Dubrovnik

After a lengthy wait at the border we successfully found our hotel with only the crappy map from the Lonely Planet (with doesn't distinguish between roads and footpaths) and Kirsten's excellent sign language communication - a nice enough, if over priced, 2-star hotel in Lapad, about 2.5km from the old town. This is very much the hotel area, and the sea front restaurants had the ubiquitous bloke with keyboard murdering easy listening classics - we found a good place out of earshot.




The next day we drove to the old town and dumped the car back with the hire place. Dubrovnik Stari Grad is bigger and more impressive than Kotar, with the city enclosed by high walls 2km in length - we waited 'till the full heat of midday before tackling the walk round the ramparts. The city was shelled by Serbian forces, but there is little obvious evidence today, bar the new roof tiles. Whilst there were a lot of tourists, it wasn't overwhelming, and the narrow streets that rise away from the main boulevard felt quiet.

However, when we popped back the next morning things were different, with long queues to get onto the ramparts and hoards of guided groups flooding the open spaces. We found sanctuary in a vegetarian restaurant one street north of the Pile gate (a bold business venture in such a meat loving place). The reason for the crowds became apparent when we got to the bus station for our exit to Mostar, with two huge cruise ships parked in the dock (look at this monstrosity http://www.cruisereviews.com/RoyalCaribbean/BrillianceoftheSeas21.htm).

Kirsten's Flashpacker Review:
Hotel Sumratin, Dubrovnik (http://www.hotels-sumratin.com/index.php?action=sumratin) – We struggled to find somewhere at a decent price at short notice in Dubrovnik so ended up at his 2-star hotel in the Lapad area of Dubrovnik. The hotel was about what you expect for one in this category, although our room was a good size. Lapad is a touristy beach area with plentiful restaurants. There are frequent buses to the old town, but unfortunately we found in the morning it was difficult to get on one as they were so busy. A better value option in Dubrovnik is to book an apartment but I would recommend doing this in advance as we found this difficult to arrange the day before. Alternatively you could trust your luck and go with one of the people peddling apartments at the bus station.