Day 6 - Dubrovnik - a day of two halves

The day started early, but not quite as early as the day before - with a walking tour of Dubrovnik's old city scheduled for 7:30 AM, we were up with the sun. Thankfully, after yesterday's marathon of travel, we both managed to get a solid night’s sleep. Weirdly, these early mornings still aren’t too much of an effort, but were in bed at old peoples hours at night. Our guide for the morning was Denis, a friendly local with a unique backstory - apparently his older sister had named him after the comic strip character Denis the Menace. The connection seemed fitting. Despite the tour only being two hours long, it was packed with interesting facts about Dubrovnik’s history and the broader context of Croatian culture, along with a few funny stories about some of the tourists he has shown around. From the significance of the city's massive stone walls to the history of how of how Dubrovnik maintained its independence for centuries, Denis covered it all. He also shared some insider tips that only a local would know - like the best times to walk the city walls to avoid the crowds, and where to find the best spots for a meal or a drink. Absolutely recommend this for anyone coming here. Although we're here for three days, we discovered quite a lot to explore so we needed a plan, starting with a lunch of two enormous pizzas and a round of Aperol spritz. Yes, more day drinking……but, we are on holiday. Next stop, a very hot walk to leave the walled city, and up yet more stairs to take the cable car to the top of the hill overlooking Dubrovnik. It was certainly spectacular, but overwhelmingly hot so we didnt hang around for too long up there. After stocking up on a few things from some of the local stores, we found a very friendly taxi driver who was able to take us all up to the Lapad peninsula (where the Tonies are staying). The late afternoon was spent swimming in the ocean (about 26 degrees), in the different pools at their resort (including more cocktails at the swimup bar) and watching the sunset from the balcony of their room. An excellent way to end the day! Tomorrow will be a boat trip to the island here in the harbour (which everyone we speak to has recommended) and then a walk along the city wall once the day cools down.

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