Rookie errors, and teetering up and down hills.

 I have taken myself off to view some more of Croatia.  It is a really beautiful country, travelling by coach first from Split to Tucepi and then from Tucepi to Dubrovnik,  has given me a great opportunity to know more about its geography if nothing else.   It is very mountainous to Ploce, with winding roads and stunning sea views,  then suddenly there is a wide valley, with wines growing followed by a steady rise.  A bridge is partially completed, so not in use, but one day will take travellers south within Croatia   but at present one suddenly has to give in passports as one is in Bosnia for a few kilometres, and then once back into Croatia, the land drops down to Dubrovnik and its generous port and old town. 

City Walls Dubrovnik. 

However, I feel I have made a few rookie errors when doing my bookings.  Croatia has a great bus system, but as I booked through a website that checks all the options for buses,  rather than via specific Croatian bus companies, I paid a lot more as I did not get a pensioner discount.  Yet , the website I did use Getbybus,  was good at giving specific location pick up point details, which was just as well as another error made was booking to go to a small destination, rather than one with a bus garage and easy access to information.    Which was why last Tuesday my nerves were almost shattered and I was trying to work out how to find out what was going on,  as I had been sitting by the side of the road for over an hour by the time my bus did suddenly appear.  By then I had already managed in my anxiety to drop my phone and break it and weirdly my camera is not functioning properly either in sympathy.     So note to self, no more bookings to more difficult destinations.  However, in many ways Tucepi was a great way to wind down from the last few weeks.  Much more touristy than anywhere else I have been to in Croatia, I was very happy to just sit on the beach, read, walk along the front and generally relax.  I did try and work, but the internet was not good enough.  Unfortunately that was also the case in Kastela.  Hopefully Dubrovnik might be better, though I can only risk booking one class in case there is an issue.  The front at Tucepi is 4 km long and I walked about half of it,  luckily as they have not felled the pines along the front, walking is a nice gentle pursuit and not too hot, but up above the main road  there are tantalising mountains and the paths are very well signposted but I just cannot walk up hills anymore and so only got to do a short distance in the evening.  . However, one can see how well the lower reaches of the mountains have been terraced to enable olive farming.  Some of the terraces must be very old, but routes through have been made that go down all the way to the coast and water runnels also are catered for which is interesting.    I could not see anyone working the fields and there is so much tourism perhaps that takes all the workers, but it would be nice if a balance can be found between the sea and the land and the locals and the tourists.  

By the way maybe avoid the Studenac supermarket if you ever visit Tucepi.  The first night there as I wanted to cook,  I went to the local shop and was initially charged 162 kuna, for a few nuts, a banana and some peaches, tomatoes and roll. More than a decent meal in a restaurant would cost.  But the guy said well some bananas and nuts are just that expensive.  In the end I persuaded to run the stuff through the till again and it came to 20 kina.  The last day, I bought breakfast there and again he over charged me but as it was only 2 kuna this time, I did not complain.    /when it is working the store has decent and cheap coffee and hot chocolate, so it worth going there, but only when one is not overcharged.  The one next door to where I am staying in Dubrovnik has proved that good service can exist here.  

Halfway up. 

When I visited Lisbon, I found I could only walk downhill, I had to have a bus to go uphill.  I had not realised till I arrived in Dubrovnik that Dubrovnik is even steeper. In the heat, and despite having only a small bag with me, I thought I was about to have a heart attack when looking for my lodgings.  They are very nice and only half way up the hill, any further and I think I would have had to find somewhere else.    Lots of stairways are cut up through the houses, which is very clever, but on a dark night having somehow missed the bus back to my lodgings, it was also alarming to find my way here during the coolers hours. Why I did not think to stay in the Youth Hostel heaven knows, it is much better located even though I like where I am now I know my way around.    In the UK it is very difficult to book just a bed in a hostel because of the Covid virus and these days many hostels have only mixed bed dorms, but I did not even think to look for Dubrovnik. I no longer think I am a youth even though I know one can be any age to stay there. Fitter older people will cope with and enjoy Dubrovnik. It is quite an amazing place, the history of the Dubrovnik Republic is very impressive, so I am glad I have been and hope I might come again, but I have added it to my list of places one should visit when more energetic.     For example I would love to have the courage to do what lots of visitors do here and that is to go sea kayaking, but I would be too scared and even walking around the walls, I had to give up as the last bit was just too scary with my vertigo.  It never occurred to me I would be so scared, but I got encouragement from some Brits also going around the route and congratulated myself with an extravagant 15 kuna salted peanut ice cream to steady my nerves, half way around.   

Late night fireworks just before missing the bus even though I was at the bus stop!. 

One thing I did get right though, having failed at Tucepi, to spot they had an evening of entertainment on at the harbour whilst I was there, this prompted me to check what was happening in Dubrovnik and to my delight it turned out that a Beethoven concert was being held in the Open Air the day I arrived, and whilst I had to go half way through to miss aforementioned bus  is there anything nicer than sitting on a church step on a warm evening enjoying the most beautiful sounds in gorgeous surroundings and watching the world go by.  So despite the flaws, mostly in my planning,  I am very glad to be getting to know my adopted country better.