takes you up and down through little towns and then to the lakeside upon which Sigtuna sits. Sigtuna itself is a small township centred on a high street of old wooden buildings running parallel to the lakeshore, with suburbs stretching up the hill and down the lakeside. If you take a walk along the lakeside you get classic Nordic views across the waters to far wooded shores and into tiny inlets, all set beneath the pinks and reds of a setting sun. it’s just as you would imagine Sweden to be if you had never been.

So what’s worth doing in Sigtuna:

Well you can hit the tourist office on the main drag, Storagatan, the oldest street in Sweden. The tourist offce has an interesting mix of things to buy, and here I availed myself of a fine red woolly hat. The office told me about the following:

The 18th century Town Hall - a cute little building, the smallest in Scandinavia, with a clock tower that looks a bit like something out of a Hansel and Gretal story. It’s used for wedding ceremonies.

The church of Maria - the oldest brick building in the local valley going back to 1247.

The church ruin of St Olaf if you like old ruins.

Further west are the church ruins of St Lars and St Per, the latter which stands on a hillock isolated from the rest of the town.
These old ruins are likely to have been built in the 12th and 13th century.

Sigtuna waterfront

Sigtuna Museum - this was closed although the local information said it was open. I peered inside but didn’t see much. However it does have a collection of exhibits from Viking times and the Middle Ages.

I went up the hill out of town to the west to see the Sigtunastiftelsen (Sigtuna Foundation), a cultural and Christian meeting place founded by Manfred Bjorkquist in the early twentieth century. It’s quite an extensive set of buildings, but after prowling around for a while trying to find a way in, a lady appeared at one of the entrances and told me the place was closed!

Rune stones - Sigtuna has more rune stones than any town worldwide.

These are some of the highlights and I also ate at the buzzing Café Valvet on the main street which did a very good lunch of egg and potato, a Swedish delicacy.

Stockholm centre

Nykoping (pronounced Knee shopping!) is an ancient Swedish town, a seat of old Swedish kings, about a twenty minute ride from Stavska airport which is definitely worth a visit. Here you can stroll along the long, straight main street, and also visit the castle, wander along the river past the old watermill, and take a walk out to the harbour. Nykoping Castle is quite an easy visit with lots of exhibits and displays and virtually no visitors, so there was plenty of time to get the attention of the reception department if you had any questions. It was originally a 13th century defensive fortress, and a colourful story from its past is the Nykoping Banquet when King Birger (Burger King!) invited his brothers to a banquet at the castle, but then chucked them in the dungeons where according to legend, they died of starvation. Nice chap!

You use your card to pay on the bus, they don’t take cash, something you would have to get used to in Sweden. So I had to use my euro currency card. Fare was 24kr each way. By the way Swedish buses and trains seem to run like clockwork, I guess there is a little more joined up thinking here than in the UK.

(NB If you need to stay at Stavska Airport overnight you can stay at the Connect Hotel which charges 595 kr per night for a basic but comfortable room with a bunk bed, although you have to share a bathroom which is modern, clean and of substantial size with ample shower space.)

Scenes of Nykoping



Classic Swedish architecture

Prices

Three nights at the Crystal Plaza cost 1759kr including bar snacks

Left luggage charge 50 kr per day

Coffee at Skavsta Airport Food Hall: 24 kr

Bus journey Stavska Airport to Stockholm city centre: 259 kr (Flygbussarna)

Evening meal at Ristorante Sogni, Kungsgatan 3 was an eye watering 286kr for a plate of pasta, a beer and a tiny dessert, and that was service not included! It was very nice, a substantial bowl of pasta, but we’re talking about £25!

Latte in Stockholm: 35kr

Southern Rail:

Book ahead with Southern which has the franchise of the main commuter routes between London and Sussex and you can save a lot of money e.g. I have paid £11.50 Durrington to Gatwick Airport return (£4.50 there, £6.75 return).

Entrance to Gamla Stan

Dusk in Stockholm - yes it is a statue!

Day trip to Montenegro

Gateway to Kotor

Montenegro has got to be a cool upcoming happening place in the next few years and is already getting rave reviews. I notice that in the Independent today (Sunday 21st October 2012) the travel section has Montenegro as one of the places to see in the coming year. Blessed with nature's bounty, it packs a big tourist punch for such a small nugget of a nation.

