Lord Byron described Dubrovnik as the “jewel of the Adriatic” where as George Bernard Shore dubbed it “Paradise on Earth”. Today we really got to see Dubrovnik as it is with the orange and green hills on the mainland complementing the turquoise (and turquoise it really is) sea out of which spring the emerald forested islands, thousands of which line the Dalmatian coast. The humidity means that they fade with distance so you can never be sure if you are looking at open sea of if there are more islands hidden by the moisture. The city is like nothing I have ever seen before. We in Britain are familiar with the nucleated grey expanses of London, Birmingham, Glasgow and such like. However Dubrovnik does not smother the landscape; it moves with it. Buildings occupy the valleys and dales between the hills and a great asymmetrical bridge in city seems to have grown out of it rather than have been built.
We were “acclimatising” today. What that actually means is that we were shopping for food for the expedition. We then took a ferry to the first island we were visiting, Lopud. While we were waiting for our ferry, we got to stare at various private yachts and re-adjust Christmas lists. We saw four cruise liners including the British “Queen Victoria” and the American “Oriana”. Imagine Buckingham Palace on water if you want to get an idea of the size of these things. On Lopud Island we relaxed at the beach, browsed souvenir shops and had dinner at a restaurant again, hard work to say the least.
Lopud reminds me of Calycarie (I have almost certainly spelt that wrong) island from Mama Mia. We are staying at a youth hostel which, along with all the other buildings with their cobbled alley ways beaches and locals, could be further south in Greece and would not look out of place. It is one of the Elafiti islands and is home to various old monasteries, bars and absolutely no cars apart from the small electric buggies that ferry the tourists from the jetty to their hotels. There is plenty of room on the beaches for both us and the Speedo clad European tourists, some of whom like to get very friendly with us on the ferry.
Some of us are already beginning to show tan lines and “panda eyes” are a worry. Apart from that all is well in Croatia! 
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