Indeed! But today, Dubrovnik is a victim of its own success. I found it over crowded, over hyped and massively over priced.

One bright, sunny summer morning we drove along the shores of the Bay of Kotor past Tivat to Lepetane and took the ferry to Kamenari and then the E65 to Croatia, to spend the day in Dubrovnik.

Montenegro/Croatia border crossing was pain free. Passports were examined and stamped and we sped past the airport towards Dubrovnik along the mountain road with many viewpoints offering wonderful views of the Old City below.

There was little parking in the city. We found our way to a relatively empty carpark near one of the gates to the old city. A taxi driver told me “It is 10 euros per hour here. Just up the hill there is a multistory car park with more reasonable rates.” We found it easily, parked and walked down through a wooded park to cross the moat to enter the old city.

By ten in the morning, Dubrovnik was heaving even though it was not a day for cruise ships. (It’s worth checking). Guides with bored expressions were herding hapless groups of exited tourists on Game of Thrones tours.

The tourist office near the gate has already run out of city maps but the sunlit square was pretty. We sat at a cafe and sipped coffee and watched the hundreds of pigeons being fed on the hour.

We took the steps up to the baroque cathedral to see the  main alter with Titian’s Ascension of Mary painted in 1550.

We ate cheese and ham sandwiches for lunch. Ice-cream was pretty ordinary and coke was expensive.

Then it began to rain…..