There are a number of companies that do this trip from Dubrovnik for between 300 - 360 kuna which might be an easier option than organising your own trip. By all means hire a car as an alternative, or if you take the bus, you can leave relatively early in the day, but the problem with this is getting back at a reasonable time. The last bus back was inconveniently early. In the end I went with 'Adriatic Explore' (http://www.adriatic-explore.com/index.php) who proved to be very professional, with a pretty young guide by the name of Anastasia who spoke excellent English and looked after us with great care for the whole day. Right from the start she gave us a non-stop and very informative commentary on everywhere we were passing through together with a comprehensive history of this part of the Balkans



Bay of Kotor

We set off down the coast from Dubrovnik with two women, an Australian guy and myself on board. We sped down the spectacular coastline with a running commentary on the surroundings. On arrival at Cavtat we picked up eight people at a hotel so were almost full. Cavtat by the way is a lovely little resort at the extreme south end of Croatia, enough of a centre for a holiday in itself. You can get to Dubrovnik easily from Cavtat by bus or boat. Cavtat by the way is a great place to spend your last night in the area before flying home as it's just shy of the airport and you can continue to soak up the holiday atmosphere with one foot on the airport concourse! You climb out of Cavtat for a short distance, then past Dubrovnik airport on your immediate left and you are passing through the last bit of Croatia with good views of lush agricultural valley surrounded by hills. Be warned that there are also horrendous road-works in this last bit of Croatia with traffic lights and some really bumpy stretches of road. This slowed us up a little but eventually we crossed the border and stopped at a garage for a refreshment break. Take note that Montenegro does not accept Croatian kuna. You have to take euro or use the ATMs, so I had to take out 20 euro for the day being a profligate spender! With my newly acquired euro I bought a tiny coffee not worth the money (mistake!) before boarding the bus again. After a ride though the green Montenegro countryside, the scenery became increasingly spectacular as we neared the coast and majestic mountains fall into the sea. A fjord like landscape opens up as you enter the bay of Kotor past a narrow inlet into a wonderful mix of steep mountain sides and sea-lochs, all decorated with little hamlets and the ancient town of Kotor itself which sits on the bay within its old city walls. Kotor is on the far side of the bay from where you enter from the northwest. It's a long way around the bay as the road hugs the shore.

Imagine a bird's eye view and the bay looks like the two wings of a butterfly which taper southwards to a tiny neck of water that opens out again into an enormous twist of loch that finds its way between impressive heights eventually to the sea. Following the lakeside the road twists around this brace (butterfly wings!) of huge water stretches and then back on itself at the other side of the inlet. It is here that a ferry can save you the journey round, but who would want to miss the scenery! This part of the journey is a real highlight of the tour, made for snapping to distraction, although you can get duff photos through a bus window! However, our driver did stop at a convenient point to disgorge us for proper shots.

Main entrance to Kotor old town



Kotor

A guide is provided in Kotor, in this case a buxom and jolly young lady who took us on a tour of the old streets and architecture. You enter through the Sea Gate (West Gate – 1555) from the Harbour side and find yourself in a wide impressive thoroughfare that runs parallel to the walls. Here is the Town Clock Tower (1602). The town is shaped like a triangle, a beautiful jumble of old buildings sandwiched between the high hills and the water, and surrounded by old walls that hug the city and then stretch like a diamond necklace out and up into the hills with interspersed fortifications. I did not have time but it would be well worth trudging up the hill to trace these ancient walls.

Kotor

The town has a harbour, and there was a pretty impressive large boat in dock when we were there. The town has the usual clutch of old churches. I visited the Church of St Nicholas (1909) and the Church of St Mary (1221 – a little older!). Definitely a place worth coming back to.
I was a good boy and returned to the minibus at the scheduled time. (I have been known not always to do this!).The last people to return to the bus were a Portuguese family we had picked up in Cavtat.



Views of Kotor town

 

Carrying on along the coast you head towards the Montenegro Riviera which has a much shorter season than Croatia, so by September things are really winding down. Negotiating the mountainous coastline, our minibus skirted up the hill side above Jaz Beach, an inviting curve far below which looked like a hip, hop and happening kind of place. Must get the shades out.




Montenegro Riviera

Budva is the business end of the Riviera, a rather commercial and concreted resort which stretches significantly around the bay and is one of the places to be in the summer for youngsters. You can check out the nightlife on You Tube and it's pretty brazen in the summer. A nubile young American takes viewers on a tour of the hot places to visit at night. If you get through to the other side of Budva, the coastal road takes you high onto the cliff top for a view of St Stevan (Sveti Stevan), a little settlement on a peninsula reaching out into the Adriatic. It is one of the top attractions of Montenegro, although you cannot now access it unless you book into the hotel there. Shame! From the road it looks a glorious spot, a jumble of terracotta roofs interspersed with greenery, encased in a neat little island joined to the mainland by a raised roadway on an isthmus. Casino Royale was filmed here, although there was no sign of James Bond! It looks like a cool place to play poker if you're an international criminal with an eye-patch and a facial scar!

