Isla de Encanta

How much better are the marble streets and blue waters of Dubrovnik to the filth and inefficiency of Italia! "We accept Mastercard" stickers in the windows of almost every store, cleanliness in the streets and consistently delicious food! Hard to get to, yes. Not connected to any railroads as well. But a fantastic place too!

Ever since arriving in Dubrovnik, I have felt happier, more relaxed and more "on holiday" than anywhere else. I admit that the loneliness of travelling alone has very much caught up with me and I eagerly anticipate encounters with old friends in Poland, Alemania and France. But if alone it is to be, better alone in a place like this!

No longer using my thick copy of Jane Eyre as a potential sword but as a shield, I took a motorboat (3 bucks friends!) to Lokrum, a nearby island, to explore a bit, but much more importantly to relax. Accompanied by only 6 other travellers, I arrived on a beautifully small (have I mentioned my love of small places?) island. The perimeter white, but only moderately difficult to navigate rocks. The interior, cool forest.

My first stop lunch (seafood spagetti and a beer), my second, "the beach." What is named "beach" in Croatia shares only ready ocean access with the beaches with which I am familiar. No sand here, but only white stones upon which to sit. But I was just as pleased. I sat upon the rocks, read and soaked in the sun (now that late September has arrived, along with the autumnal equinox, much less intense). The rocky nature of the beach gives each individual beach-goer much more privacy (and isolation) from the others, which suited me just fine. I took a short, but strenuous walk into the island's interior for a view of the medieval fort, and then the boat back to the Stari Grad.

And the morning? A delicious sandwich Dubrova (a white roll, white asparagus, lettuce and a sliced hard boiled egg), a double espresso and a croissant. The prices in Croatia, much cheaper than those in western Europe (although still pricier than Thailand) although me to live much more luxuriously here, and to indulge my hunger and curiosity.

Followed by a much more strenuous walk along the city walls. Beautiful look down upon the city and the sea but...in my mind it was difficult to ignore that these battlements were constructed primariliy for the purpose of war, protection from invaders. The super neat windows, designed for attack and defense -- I couldn't help but find these elaborate constructions of white marble wasteful. Were it not for the desire of the inhabitants of medieval Dubrovnik to incite the anger of their neighbors, or the desire of the neighbors to slaughter the medieval Dubrovnikers, all this protection would be unnecessary.

Blah. The exhaustion of yesterday's journey is still with me and I am making my point poorly.

Whatever.

I ate a dinner of oysters and bread in a small restaurant. I reluctantly sat down alone, but soon had been engaged in conversation by an Australian couple that I recogniyed from the ferrz ride and an American not-couple that I had never met before. How refreshing to talk to other people! The American not-couple and I followed dinner with some gelato and ran into 3 others that I had met on boats and trains. After a day spent almost entirely alone, I was suddenly surrounded by people I "knew"!

A long walk back up to my residence, but the narrow and steep stairs from Old Town Dubrovnik to the surrounding hills felt much safer than any walk home since Cinqueterre.