So here is our short holiday experience from last week, rather long I’m afraid but I did it in one edition.
Croatia was one of the former Yugoslav states which became independent after the Yugoslav wars through the 1990’s. This is recent history and the wars involved ethnic conflicts in Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and in Croatia (1991 – 1995) between Croatian forces and the Serb controlled Yugoslav People’s Army.
The Old City of Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Dalmatian Coast, was considerably bombarded by Serb troops who took up positions on Srd Hill, high above the city.
Then and now.
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Old Dubrovnik is a small and beautiful walled city which, after the war, was completely restored and now shows no sign of the artillery damage. Croatia is a most recent new member of the EU, at present retaining its own currency, the Kuna, but will possibly join the Euro zone in the future. The Euro is widely accepted right now in many establishments. There are around 1400 small to medium sized islands along the Croatian coast, only a small number of which are inhabited and many can be visited on boat trips.
We first visited Dubrovnik in 2012 and on that occasion we stayed at the Valmar President Hotel, just a short bus ride from the old city. That was on the beach and just around a point from Gruz Port so we would see the cruise ships coming and going each day. We enjoyed our stay but thought it might be nice to stay nearer the old city on any return visit. Having heard very good reports about the Hilton Imperial Hotel built in 1897, we decided to indulge in a little luxury for the week.
The Hilton Imperial Hotel
We booked British Airways and even for the short 2 hour 20 minute flight from London Gatwick, you still receive complimentary drinks and a sandwich, plus a good luggage allowance of 23 Kg. A mid day flight each way was very civilised compared with some of the unearthly package trip timings. The hotel was everything you might expect and here is a short account of our week in this lovely, clean and very friendly country. Our holiday activities tend these days to be sedentary as befits octogenarians so no scuba diving or parasailing.
After unpacking we went out and found a good seafood restaurant, Mimosa, just across from the hotel. Most cooking was on a charcoal grill so off to a good start with whole sea bass on a bed of potato and chard. There are many very nice breads and I enjoyed the Mediterranean custom of olive oil with bread. All restaurants made a cover charge but this was always good value and included the basket of bread, an appetizer of pate’ or something similar and water and, in some cases, a glass of house wine.
The Grill Chef at the Mimosa
The hotel was just a five minute walk from Pile Gate, one of the two entrances to the old city, the other being Ploce Gate at the harbour end. On day one we decided to stay in and around the city rediscovering some places and a few new ones. The old walled city has many ancient buildings including churches, a monastery, museums, and art galleries. The main street, Stradun, is wide and pedestrianised. There are no vehicles inside the walls. Each side of Stradun there is a maze of narrow alleys containing some nice quality shops, residences, and restaurants that have their tables in the alleys. There is a lovely atmosphere after dark.
Local artist at pile gate
Franciscan Monastery Garden 
Restoration work inside monastery
1317 Pharmacy inside Monastery 
Church of Saint Salvation
Onofrios Big Fountain 
National dress musician at the fountain
Typical alley
Typical alley 
Young people on steps of Church of St Blaise
Pile Gate at night
Stradun at night 
Restaurant in alley 
Day 2 we got bus tickets (one price £1.20 for one stop or the whole trip) and went for a bus ride high above the port and old city. A restful afternoon around the hotel, then the Mimosa again for dinner. (At the hotel we had an executive room on the top fourth floor which also included use of the executive lounge with complimentary drinks and splendid views around the city and coast)
We had booked a day trip to 3 islands on this vessel but as it was 12 hours we cancelled
and lost our money. But not a fortune.
One of the cruise ships in Cruz Port. Normally 3 call each day
View over the old city from the lounge balcony.
Sunday, day 3, we booked a private car to go to Mostar about 100 miles to the north. We well remember the bridge at Mostar that was blown up during the wars. This was ethnic between the Muslims on one side of the river and the Catholics on the other. The bridge was rebuilt and a ‘must see’ for me although the ‘tourist tat’ in the area of the bridge spoiled what could be a fine historical relic.
Coffee stop at Pocitelj
One of the many tourist tat stalls at Mostar
The famous bridge at Mostar
Spanning the Neretva river 
View of the muslim side
Old buildings along the Neretva 
A reminder left untouched in Mostar
As an aside, our driver, Spoyan, lives in Dubrovnik and in 1992 his 16 years old son was required to join the army. Spoyan decided that he was not going to risk him being killed and sent him to England to improve his English language to ‘native’ standard. He then went on to University in the UK and now has a very good job in IT. Spoyan and his wife were moved to a hotel for the rest of the war when the Serb army requisitioned his home for their officers. When he was eventually allowed to return EVERYTHING inside the house had been removed and all the doors, windows and roof had been taken by the Serbs.; He had to start again.
Mrs G with driver Spoyan
On our previous visit we had taken the cable car to the top of Srd Hill where there is a very good restaurant and a museum of the war. On day 4 we did a return trip and spent about 4 hours at the top including a leisurely lunch and Mrs G acquiring a rather nice sun hat. We took our first ever (and probably last) ‘selfie’ which I have included for you to see.
View from Srd Hill
Our one and only selfie (with the HS50 
) 
I know I am waffling on a bit but I need to link the pictures to the locations. Day 5 included a 45 minute boat trip south to the little coastal village of Cavtat. A very pleasant spot with shady cafes around the quayside.
Pictures at and leaving Cavtat
In our wanderings earlier in the week, we had found a small cove down alleyways opposite the hotel, with a great little quayside restaurant. We went back at lunchtime on day 6. A sharing hot dish of shrimps and mussels in tomato and garlic sauce was our lunch. As it was so good we went back after dark for dinner.
Scenes around the cove
Some of our seafood dishes
So there we are. In well over 1000 words that was our leisurely sojourn enjoying some of the sights in and around Dubrovnik. The roads out of town are very good, the country is clean and free of litter, we didn’t see one bit of graffiti anywhere, and the people are really very friendly and learn English from the age of five. They are people who are prepared to work hard. Employment is high, we did not see one beggar or down and out. Neither did we see any immigrants from North Africa, or anywhere else come to that. One of the lounge attendants who walks the 20 minutes home after 11pm said she has no fear of being mugged or attacked.
The majority of tourists are Chinese and Japanese, and the ‘selfie stick’ is here to stay
Two of the many selfie users
And finally, Chinese tourists climbing steps to Walk around the wall.
How was it price wise?
