Our final day in Drubrovnik was a good one! Great weather, great adventure, great company.

Our first activity was to take the 1.25 mile walk on the city wall of Dubrovnik, which offers amazing views of sea and land, and also gave us a completely different view of the old city. There were a few challenges such as uneven steps and steep steps, but it was worth every bit of time and effort we spent on the wall.

As we were halfway through the sea side of the wall we stopped for a cool drink, visited with George and Jacque, and took in the amazing Adriatic Sea. Other than the dimensions of the wall – 5-20 feet thick and 82 feet at the highest point – there isn’t a lot to tell. The pictures should say it all.

Next stop was for lunch and the plan was then to take the ferry to Lokrum Island, just off the coast by a couple thousand feet. Lunch worked the trip to Lokrum didn’t as the island is closed for the season. This is the first time we’ve encountered something being closed due to the season and, considering we’re here during the off season, we consider ourselves lucky.

We moved on to our next planned activity – a cable car ride from near the coast to a vantage point about 1/4 of a mile up and inland. The views did not disappoint! We had magnificent views of the city and the sea.

And we noticed a herd of cows (with their shepard) on the side of the mountain on the way up:

Our final day time activity turned into a small adventure. We wanted to visit St. Lawrence because a-it looks cool, b-entrance was included with our city wall tickets, and c-who doesn’t want to see the Red Keep (another GoT reference for those of you who don’t understand the appeal).

We could locate no signs on how to get there so we asked a local, who then debated it with another local, both pointing in opposite directions at one point. In the meantime a local stopped and asked if she could help.

The path we chose meandered through a pedestrian/resedential area between the main road and the sea. As we neared the water’s edge we saw a staircase leading upward so we took it. And then there were more stairs. And then another set of stairs after the first two. And….you get the idea. It was an obscene amount of stairs.

Here are the visuals. (Imagine going from the wharf on the sea, up to the tiny green door towards the top of the keep:

Or another look from the sea edge:

We get to the final staircase, ascend to the entry door, and find that it’s locked. They’re closed. We later discovered that this is the second place that has adjusted hours for the off-season. Despite climbing a bunch of stairs AND the place being closed, it was worth the walk as the views of the old city and city walls were beautiful!!!

The sun was setting on us as we wrapped up our long stair-filled day, and rode the public bus back to the hotel:

Later in the evening we walked to a restaurant with four of our travel mates – George, Jacque, Marianne, and Suzanne (latter two are fellow Missourians from STL!!). The STL duo had eaten there the previous night and aired grievance about the service received but wanted to go there again so we figured it must not be bad.

We were right – the food was good. They were right – the service was…. lacking??? The waitress didn’t speak English. Well, at least not to us (she spoke English to other customers the previous night but not to the STL ladies).

And we couldn’t have glasses of water, we could only purchase bottles of water. And she couldn’t split the check.

And when asked if they accepted credit cards there was a bit of a pause before she said ‘no, cash only’ (despite mastercard and visa labels being clearly displayed on the entrance door). So we all ponied up cash to cover the bill…

None-the-less, we decided it was still a good meal with good company which left us with a good story to tell.

Leaving Croatia for Croatia tomorrow. Stay tuned to understand that statement tomorrow!