Sea Cloud anchored in front of the old city of Dubrovnik in the early morning. At 8:30 a.m. most guests were already on the pier to meet our local guides and begin our morning walk through medieval Dubrovnik. The Old Town has been a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site since 1979, and is a special treat to visit. The walk through the lower city highlighted the exemplary Venetian-style architecture, though Dubrovnik—or medieval Ragusa—was an independent city-state that was actually a great rival of Venice. We walked up the polished marble main street of Stradun, before visiting the oldest active pharmacy in Europe, which was established in 1317 in the Franciscan Monastery. This was followed by a hike on the famous city walls of Dubrovnik. Once when we climbed up, wherever we looked the view was breathtaking. Red roofs, white stone houses, blue sky and sea, green forest on the slopes of Srđ mountain, all together in perfect harmony seemed almost unreal.
After the tour we took a well-deserved break for lunch: some deciding to dine in the town, most returning to eat on board. At 3:30 p.m. we had time for a swim from the ship, which is always a welcome pleasure. Then at 4:00 p.m. our Croatian guide Marijana Radovan, made a presentation about the complex topic of the Fall of Yugoslavia. After all this information about war and bad things that happened in the 1990s in this area, we needed something to cheer us up. The Klapa Oštro concert in the heavenly cloister of the Dominican Monastery was perfect for that. As the night fell, Sea Cloud looks magnificent with all its lights, anchored in front of old Dubrovnik.
We sailed from Dubrovnik at midnight looking forward to new ports and new adventures.
