Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik has experienced  a huge surge in tourism since Game of Thrones  was filmed here.  Even though it's only early  May the city was very  crowded.  It was also quite hot. I'd hate to think what it's like in August.   There were already 2 much larger cruise ships docked, so Silver Spirit  had to drop anchor a little way off and  we were taken ashore by tender.

I was booked on the Game of Thrones  discovery tour. Which was a 4 hour walking tour taking in the most famous of the filming locations. It was labeled  was being the highest level of activity for any of the excursions and we were told people  had to have a good level  of fitness to do it.  Denise went on a different  excursion  that involved a wine tasting  outside the city.    

I'm  not  a raving Game of Thrones fan, but I thought this tour might include some spots that were a bit different  and wasn't just a walk around the walls.  As it happens  I was correct  as our first stop  was at a fort outside the city.  

There were a LOT of steps to get up to the top of the fort, but once up there we had a great view of the city walls.

After that it was down into the city where we saw various filming spots for famous scenes like the walk of shame.  

Today's fascinating  fact is that the first season of Game of Thrones was filmed  in Malta,  but HBO were thrown out of Malta due to  them  causing some damage  to a famous area called the azure window during the filming of the Dothraki wedding scene.  The mayor of Dubrovnik  told HBO that they could  come and  film the rest of the series in Dubrovnik for free. It was a risky decision  but it certainly  paid off for Dubrovnik in the long term with the huge increase in tourism. 

Finally, we went up on the walls for some good views out over the city and a selection of other filming locations  that were at some of the towers up on the walls.  

After all that I was exhausted and had lost count of the number of steps  I'd been  up and down for  the last 4 hours. I spent a short time shopping in the town by myself before heading back to the ship on the tender.  Denise was still not back, as after the coach had dropped  her off in town at the end of her tour she'd decided to walk around the  walls by herself.   When she did return  we had an early dinner and went straight  to bed. 

What I really  need is a day off but we have another  long tour booked  for  tomorrow  in Bari.  I thought these cruise holidays  were supposed to be  relaxing...