No Freddie Mercury Impersonators, Please!

On our last day in Dubrovnik we had an island adventure! (Had you guessed?) We got the ferry to one of the Elafiti Islands, called Lopud, which had been recommended to us by an American girl we had met in Mostar. The journey alone was worth the 3 pound cost of a return trip, it was truly beautiful.

I wouldn't say that the island was abandoned, as such, but other than the front stretch of cafes and souvenir shops there were no people evident on the entire island. We took to the back streets (naturally), armed with my trusty Lomo camera, and we were in for a treat! The photos we took could never do the place justice: it was stunning and absolutely silent, but in a nice, calm way rather than a ghost town type way. The insects on the island seemed to be double the size of regular insects - dragonflies, ants, beetles and butterflies were plentiful and huge. The one other soul we saw on our walk was an old man sleeping alone on a building site, with a brick fior a pillow. We continued down the hill to the sea where I was able to walk in the sea in my new jelly shoes, no longer fearing the sting of a cheeky sea urchin. Along the waterfront, but slightly up from the main promenade, we found two pretty, secluded little chapels. There was a bigger church up towards the harbour. It was largely unexciting apart from a sign outside the church with a drawn picture of what looked like Freddie Mercury with a big cross through it.

Waiting for the ferry we had ice-cream, todays flavours of choice were pistachio and dolce latte, yum! On the sea front were lots of old ladies selling very traditional crocheted doilies and table cloths, which were all very similar to each other and to all the ones we've seen on our travels so far. We ate our ice-creams and discussed how they'd do a roaring trade if they broke away from the norm and did more exciting patterns or, as John suggested, "ones with Darth Vader on".

On the slow walk from the ferry to our rooms in the warm, still evening we wondered why so many people we had met on our travels had decided to miss out Dubrovnik and head straight to Split or further inland. OK, so Dubrovnik is not a party city, and other than bars there isn't that much nightlife, but if it's forts, ice-cream and prettiness you like, then this place has them all.