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| A former palace, now a museum in Corfu Town |
Those of you that know us, will know that Corfu is one of our favourite holiday spots, and we've visited several times over the last few years. We therefore decided to give the excursions a miss and just wander around old Corfu town on our own for a couple hours. Of course, me being me, I decided it's an easy walk. Well, actually it's the best part of a mile to get from our pier dock to the port entrance, and then another mile or so into the old town! And yes, it was another hot day. Another death stare from Mrs H (not really).
Anyway, we wandered around the old town, up and down the narrow streets filled with tourist shops, cafes and so on. We stopped for a very nice coffee and watched the world go by for half an hour, before making our way around by the old fort, along the coast road and back to the ship. By the time we got back, it was very hot, and we'd walked the best part of five miles, but to be honest, I don't mind, because you see parts of the place you'd miss if you were on a bus or in a taxi. And a cold beer on return always hits the spot! The rest of the day was spent relaxing on a sun bed, with a quick dip on the pool before getting ready for dinner, a show and a nightcap.
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| Corfu town backstreet |
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| Corfiot door |
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| Museum and arch |
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| Photo by an obliging chap near the old fort |
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| Nearly back. Hot and tired |
As we awoke the next day and lifted the blinds we were just coming in to dock in Dubrovnik. This was another new destination for us. We slowly moved past the
Dr Franjo Tudman bridge to dock at the pier. Our plan for the day was an excursion to the old town to walk the famous
city walls. They run for about 2km right around the old city, reaching a maximum height of about 25m (82ft). After a quick viewpoint stop, our guide took us into the old town and we ascended the first set of stairs onto the walls. Although we were still relatively early (about 10am ish) it was already hot, and we'd only gone about 15 mins in when our tour group had a casualty as an elderly lady fainted in the heat and with the exertion. Medical aid given she returned to the ship and we carried on. The views are outstanding of Dubrovnik's red tiled roofs, and regular sightings of locations used in the
Game of Thrones TV series (Dubrovnik was used as the location for King's Landing, home of the Lannisters in that series.
After about 2 hours we completed the walls, and then had a little free time, only about 45 mins (not enough really) to explore on our own before returning to the ship. It's a fascinating place and I'd have loved to spend more time there, but it was really busy, thanks to both it's innate beauty and history, and of course the result of it's popularity due to Game of Thrones. I think if I came again, I'd look for somewhere to stay further out from Dubrovnik, and take a day trip in to the city.
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| Dubrovnik old town from viewpoint |
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| Ascending to the City Walls |
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| Bells and Domes |
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| Dubrovnik roofs |
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| Dubrovnik selfie |
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| Moored near the Dr Franjo Tudman bridge |
It was a late departure from Dubrovnik and were treated to the most glorious sunset as we made our way slowly out of port and then it was on to our now routine evening schedule of dinner, drinks and a show.
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| Dubrovnik sunset |
A cruise ship has a lot of space to fill, and so there was art everywhere - paintings, sculptures, weird passages that reminded me of scenes from Dr Who. Some was pretty standard stuff, and some was, well, plain weird.
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| Art on a ship stairwell |
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| Art on the pool deck |
Tomorrow we'll be in the place I'm looking forward to the most - Kotor, in Montenegro!
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