dubrovnik...from an outdoor internet cafe
hello readers, a little disclaimer:
this being my technically my third day (including travel) i will warn you that this post will be substantially longer than others. was too tired last night to get the monologue part of my brain working, infact I was too tired to eat - shock horror for me!
ok before I speak of dubrovnik I must recommend that, due cheifly to the calibre of the airhostesses on croatian airlines, that if you are ever to come here you must fly. anyway their attitude was in stark contrast to the obviously over-worked and stressed temprement of the qantas attendants; no offense to your mum thom, service wasn't inhibited, they just looked fucking unhappy.
although this was not the tone I wished to begin my diary on, in my defense it was a relief to finally get onto the relatively short croatian airlines flight after an 8hour wait (including 3 hour delay) at frankfurt airport - which is a collossus of functionality and boredom; except for the internet "machines" which are neither functional nor capable of allowing oneself to lull into the time-consuming a-euphoria* of boredom. stepping out into the 27degree heat of dubrovnik airport was also a relief, not so much from the 28hours of travel time but more so the 6-12months of planning/saving/longing to finally arrive here. so overcome with the relief of finally being here that it didn't bother me in the slightest that the youth hostel was full and there was not a dot of accomodation availible (for han solo's like myself) in the general vicinity of the old town. in the end a travel agency found me a little home-stay place about 5min on the public bus in a suburb west of the old town on the harbour. I have a room with a queensize bed and a bathroom for about 160kuna a night - roughly 20euro which is semi-expensive but not so bad and when my fellow travellers arrive it will be much cheaper. for now it doesn't bother me so much because the weather is so good, the beach is so close, and everything else is so inexpensive: bought lunch today for 15kuna... divide THAT by 7! (for euro... have decided it's pointless to think in aussie)
on first impressions this place is hyper/super/uber-touristy; but not at all in a bad way. infact it's quite useful to have the luxuries of the western world thrown at you. to it's credit, and maybe also due to types of travellers here, dubrovnik remains a beutiful, relaxed and unique part of croatia. I say this without seeing any other part of croatia but i know for a fact that this is the only place with a walled city that has castle walls that have existed since the 12th century. i walked the oldcity's walls thismorning at 9am and learnt much of the old-towns history. most notable is that only 13 years ago 75% of the city was bombed by serbian nationals and the inhabitants of dubrovnik sheltered in the very walls that protected dubrovnikites for century after century. seems that people don't change much (though i think the weapons do). after that I met two very nice couples who may simply have been sick of their own company. one from the uk I will hang out with tonight; not sure how much luck I will have convincing them to come to the croatian string-quartet's concert tonight in the dominican monastary. they are design students so maybe they'll be up for it, and besides it's the dubrovnik summer festival so hopefully it will be free! very much looking forward to hearing tchaikovsky and mozart in this venue... shall be grand
ok this is enough for now, hopefully I will be more refined in later posts. off to visit islands so not to get sick of this place when lucy arives on the 17th. liam will be here in 3 days I believe, so we shall get stuck into some of the fine croatian beer here.
J
*this is surely not a word for indeed I made it up on the spot by applying the very scholarly sounding "a" to create a negative. for this i apologise but do not regret
this being my technically my third day (including travel) i will warn you that this post will be substantially longer than others. was too tired last night to get the monologue part of my brain working, infact I was too tired to eat - shock horror for me!
ok before I speak of dubrovnik I must recommend that, due cheifly to the calibre of the airhostesses on croatian airlines, that if you are ever to come here you must fly. anyway their attitude was in stark contrast to the obviously over-worked and stressed temprement of the qantas attendants; no offense to your mum thom, service wasn't inhibited, they just looked fucking unhappy.
although this was not the tone I wished to begin my diary on, in my defense it was a relief to finally get onto the relatively short croatian airlines flight after an 8hour wait (including 3 hour delay) at frankfurt airport - which is a collossus of functionality and boredom; except for the internet "machines" which are neither functional nor capable of allowing oneself to lull into the time-consuming a-euphoria* of boredom. stepping out into the 27degree heat of dubrovnik airport was also a relief, not so much from the 28hours of travel time but more so the 6-12months of planning/saving/longing to finally arrive here. so overcome with the relief of finally being here that it didn't bother me in the slightest that the youth hostel was full and there was not a dot of accomodation availible (for han solo's like myself) in the general vicinity of the old town. in the end a travel agency found me a little home-stay place about 5min on the public bus in a suburb west of the old town on the harbour. I have a room with a queensize bed and a bathroom for about 160kuna a night - roughly 20euro which is semi-expensive but not so bad and when my fellow travellers arrive it will be much cheaper. for now it doesn't bother me so much because the weather is so good, the beach is so close, and everything else is so inexpensive: bought lunch today for 15kuna... divide THAT by 7! (for euro... have decided it's pointless to think in aussie)
on first impressions this place is hyper/super/uber-touristy; but not at all in a bad way. infact it's quite useful to have the luxuries of the western world thrown at you. to it's credit, and maybe also due to types of travellers here, dubrovnik remains a beutiful, relaxed and unique part of croatia. I say this without seeing any other part of croatia but i know for a fact that this is the only place with a walled city that has castle walls that have existed since the 12th century. i walked the oldcity's walls thismorning at 9am and learnt much of the old-towns history. most notable is that only 13 years ago 75% of the city was bombed by serbian nationals and the inhabitants of dubrovnik sheltered in the very walls that protected dubrovnikites for century after century. seems that people don't change much (though i think the weapons do). after that I met two very nice couples who may simply have been sick of their own company. one from the uk I will hang out with tonight; not sure how much luck I will have convincing them to come to the croatian string-quartet's concert tonight in the dominican monastary. they are design students so maybe they'll be up for it, and besides it's the dubrovnik summer festival so hopefully it will be free! very much looking forward to hearing tchaikovsky and mozart in this venue... shall be grand
ok this is enough for now, hopefully I will be more refined in later posts. off to visit islands so not to get sick of this place when lucy arives on the 17th. liam will be here in 3 days I believe, so we shall get stuck into some of the fine croatian beer here.
J
*this is surely not a word for indeed I made it up on the spot by applying the very scholarly sounding "a" to create a negative. for this i apologise but do not regret
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