Morning on the Mountain, Afternoon on the Sea

November 8

Sam:

This morning we decided to climb up a small mountain called Srd (412m) to get to the beautiful panoramic terraces overlooking the ocean and the old city of Dubrovnik. There was a huge cross and an old fort at the top.

We took an Uber halfway up, then walked the rest of the way. On the way up we had to go to the side of the road every so often, because some cars were driving on the road and it was very narrow.

Mom also found a surprise guest by almost stepping on it, was a sunbathing snake. When my mom saw the snake, she screamed and ran away really fast. The rest of us couldn’t stop laughing. We did some quick research after that, though, and found out that there are some poisonous snakes in Croatia, so we had to be more careful and stick to the path. Sadly, we didn’t get a photo of the snake.

There was a different way to get up and down the mountain: a cable car. We decided not to go on it because the ride was very short and very expensive and because we wanted to see if we could do the climbing ourselves.

When we got to the top, we looked at the view for a while from a few different terraces.

Then we walked back down a different way on a curving, twisty path down the mountain. It took about one and a half hours to get down and it was really tricky in some parts because the rocks on the path were very uneven and it was a hot day. Oh, and there were some tiny little lizards. We researched them and found out they are called Dalmatian wall lizards (Dubrovnik is on the Dalmatian coast).

Charlotte:

After a snack from a bakery, we went on a boat ride. It was a small boat, called a glass boat (we thought it would have a glass bottom, but it didn’t). They said that we were going to go around the town and Lokrum island.

It was very wavy this afternoon. We were going to go into tunnels under Lokrum Island, but it was too wavy and dangerous, so we didn’t want to hit the top of the boat. The waves were so big, it kind of felt like a roller coaster or ride. I was having lots of fun I was looking at lots of cool rocks in the mountains and how trees grow out of the rocks, It was so interesting!!!

We saw a giant hotel that was bombed during the Croatian War. I was sad they they never fixed it and because people died there. The boat captain told that someone recently bought it and it going to make it really fancy again.

We also got to see a very expensive villa where famous people stay when they come here. It costs $6000 each night!

When we were done, we got off the boat and walked around the town a little bit but not for too long because our feet hurt a lot from climbing the mountain.

Mom:

We briefly visited the Pharmacy museum and Franciscan monastery. What a beautiful spot.

We also got to see the recessional of a Croatian wedding. There were flares, loud singing and a parade through the streets. What a joyful celebration!