Part 110 - Old Dubrovnik, Cavtat, the Bay of Dead Hotels, and Pals

Old Dubrovnik, old city walls, two old pals

I'm finally getting round to posting the last part of my Balkan jolly, a mere two months after getting home.

Cavtat

Happily, I was meeting real life pals when I arrived in Cavtat, namely Dougie, Katie, David, and Christina.

The restaurants remained friendly in spite of our drunken raucous chat

Katie had found us some lovely accommodation in a village called Cavtat, about 10 miles outside Dubrovnik. Our host was very genial, so much so that he insisted that we join him for a couple of limoncellos at around 9am. And the accommodation was so posh it even came with its own chapel.

The emergency of Dougie makes this a slightly less wholesome religious spectacle

Cavtat (whose name I was mispronouncing until the last day) was beautiful. Loads of wee cobbled streets, friendly restaurants, and even a shell museum. I even went swimming in the sea, which is quite the rarity for me.

In case you've forgotten what a sea looks like

I never miss the opportunity to visit a graveyard

Cavtat at sunset

Dubrovnik

There were plenty of boats leaving Cavtat every day to visit Dubrovnik, so we hopped on board one. I nearly leapt out the boat in excitement en route, when I spotted a bay filled with abandoned hotels, and I resolved to visit it before the end of the holiday.

First off, Dubrovnik is a lovely old city, and will be very familiar to anyone who has watched Game of Thrones. You can also see Cersei Lannister walking down the street in the scud, with people shouting SHAME at her.

The literal highlight of the visit was walking around the city walls. At 35 euros, it was quite steep (pun intended), but the views were amazing and it was definitely worth the money.

The Bay of Dead Hotels

On the last day, Dougie, Christina, and I hopped on a bus to go and visit the Bay of Dead Hotels, seven hotels that had been abandoned after the war in the 90s. There's not a great deal else to say about it, but it was suitably spooky exploring the abandoned buildings, one of which used to be visited by politicians and foreign dignitaries until it was bombed by the Serbs.