Yesterday was a 'stay at home' day. As it was Sunday, many places outside of the old city were shut or were open for only a few hours. As there was a huge ship 'parked' near the old city (3,500 passengers), this would have been an ideal day to travel to the botanical gardens, but I wasn't sure whether they were even open, and an irregular bus service there and back could have meant a totally wasted day.
Instead, we moseyed down to the old city using a different route which required no steps (thus easier on the knees) and as a result we entered the city via the Ploce gate. According to the headstone, this was built in 1908 which makes it almost modern (although it seems that only the headstone dates from this age; the gate was built in 1450). I found a way to get down to the Stadun which required going down some steps but not too many. Once there, we had some ice cream then got out as the place was already full.
We retraced our steps to the Ploce gate and thence to the cable car whose station is nearby. We had to wait for a while as the station was already full of tourists, but after about ten minutes our chance came and we took the all too brief (3 minutes) ride to the station on a hill overlooking Dubrovnik (500 metres). The view was superb! As well as being able to see the same view that we have of the city from our window, we were also able to see for the first time other areas such as the Lapad peninsula.
I was able to see where our little house stands by using a nearby car-pack as a gross landmark and a building without the traditional red tile roof as a fine landmark. Looking out of our window now, I see that the above house has now been tiled in red, thus losing its function as a landmark.
At first, the cable car station was crowded but after spending some time in the gift shop (and of course, spending some money), the place emptied out and we were able to spend some quality time there. We were first in the queue to return so I was able to claim the prize position in the cable car in order to film our descent.
Once back in the old city, we headed for the aquarium, which is near the harbour. On the way, we walked down a quiet alley which of course featured three or four restaurants. As this was very quiet, we decided to eat here and had a lovely sea bass. The aquarium was mildly interesting but also cool (thus giving respite from the heat); worthwhile at only 40 kuna entrance (a bit less than 5 euro) but not worth going out of one's way to find.
After resting for a while on a bench in the harbour, we then set out for familiar ground: a supermarket by the Pile gate. We stocked up then made our way back to the flat. Unfortunately there was no bus, and as walking up a few hundred steps didn't appeal, we walked via the roads. This required us to walk back to the Ploce gate which in retrospect was a mistake as this was much further than I had thought.
When we arrived back at the house, we were both physically worn out and weren't able to do very much after showering. I 'kindled'; having a wireless connection enabled me to connect the Kindle to the internet for the first time and register the device. I purchased (and downloaded within a minute) Dan Ariely's new book about honesty of which I read a little. Some of the material seems familiar. There will also be a new Peter Robinson book available in August but no word of a kindle edition.
I also discovered how to define and build collections. I started doing this on the Kindle but it was very hard going, so I wondered whether there was a PC program which could do this when connected - indeed there is. After downloading the program, I started assigning books to collections; eventually I hope that every book will be in a collection which will make locating books much easier. The only minor problem is that the program does not update the Kindle online; the results are passed back en bloc and then one has to reset the Kindle. This resulted in a few minutes of tension on my part before order was resumed, along with the newly defined collections.
Today we are going to Montenegro.
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