Dubrovnik 11 Sept
Next morning the camping bill for one night was a bit of a shock at 15 dinar (10s). Had a proper wash since the hot water was available. Soon after setting forth we found two hitch-hiking birds and stopped. They turned out to be Czech, called Marian and Eva. Marian could speak about as much French as I could, we got on famously. She is an agriculture student also studying Slav languages. Eva works as a technician. They wanted to go to Dubrovnik, which was also our first stop.
Little did we know it at the time, but about halfway between the camp site and Dubrovnik we passed through Neum which is the only town on Bosnia's 20km stretch of Adriatic coastline. Even now the town has only about 3000 inhabitants and caters mainly for holiday makers. The strip of isolated Croatian coastal land between Neum and Montenegro seems to be an anomaly.
Parking meters in Dubrovnik! 1 dinar/hr. Usual shopping - branched out and bought wienerschnitzel. Had lunch sitting just outside the walls. Another lovely old walled city where no cars are allowed. Entered through the north gate and were confronted by city dropping away down steep flights of steps in narrow alleyways. Descended to main street (quite a climb back up) and walked to the Pile Gate (which translates as Gate Gate) at the west end. Just inside the Pile Gate is the Gothic Church of St Saviour and its Franciscan monastery.
The monastery's cloisters are quite striking having many columns with carved capitals, and it houses what is claimed to the the oldest chemist in Europe. At the east end of the main street (Ploče Gate) there is a square with the Baroque Cathedral of St Blaise and up some steps from the market square behind is a most impressive Baroque Jesuit Church. Then past the Rector's Palace, now a Cultural History Museum, on the way out to the harbour, where the Dubrovnik merchant fleet sailed from in former times. The word argosy comes from Ragusa the old name for Dubrovnik. We returned to the 'Wave' via an ice cream and up the hill out of Dubrovnik, from where there is a splendid view of the city.
The scenery is still similar, though rather more fertile and with a coastal plain in places and a valley near to the coast elsewhere. Still we have the outcrops of seemingly white rock and the splendid mountains rising almost straight out of the sea. On the road we saw the occasional donkey and horse cart, and many peasant women dressed in black.
Shortly after leaving Dubrovnik the brakes began to require pumping and we stopped on a hair pin bend and erected the red hazard triangles. The offside rear was almost red hot and the nearside pretty warm. Waited for offside to cool down. Removed wheel and brake drum, nothing amiss apparently, not even binding. Replaced and readjusted. Same for nearside but slight fluid leak apparent here. Similar treatment. While attempting to remove this wheel we experienced difficulty with a wheel nut until a Yugoslav in a "lawn mower" (Fiat 500) stopped and lent us a strange tool - see diagram in second picture - no not callipers. Continued with no further difficulty, not even needing to pump brakes.