Sveti Stevan of Casino Royale fame

We retraced our steps by returning to Budva for a couple of hours break. Here we were free to wander, have lunch and visit the beach. I investigated the old town, the best bit of the area, and found myself in a lovely spot to eat. Here were four older members of the party, two English couples who invited me to join them for lunch. Cue to have a seafood salad for twelve euro as a bit of a treat. We watched people having their photo taken with a backdrop of the old walls of the town. A blonde dressed in white sat lazily on a ledge sunbathing for all the world looking as if she was modelling the latest range of TK Max clothes. I took the liberty of leaving my lunch acquaintances early to catch a few rays on the beach and go for a swim. We had been asked to return to the minibus a little earlier than the original schedule had said. A little annoying but our driver had a home to go to and it was September! Funnily enough the Portuguese family were the last to return to the bus again.

Budva

Budva old town

The lengthy ride back took us right past Tivat Airport, gateway to the sun for those visiting Montenegro from the UK. It is conveniently close to all the areas I mention here so I have duly noted it for the future. 

Driving back to Croatia we took the ferry to cut out the long ride around the Bat of Kotor. This is a car and passenger ferry and takes a mere seven minutes or so to cross the nape of this seaway.

Montenegro is now on my radar and promises to be a worthy standalone holiday destination. It looks unbeatable with its mix of Norway type coastal scenery plunged into a Mediterranean context of hot temperatures, beaches and classy old towns. Unmissable!

Dubrovnik

‘Three countries in four days’

Dubrovnik with Lokrun in the background



Rocky coast in Dubrovnik

 

Well here we are again in Croatia, I’m like a man on an elastic band, four trips in the last two years. This time I’m doing the southern bit, that little strip of land that snakes south east down the Dalmatian coast and peters out into Montenegro, containing the jewel of Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik is a must see, a wonderfully preserved medieval walled city that must be contender for most beautiful town in the Mediterranean, sitting as it does with its massive ramparts and terracotta roofs on the sparkling Adriatic. It is an ideal destination for a weekend city break. If scousers can nip down to Barcelona from John Lennon Airport for an evening meal and come back the same night, then a Friday to Sunday in Dubrovnik is a ‘can do.’ Monarch airline is worth considering. They were doing about the cheapest tickets for when I wanted to fly out on a Tuesday and back on a Saturday for about £221.

Dubrovnik has an illustrious history as a great trading republic, once called Ragusa and a prestigious rival to the Venetian republic. Surviving on trade, it also has a history of liberal politics and a passion for freedom. It even escaped the yoke of the Ottoman Empire with whom it was able to do a deal by paying tribute to the Turks. In 1667 there was a bad earthquake that razed most of the buildings to the ground, so much of what you see is the medieval new build. The only time it ever fell was when Napoleon’s army was invited in, as long as it respected the city’s independence. In more recent history it was bombed by the Yugoslav army quite badly for no apparent strategic reason, guaranteed not to make them popular with the rest of the world! At various points around the city are displays showing how much damage afflicted Dubrovnik, with a map of where the shells fell.





Water fountain at Pile Gate

 

Stride the bridge over the moat and through Pile Gate, and you are nearly at the beginning of Stradun, the spiritual centre of the city. Just inside the gate is also a hub for the city, with the ancient Onofrio Fountain, a circular affair which was part of the original water supply system. It still pumps water through sixteen taps into a channel running round the outside of the structure where you can fill your bottle. On the left is the Franciscan Monastery of the Friars Minor and the Old Pharmacy. Here you can wander the cloisters with its colourful old frescoes, then dip into the museum bit with its artefacts and manuscripts. Perhaps the most interesting part is a mock up of the old pharmacy where I was told off for taking photos! There is actually a working pharmacy at the point where you enter the complex, in fact the oldest working pharmacy in Europe. Also on the left of the street here is the Church of St Saviour, built about 1520 as a symbol of thanks by survivors after a bad earthquake. It is now used for concerts and suchlike.



Franciscan monastery frescoes

Dubrovnik church

 

The Stradun, the main walking thoroughfare, scythes through the centre of the city in a dead straight line from Pile Gate in the west to Ploce Gate and the harbour in the east. Above the main gates are reliefs of St Blaise, protector of the city. At night Stradun is like Darth Vader’s lightsaber, straight as a rod, dazzling amongst the surrounding settlement, jammed with promenaders and fed by ravine like alleyways that cascade down steep stone stairways from the north and trickle in from the south on the flat. Head down the Stradun and turn right at the bottom to face another mix of classy buildings. On the left a little further up is the impressive Rector’s Palace which also has the Cultural Historical Museum. On the right and marking the end of Stradun is St Blaise Church which is named after the saint protector of Dubrovnik. The present church was built in 1717 in Baroque style, and a statue of the saint stands above the church entrance holding a scale model of the old town.



