Hvala vam što ste mi pomoći (Dubrovnik log 1)

("Thank you for helping me" in Croatian)

Yesterday, as expected, was an exercise in patience. We left Israel at 6:30 am and arrived in Vienna at 9:30 (I think that's Israel time, 8:30 local time). We then had to wait until 12:50 for our connecting flight to Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, there was very little for us to do whilst waiting in the airport; I had a few euros left over from a previous trip which we spent on tea ("Hugh spends his last mark on coffee and cheese" - Peter Hammill, "German overalls"). Eventually our flight began boarding and after an hour we were in Dubrovnik.

We were met by a driver, as arranged, who whisked us off from the airport to the city, a drive of about 17 km. We stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere; it transpires that our flat is situated on a pedestrian only lane. We were met by our landlord, who took one of our suitcases down the steps to the house. Oh, I forgot to mention that the old city of Dubrovnik is both pedestrian and surrounded by hills; our flat is in those hills. 

Whilst the flat is not exactly what we expected, it was not far from our expectations and is, in fact, both compact and comfortable. Both our landlord and landlady were extremely helpful - he even went into town to purchase an electrical adapter so that our three pin plugs could connect to the electricity sockets (two pin plugs, for the mobile phone chargers and my CPAP machine connect without problem). 

By this time, we were beginning to feel very tired - it was also very hot - so while my wife unpacked, I dragged myself to what was described as the local supermarket (but what I would call a minimarket) in order to buy food for the flat. Some of my purchases were guesswork but everything seems to be ok (even the mexican styled tuna which we have just eaten for lunch).

After a simple dinner of chicken nuggets and broccoli, the landlady came in with the adapter, so I could start recharging the computer's battery. I then discovered that our internet connection is dependent on their ADSL router which was password protected - but they had gone out for the evening and we were too tired to bother. So no internet connection yet.

We went to bed early but I was disturbed a little during the night by what seemed to be gunfire (probably fire crackers) - I assume that Croatia beat Italy at football.

I woke up this morning  at 5:30am. This is, in fact, my normal waking time so I wasn't too perturbed. Not only that, but I wanted to wake early so that we could get into the old city of Dubrovnik before all the crowds from the tour ships. We weren't the first to arrive, but the old city was fairly empty when we walked through it. Most of the shops hadn't opened yet and the restaurants were starting on setting up their tables.

My wife is keen on markets so I had enquired previously about them; I had been told that there was a daily market held behind the Pile Gate, which we found quite quickly. Apart from fresh fruit and vegetables, the only other stalls (at this time) were selling dried fruits, jam, grappa and what seemed to be smelling salts. Later on, more stalls had been added which were selling handicrafts, but all in all it wasn't a very illustrious market, certainly not selling the kind of bric'n'brac which she embraces.

The picture on the right shows the harbour; boats leave from the jetty on the right. The Pile Gate would be at the top right hand corner of the picture but I think it's actually just outside the boundaries of the picture.

We continued walking around, found the harbour - we'll probably go on a round Dubrovnik trip this evening - then walked back to the Pile Gate. We went up to the Post Office in order to buy stamps and a Croatian SIM card for our spare mobile, then bought another cheap mobile with SIM (so that my wife can call me and I can call her, should we get separated). We bought some more supplies in a bigger supermarket which we saw near the market and then walked 'home'.

Big mistake. It was very hot and there were lots of steps to climb. Next time we shall take the bus!

Our landlady came in as we were unpacking from our trip; she helped us with the mobile phones and with the router password (hence the blog's title). We've just eaten and now we're going to rest for a few hours.

In the late afternoon, we'll return to the old city. Hopefully the crowds will have thinned by then, and of course it won't be so hot. We'll take the 50 minute cruise around the city then have a fish dinner in one of the many restaurants. Maybe we'll walk home or maybe we'll take the bus....

Incidentally, I discovered that someone had read yesterday's blog entry - I had a comment awaiting me, informing me of Dubrovnik tours. Thank you very much, but we've already booked all the tours that we want.