King's Landing

I'm getting a late start on the ol' blog this morning. I woke up at 3 a.m. or so, and lay there for a while before turning over and falling asleep again -- and the next thing I knew it was 7 a.m.! These staterooms are great for sleeping. We have a comfortable bed and blackout curtains, and though I don't register the movement of the ship I wouldn't doubt that one some cellular level I'm being lulled by the thrum of the engines.

We were in Dubrovnik yesterday, which, as we were continually reminded by our tour guide and by t-shirts and other tourist paraphernalia, is the filming location for the TV show "Game of Thrones." It fills in for King's Landing, the capital city in that mythical show. I've only ever seen the first season of "Game of Thrones" and I wasn't a huge fan, so this doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but it has become a driver of regional tourism.

I guess the production crew must use CGI to erase all the modern landscape features, like fiberglass boats.

Anyway, it was a beautiful little city, but positively packed with tourists. I knew even before getting here that it's considered one of the most over-touristed locations on the planet, because the old city itself is tiny, and when cruise ships come and dump thousands of people into its streets it becomes a seething mass of humanity. But we managed.

We wandered the ancient streets with our guide, hearing about the city's past and its massive fortified walls, which kept out the Venetians and the Ottomans and the Serbians and the Montenegrins and various other invaders over the centuries. (They didn't successfully keep out Napoleon or the Hapsburgs.) It was heavily damaged in the Yugoslavian civil war in the 1990s, but has been restored since.

Visitors can take stairs up to the top of the walls and walk along the battlements, but it costs 40 Euros, which I thought was excessive! I skipped that option.

Then Dave and I settled into a cafe, where our coffee came in these fun cups. We had some avocado toast and then I went wandering a bit more to take photos.

We were supposed to go up in a cable car, but there was initially some doubt whether that would happen. We had quite a bit of rain in the morning, followed by high winds, and when we first got into town the cable car was closed. But we got word from the guide just before our free time that it had reopened, thank goodness.

Here's our guide, Darko -- "like the scary American movie," he said. (He means "Donnie Darko," in case you haven't seen it. It's very good.) He befriended this crow on previous visits and as we walked up to the cable car, it landed on his hand, begging for treats. (It didn't eat the oleander flowers, don't worry -- they're poisonous.)

Here's the view to the south from the cable car terminal on the mountaintop above Dubrovnik. The mountains in the near distance are in Bosnia, and farther away in Montenegro.

And here's a video that will show you the descent from the cable car terminal, with views over the city. (And an opening clip showing the main square in Dubrovnik. All the bleachers and plywood are for the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, featuring outdoor theater, music and dance performances.)

We were supposed to go ashore in Montenegro today, but apparently those plans have changed because of weather -- something about the tenders to shore not being able to operate safely. From my seat by the window it looks fine out there, bright and sunny, but I guess it must be very windy. Fortunately Dave and I didn't buy an excursion today so we're not missing anything pre-planned. We were just going to go into town and hang out, which we can do on the ship!