There he is! St Blaise above Pile Gate

 

Here at the end of Stradun the street also opens out into a square which centres on Orlando’s column in front of the church of St Blaise. There is a carving of Orlando, nephew of Charlemagne. An interesting aside is that Orlando’s right forearm was the standard for the unit of measurement for trading fabric – the Ragusan cubit. Over to the side is Onofrio’s small fountain, as opposed to Onofrio’s big fountain at the other end of Stradun! This area was once the marketplace and is still the political centre of Dubrovnik.

If you have turned right at the end of Stradun and are heading south you hit a set of stairs up to a plaza on which stands the cathedral, built between 1672 and 1713 by Italian architects. I popped in at night when there were very few people in there. The treasures within include reliquairies of St Blaise, with golden caskets supposedly containing the saints head and foot. From the plaza are great views down the series of stone stairways into the bowels of the city, especially evocative in the evening when the streets teem with tourists, and restaurant tables everywhere spill into the streets.

You have to do the city walls walk, all the way round for 70kn, a two kilometre stretch up and down with a treasure chest of great perspectives, whether it’s across the city skyline, picking out the monastery, cathedral and great churches, or another view of the massive walls falling into the rocky shores of the Adriatic and out to the island of Lokrum. For another 50 kn you can get an audio guide to accompany you around.



Lokrum from the city walls
 

The walls are seriously huge all the way round, jumbo ramparts that must have provided a formidable barrier to anyone who dared to invade, particularly the Ottoman Empire which lay just a few kilometres inland. They were built between the eighth and sixteenth centuries. The perfectly preserved walls encircle the city in an impregnable envelope and provide some great camera scopes. One of the highlights is Minceta Fort north of Pile Gate, one of the highest points on the wall with its stylised battlements. It’s a favourite and crowded spot for photographers. Meanwhile at the eastern end of the walls you can nip into the Maritime Museum on the way round. In the summer heat it’s quite a stroll! So take plenty of water, although there is at least one water seller and later a cafe on the way round.



View over Dubrovnik

 

Lovrijenac Fort is part of the city defences but is adrift of the main walls to the west and sits on a headland. It’s well worth a visit and don’t forget is included in the walls ticket, although be ready for a steep (short!) climb up to the main gate. It was once used as a prison but now is surrounded by parkland.




Lovrijenac Fort

View on the walls walk

 

The Dominican monastery stands at the north east corner of the city but is also a worthy visit. A 20 kuna entrance fee gives you access to a calm gothic and renaissance cloister with a luxuriant carpet of grass in the middle. Side doors take you through to exhibitions of icons, old Masters, and various cases of jewellery and religious artefacts such as reliquaries, chalices and flagons. Through another door is the large church auditorium, quite an uplifting building as it is decorated in white and lacks the overdone, dark and rather depressing trappings of many European Catholic churches. An atmosphere of light is enhanced by brightly colourful and modern paintings on a religious theme. But what capped the visit were a group of white robed monks and assorted lay people practising the singing of ‘Amazing Grace,’ repeating the verses with brief interludes for some tweaking. It was life enhancing to hear a Roman Catholic Order singing such a massive theme tune of Protestant Christianity. If you visit one church in Dubrovnik this is the one I would go to.

 Pile at the western end of the city is your transportation hub, just outside Pile Gate. Here you can catch buses and taxis to the main bus station (a few minutes journey) for long distance buses and to local destinations, as well as the port where you get seriously big boats – Dubrovnik is a big cruise destination. It is a non-stop centre of activity with buses flowing through by the minute true to Croatia’s excellent bus service. It is surrounded by shops, kiosks and eating places. It’s right on the seafront so you can jump off the bus and be on the beach within minutes.

Dubrovnik has various beaches in the vicinity. You can go to Lapad just to the west of the old town, whilst to the east is Banja Beach. The latter is commercialised with music playing, deckchairs and umbrellas, a bar and sports areas for volleyball, etc. So if you’re a babe or a hunk this is perhaps where you would go! Another alternative is to walk down to the water from Pile just outside the city walls where there are very small stretches of beach and sunbathing areas around Lovrijenac Fort, or go a little further around the headland to find a lovely stretch of rocky coast with sunbathing platforms and a little cafe. This is where I ended up, an unhindered spot for late afternoon sun and where you are likely to find the locals. Unfortunately I had to leave promptly at 4pm to catch the bus to the airport.



