July 6 - Dubrovnik

Stradun - the main promenade of Dubrovnik at night.

We decided to start our city tour early this morning in order to beat the heat and to avoid most of the other tourists. We left our hotel at 7:50 and caught the #6 bus. Roberto, our city guide, was waiting near the Pile Gate. Although he was very knowledgeable, talked about history and culture and showed us all of the important sites, I have to admit that my attention wandered. This was my fault. I have trouble concentrating after so many other previous city tours. Nevertheless, I was able to pick up some of his spiel while trying to stay in the shade and take photos.

The tour ended around lunch time, although it was early. Ann and I stopped at an outdoor restaurant that was recommended by Rick Steves. I had an octopus salad while Ann settled on a garden salad. They were both good. The tall bottle of fizzy water was also good and very much needed. The temperature was slightly lower than the previous few days, but it still was hot.

After lunch we did some shopping and then took the bus back to the hotel. Ann went swimming in the Adriatic while I blogged while watching the Tour de France. Don't worry, we have two more days here to see everything we missed today.

I hung out at the hotel for most of the hot afternoon taking advantage of our cool room and the live TV covergae of the Tour de France (in Italian). Ann went swimming in the Adriatic with Jane and Jon. We made a brief trip to a grocery store for bananas after she got back.

We had our final tour dinner at Hotel More Restaurant. It is a classy restaurant sitting high on a cliff overlooking the small cove in the Lapad district near our hotel. The anchovy appetizer was outstanding while the fish fillet was very good. Crepes for dessert topped off the meal. We toasted our tour leaders and said our good-byes. Starting tomorrow, we are on our own.