After a day of sun, swimming and reading Naipaul on the pebbly beach not far from my hotel yesterday, I'm off to explore the old, walled city. But now I'm sitting drinking Croatian beer before noon at an outdoor cafe. The coolness of the sea air feels good on my sunburned legs. And damn this beer is good: Ozujsko pivo they call it. Tastes like fruit to me. Mind you, I haven't had a drink since Heviz, so I'm due. Now it feels like a holiday.
The funny thing about travelling alone--especially as a single woman--is it's stressful. I have no problem taking myself out for a meal and sitting alone in a restaurant full of couples and families, but it does wear on you after a while. And it's a big responsibility to get yourself from one place to another, to keep your clothes clean and dry, to keep yourself fed and safe. And it takes a little while to get adjusted to a new place. A little while. And it is the nature of a traveller to get an itch to move on as soon as she begins to feel comfortable in a place. Or maybe that's just me.
Dubrovnik is a tricky place to navigate. Taxis are rip offs, and public transportation is limited to a few buses. It's set up so that you're best off taking tours to the surrounding islands and into Bosnia if you like, but I can't stand tours. I want to get away from the crowds! So that means setting off on my own, which takes a lot more effort. I guess I never said I wanted the easy way, now did I?
Although swimming in the Adriatic sea first thing in the morning and then reading the greatest living writer all day in the sun ain't so bad.
Damn.
Here's some photos from Budapest; first inside the Gellert baths and second is a view of Buda from Pest:
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