Summer in Dubrovnik

On Wed 7/25 we spent most of the day travelling to Dubrovnik.  Apparently Durbrovnik became a wildly popular destination after Game of Thrones became a wildly popular HBO series (we never watched it...) Game of Thrones was filmed on location here.  Now there are Game of Thrones tours, souvenir shops, etc.    After a 4 hour drive that included passage through Bosnia and Herzegovina (that's one country with a compound name) with 2 passport checkpoints, we finally arrived at the Dubrovnik airport to ditch the car and take an Uber back to Old Town Dubrovnik.  No cars are allowed inside the city walls, so we were dropped off outside the Pile gate and walked down to the fountain where our AirBnb hostess met us and walked us about 50m down to the apartment.

Our main outing on Thursday was to the cable car, which takes you up the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik.   A high-priced lunch at the restaurant on the top, and our day was complete enough.

The next day, we took a ferry to Cavtat (promounced "savtat") to have lunch with Jack and Nane, who have a flat overlooking the water there.  There were a lot of huge yachts in the harbor there.  I think this area of Croatia is where the high rollers spend time.  Some of these yachts were so big that they had speedboats on the deck... kind of like an RV towing a smaller car to go around town in.
Jack is quite an accomplished artist, and showed us an apartment full of his creations.

We also paid a visit to the Dubrovnik synagogue.  It's modest, with a small Jewish museum on the lower floor.   Dubrovnik synagogue currently has only 30 members.  See https://www.dubrovnikcity.com/dubrovnik/attractions/synagogue.htm for the history.

Dubrovnik old synagogue

On Saturday, we did the "wall walk" around the top of the Dubrovnik   It was pretty strenuous (lots of steps) and very hot in the morning before a breeze kicked in.

View from the top of the old city wall - ocean side...

Must have dessert

The "Jewish Fountain" .  The first thing you see as you enter the Pile Gate into the Old Town

Sunday was beach day.  We escaped the crowds in Dubrovnik old town and took a bus north to the Lapad area of town.  Most of the beaches up there are associated with hotels.  I chose the Dubrovnik President Hotel, which has a lovely beach.  All beaches here must be accessible to the public.  In return for having a hotel on the beach, the hotel must allow non-guests to use the beach and other facilities for no charge.  They can make money by renting you an umbrella or lounge chair, and selling food / drink, but you are not obligated to buy any of that.  You can come, swim, shower, etc.
The water was cool and clear, and the beach was busy, but no overcrowded like the beaches near the old town.

On Monday, we hit the road again to fly to Zurich.