Dubrovnik Harbour

The harbour on the east end of the city is like the mouth of a giant sea monster where people pour out of the city onto the quay. Here you can trace the outside of the walls for some distance around to the south, and dodge the stray cats that pop up everywhere. From here also you can catch the boat to Lokrum, a heavily wooded island and Nature Reserve a mere fifteen minutes away which transfers you out of the incessant hubbub into peace and quiet. Here you can climb the hill to the highest point on the island where an old French fort (1806) gives you great 360 degrees views across to the city and down the coast. Peacocks wander all over the place, there is a monastery (founded in 11^th century), botanical gardens, a pool, and cafe/restaurant. When you get off at the jetty, if you fancy bathing in the buff there is an FKK beach specially set aside for nudists and discreetly placed away from prying eyes. I had no wish to pursue this and instead crossed the narrow island to find a sunbathing spot on a rocky shoreline fully exposed to the afternoon sun in the west. The gentle sea could be entered by a strategically placed set of metal steps. There are numerous beaches around the island and Lokrum is one of the best spots for a swim.




Harbour with Lokrum island in the background

You can get a Dubrovnik Card valid for 1, 3 or 7 days (130, 180, 220kn) which allow entrance to museums, galleries and the City Walls, up to 20 rides on public transport, with a free guide and various discounts (children under 12 free if parents have Card). There are numerous museums and churches which I did not have time to see, but I did see from the outside the old synagogue (1352), the second oldest in Europe after Prague, on Zudioska, one of the steep alleyways tumbling down to the Stradun. It has a museum and was once part of the Jewish ghetto. The Jews settled here at the end of the fifteenth century after leaving Spain and Portugal, and enjoyed relative wealth and freedom despite some restrictions. Meanwhile on Od Puca south of the Stradun is the Serbian Othodox Church (quite big and built 1865-1877) and Museum of Icons which I just observed from the outside. I was not really in the mood to look at lots of old icons.




Great view of Dubrovnik

 

 I stayed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, just over the border from Croatia and about 8km from Dubrovnik. High in the coastal hills overlooking the Adriatic is the village of Ivanice where Katrina rents out an apartment on Airbnb. The apartment is part of a building inhabited by the family, mother, father and grandmother. Up some stairs and on the first floor, the rental apartment is virtually self contained and ideal for a couple or family. There are great views out over the village and to the Adriatic. To get to Dubrovnik you have to cross the border, which means negotiating both the Bosnian and Croatian border posts, so you must carry your passport at all times. With Kristina driving and being a local it was a pretty easy crossing. I read somewhere that even within Croatia you are supposed to carry your passport but I have never been asked to produce it within the borders.

My whole experience with airbnb was positive. I stumbled upon the company looking for a room in the Dubrovnik area on the internet. Airbnb is a worldwide venture which provides private households with an opportunity to rent out their property to tourists and make a little extra cash. It is designed to be a safe value for money alternative to staying in a hotel. The web experience is well designed to allow a client to search for a room, review various alternatives which advertise full details together with photographs, and then communicate their preferences. The company provides software to swiftly communicate with possible renters in security and safety. Once a final decision has been made payment can be arranged by credit card. I was impressed with the watertight process and quick communication with my choice. Being the first time I had used this service one was a little apprehensive, but I was much reassured by an article in the Monarch Airline in-flight magazine on this very company.

 

Some prices for this late summer, Croatia

 Bus ticket into Dubrovnik: 15 kn
Bus ticket Dubrovnik to Gornji Brgat: 15kn
Lasagne, salad and fanta: 141 kn
A spinach pie and a lemon fanta: 28kn

Supermarket apple, banana, small water, small bread, portion of cheese and tomato: 30.79kn
Supermarket water: 10kn
Large icecream: 16 kn
Coffee at Pile Gate: 15 kn

Water at airport: 20kn (take note!)
Baggage charge at main Dubrovnik bus station 11.15 - 16.30: 12.50kn

 Some bus times, September 2012:

Pile to Bosanka: 13.35, 14.45, 16.30, 18.30, 19.30, 20.30, 21.30

Dubrovnik to Herceg Novi, Kotor, Budva 10.00

Mostar: 8.00, 15.15

Arrival in Dubrovnik from Budva, Kotor, Herceg Novi: 17.00

From Mostar: 21.00

Adriana excursions near the main port do boat trips to the Dubrovnik Riviera, Cavtat, Lokrum, the islands Lopud, Sipan and Kolocep (Elafiti islands -full day tour with fish picnic).