That all went smoothly and we get to the airport at about 9.15am with plenty of time to check in and for our 11.25am flight to Dubrovnik.........yeh right.
The place was packed and the queues were horrendous, and we all started to think there was no way we would make this flight. There were queues every airline, and ours was about 100m long and not moving.
As it happened people around us were also in a panic and when we realised a lot of them had earlier flights than us, so we started to relax a bit and just thought this must just be the way they do at at Charles De Gaulle. Anyway to cut a bad storey short, we finally checked our bags and in a group we were ushered through by a helpful man from the Airport staff to priority customs, and the long walk to our gate and boarded the half empty plane at 5 minutes before the due take off time. The plane gradually filled up as people started arriving late and we took off finally 30minutes after schedule.
We arrived in Dubrovnik to sunshine and warm high twenties. One thing about Paris it wasn't summer weather but as we got off the plane Ves said its the first day of summer for us now. Our driver was waiting for us and took us directly to our hotel along the winding hilltop road. We got glimpses of the beautiful coastline and crystal blue/green waters of the Adriatic on the way.
We settled in and then we took a quick bus trip from the Hotel down to the old town, Stari Grad.
First stop to get some local currency, Kuna, then next door to the ice cream shop as Ves was hanging out for an ice cream. Yummy gelatos all round.
We went for a walk around and checked out a few shops and restaurants and then we stopped for a drink near the port and had some white bait with tartare sauce for an appetiser. After that we went on a walk along the walls around the outside of the town, which took about an hour. Just spectacular and plenty of good photo opportunities. Every time you thought "that was a nice view", there was a better one up the steps and around a corner.
Dylan ran into Jake Kelly's girlfriend Catherine. We knew they were here travelling around but it was a surprise.
It was now after 7pm so we thought we would go back to one of the restaurants that we found earlier and we thought would be a good place for dinner. The attraction being that the fish was fresh daily and the meet was all grass fed from a village nearby.
It turned out to be a good choice and our waiter Golag was full of recommendations on the food and the wine and Jess was in her element.
We shared some mussels and Jess and I shared some oysters. Dylan tried an oyster and a mussel.
Ves ordered the grilled squid and I ordered the whole fish. Dylan had steak and was talked into the traditional garlic sauce. Jess ordered the octopus salad. Golag recommended the wine, a nice bottle of white. All his reccos were great and the wine was so good Jess ordered a second bottle. A day that started off a bit shakey at the airport turned out to be a great day and night.
No room for desert so we headed back to the Hotel at about 10.30pm, for an early start in the morning to meet the Adriatic Pearl for the start of our cruise of the Dalmatian coast and islands.
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