Day 68.

Leanne and I are up early and well before the kids.  We watch the sky lighten as morning dawns.  We decide to go for a morning swim.  There is a trail from the house which is up on a hill down to the water. The Airbnb owner has told us there is a path leads to the next cove where we can find something of historical significance.  We leave the house and take the path we thought he was pointing to when he told us.  It feels like we are foraging through the Amazon with pricker bushes whapping at us, scratching us up and wreaking havoc.  After 15 mins of pretending we’re Indiana Jones, we hit a dead-end.  We groan in unison but have no choice but to turn around and return the way we came.  Four bloody toes, 2 scratched up arms and a case of poison oak later, I declare that I’m knocking the rating down on this bloody place from 5 stars to 3 stars.

We head back down the original easy path and stairs to our cove.  When we reach the bottom, there is the path to the other cove – no bushes, no prickers, no poison oak.  An easy ten minute walk later, we arrive on the pebble beach of the cove.  I tear into the water and within minutes have located it.  There submerged about 3-4 feet below the water is about 10 meters of an ancient Roman wall.  This is no renovated, replicated wall but the actual thing from some two thousand years ago. This is what we were foraging through the wrong path looking for.  In the end, totally worth it and made unintentionally staying in an Airbnb 30 mins away the best possible outcome.  I’m walking on the Roman wall, doing handstands on the wall, cartwheeling down the wall. Where else on Earth could this be possible?  The Airbnb rating has been resurrected from 3 stars back to 5 stars.

The clan heads into Dubrovnik which has a rich and interesting history.  Dubrovnik is first mentioned in history in 1189 and eventually became it’s own independent republic. The city is completely surrounded with defensive walls that run uninterrupted for 1940 meters in length, reaching a maximum height of 25 meters and 6 meters across at its thickest point.  The walls were built in the 13thcentury the continued to add towers, gates and fortresses for hundreds of year.  In the 17thCentury a tremendous earthquake demolished the city leaving only two buildings standing as well as the city walls which were undamaged.  The walls have never been breached in military combat since they were constructed.  No wonder GOT choose this city to be the capital of Westeros.

Our GOT guide yesterday shared with us that his family has owned their apartment inside the walled city for over 700 years.  His dad was a solider in the army and manned the top of the city walls with an AK-47 during their war for independence in the 1990’s.  He was shot during the war but survived and recovered.  Sorry Mr. Airbnb owner, you may have the submerged Roman walls but GOT guide has you beat on the family history part.

We spend the morning engrossing ourselves in the history, religion and culture of Old Dubrovnik. We visit St. Savior Church and the Dubrovnik Cathedral.  We visit the oldest operating pharmacy in all of Europe.  We visit a Franciscan Monetary and Museum.  We visit the Rector’s Palace and Museum.  The Rector is an interesting concept.  The position is like the Mayor of the city but it only a 30 day term and a person can only serve once in a lifetime.  So they vote a new Rector every month and the Rector is not allowed to leave the palace at all for the entirety of his 30 day term.  Seems like an odd governance structure but they obviously made it work.

At this point, the group concludes that we can check the box on the historical and culture knowledge enhancement and enlightenment for the day.  Part of the group is beyond dehydrated and a good 50% melted and decide to head back to the air conditioned Airbnb to avoid the 100% puddle melting fate that would become them if they stayed out in this heat.

I take Justin and Corey to Fortress Lovrijenac (which is the Red Keep in GOT).  We have to climb hundreds of stairs in the mid-day heat but are rewarded at the top with sweeping 360 views of the city, the city walls, the fortress, the islands, the sea and the harbor.

The kids have been clamoring for cliff jumping all morning.  Leanne gives us a stern safety talking to and tells me I am responsible for any injuries resulting from this buffoonery.  My safety talk is more of a plea, “come on kids, I’ll be a lot of trouble if you main or injury yourself, please try not to get hurt.”

We return to Buza Bar and descend down to the cliff jumping area.  You have to actually climb up the rocks a fair bit to get to the jump area. Justin and Corey scamper up the rocks no problem, but as I’m attempting to climb up, my foot slips and I tumble down a few feet. No Bueno. Justin eventually salvages my efforts by suggesting I wear my sneakers up and throw them back down.  It works and I’m back in the game.

Justin and Corey go plunging into the refreshing water without incident.  I take my jump and go plunging into the water.  “Alright, I nailed the landing,” I think to myself pleased. I will come to realize later in the afternoon, the fallacy of my braggadocio.  Turns out the sheer force of my entry ripped my shorts right down the middle (or as Leanne would say snickering, you mean you split your shorts on the jump).  Not only that but I manage to develop a butt bruise that will be quite problematic for sitting down for the next few days.  At least it was me and not the kids.

We continue our afternoon of water adventures by going to Bunje Beach where they have water sports. Justin, Corey, Ashlynn and I decide to go crazy tubing behind a boat.  We each have our own tube and we implore the boat drier to go fast and make crazy turns as we crash and bump off each other.  In the end, all 3 boys fell off their tube during the ride and Ashlynn is declared the winner.

We wrap up the day getting dinner at the hotel next to our Airbnb for the second straight night. They have a buffet.  The food quality is not the best but the kids are digging the “all you can eat” part.  The pizza station is the biggest challenge as one pizza comes out every five minutes and reflecting our coastal location, the first pizza is shrimp, the second pizza is tuna, the third pizza is anchovies.    I’m starting to fear for pizza chef’s safety if the next pizza he brings out is another fish one as the kids are famished.  The kids are imploring the pizza chef to make a plain cheese pizza and this time he delivers.

We have dinner on the outside patio overlooking the sea listening to live music.  Sure enough, every song the signer sang was from the 80s. Croatia LOVES the 80s.  I think every place we went to in Croatia that had music played nothing but the 80s.  Yes, Leanne and I agree we could see ourselves living in Croatia.