Day 5 - Arriving in Croatia

Our final morning in Venice began earlier than we might have liked, with the alarm waking us up before the sun had even thought about rising. There was no time for a leisurely breakfast—no pastries by the canal or final espresso while watching the city slowly come to life. Instead, we were due to catch our flight out. By 5:15 am, the water taxi was at the dock, ready to take us to the airport. Even in the darkness, Venice held its magic. Arriving at the airport by boat was an experience that still feels surreal. There’s something strange about stepping off a boat and being directly at an airport terminal. We’re so used to the hustle of cars and buses that a speed through the water to reach our flight felt strange - one last reminder of how different and special this place is. So, next stop Vienna for a transit to Dubrovnik. Can you add a country to your ticked off list if you only go through its airport transit? We are going to say yes at the moment, for later review if we ever get to come back to Austria. We arrived in Dubrovnik mid afternoon, then separated from the Tonies for our ride into the Dubrovnik Old Town. The Tonies are staying at Lapad, a peninsula just up the road a bit. The 30 minute ride from the airport gave us our first intro to the Croatian people. They have been universally lovely. We got the full tour guide treatment from our driver and he was also genuinely interested in NZ. He taught us how to say thanks in Croatian, and we taught him how to say Kia Ora. Our room is in the converted ceiling space of an original house beside the old port. Thankfully this means we didn’t have to lug our bags up the notoriously many and steep steps of the city, but we did have to get them up 3 floors, no elevator. Still, we are delighted with our cool little hideaway. At 8pm it was still 29 degrees as we wandered the town, had a bite to eat and, of course, an aperol while people watching.