When most people hear the name Croatia, a war zone comes more readily to mind than a cruise destination, but Dubrovnik, Croatia, often surprises vacationers by becoming one of their favorite ports.
This well-preserved, walled medieval fortress on the gorgeous Dalmatian Coast certainly won my heart as the first stop on our Greek Isles cruise aboard Splendour of the Seas.
Like many cruisers, I’m not a big fan of tenders, not so much because of the boat ride itself but because of the time delays of catching them.
I dutifully picked up early tender tickets when they became available at about 6:15 AM, and as tenders go, this one went smoothly, although we lost one family from our group when they failed to join us in time to depart.
Our oldest daughter Gina also went her own way, choosing to take an enjoyable excursion to visit the home of an artist and country villages.
After the long tender ride, we boarded a free bus that took us from the port to the walled city.
It certainly was not deserted, but Dubrovnik seems well-designed to handle crowds and is an easy town to explore on your own.
We entered the dramatic walls past historic monuments, a medieval sentry and minstrels to arrive at a large circular fountain where people filled bottles and splashed water on their faces in preparation for a warm day.
We started by walking the city wall. At this point, two more fell from our ranks due to concerns about the rigor and heat of the adventure.
While Croatia doesn’t use Euros as their currency, they gladly accept them, and for 7 ½ Euros, we gained admission up the stairs to the top of the wall.
It’s an amazing walk, with remarkable views of ancient orange tiled rooftops with satellite dishes precariously mounted on them, the panoramic ocean, distant outposts, quaint alleys where locals hang laundry, and fun-lovers jumping off craggy cliffs into the turquoise water.
We took hundreds of photos and stopped often to soak in the sites without noticing how fast the time passed.
By the time we returned to the fountain to pick up the two ladies we had left there, a couple of hours had passed,
and they were not extremely happy with our band of happy wanderers.
At this point, the group split into two.
My nephew Jered joined my two youngest children, my wife and me at the beach, while the others went out for a traditional Croatian meal.
As we walked to the beach, we ate delicious gelatos.
Julie, who had a couple of days of gelato-eating experience in Florence before the cruise, assured me that the strawberry is always the best, but I went with some kind of caramel and vanilla jumble, and I would beg to differ. 
Walking through the streets of Dubrovnik past the quaint shops and eateries is another treat in itself.
There are lounge chairs with cushions or even canopied king-sized beds available on the beach for rent, but we sat it in the sand with some cruise ship towels.
Actually, only one person stayed on shore at a time to watch our stuff while everyone else relished the cool, refreshing Adriatic Sea.
Nothing could have been better for me after walking the wall than my gelato with an Adriatic chaser.
By mid-afternoon, the kids were ready to head back to the ship, but I convinced Julie to have a drink with me in town.
We found a little sidewalk restaurant where she had a Diet Coke while I sampled a local wine that was delicious.
Who should my wandering eyes should appear but Rollie, who had dropped his wife Cheryl back at the ship and come back to town.
Julie, Rollie and I looked into some buildings, browsed in shops and perused some art, but one thing kept coming back to my mind: the view of those people jumping off cliffs into the Adriatic Sea.
We had to ask a few people before finding a Medieval-garbed performer who knew where the opening to the diving cliffs was located, and Julie’s feet told her this was not a good idea, but we all proceeded on.
When we finally made it through the wall, we found ourselves at a little café perched on the wall, and I think someone could enjoy a wonderful day in Croatia just going to this spot.
We had no time to spare, since our ship would be sailing within the hour, so I dove right in without the perfunctory “should I or shouldn’t I?”
We all liked it so much that we repeated our dives a few times.
By the time we returned to the ship, it was parked at the pier, taking the place of a ship that had departed, so we didn’t have to tender back.
Dubrovnik earned designation as one of my all-time favorite cruise ports.
This well-preserved, walled medieval fortress on the gorgeous Dalmatian Coast certainly won my heart as the first stop on our Greek Isles cruise aboard Splendour of the Seas.
Like many cruisers, I’m not a big fan of tenders, not so much because of the boat ride itself but because of the time delays of catching them.
I dutifully picked up early tender tickets when they became available at about 6:15 AM, and as tenders go, this one went smoothly, although we lost one family from our group when they failed to join us in time to depart.
Our oldest daughter Gina also went her own way, choosing to take an enjoyable excursion to visit the home of an artist and country villages.
After the long tender ride, we boarded a free bus that took us from the port to the walled city.
It certainly was not deserted, but Dubrovnik seems well-designed to handle crowds and is an easy town to explore on your own.
We entered the dramatic walls past historic monuments, a medieval sentry and minstrels to arrive at a large circular fountain where people filled bottles and splashed water on their faces in preparation for a warm day.
We started by walking the city wall. At this point, two more fell from our ranks due to concerns about the rigor and heat of the adventure.
While Croatia doesn’t use Euros as their currency, they gladly accept them, and for 7 ½ Euros, we gained admission up the stairs to the top of the wall.
It’s an amazing walk, with remarkable views of ancient orange tiled rooftops with satellite dishes precariously mounted on them, the panoramic ocean, distant outposts, quaint alleys where locals hang laundry, and fun-lovers jumping off craggy cliffs into the turquoise water.
We took hundreds of photos and stopped often to soak in the sites without noticing how fast the time passed.
By the time we returned to the fountain to pick up the two ladies we had left there, a couple of hours had passed,
and they were not extremely happy with our band of happy wanderers.At this point, the group split into two.
My nephew Jered joined my two youngest children, my wife and me at the beach, while the others went out for a traditional Croatian meal.As we walked to the beach, we ate delicious gelatos.
Julie, who had a couple of days of gelato-eating experience in Florence before the cruise, assured me that the strawberry is always the best, but I went with some kind of caramel and vanilla jumble, and I would beg to differ. 
Walking through the streets of Dubrovnik past the quaint shops and eateries is another treat in itself.
There are lounge chairs with cushions or even canopied king-sized beds available on the beach for rent, but we sat it in the sand with some cruise ship towels.
Actually, only one person stayed on shore at a time to watch our stuff while everyone else relished the cool, refreshing Adriatic Sea.
Nothing could have been better for me after walking the wall than my gelato with an Adriatic chaser.
By mid-afternoon, the kids were ready to head back to the ship, but I convinced Julie to have a drink with me in town.
We found a little sidewalk restaurant where she had a Diet Coke while I sampled a local wine that was delicious.
Who should my wandering eyes should appear but Rollie, who had dropped his wife Cheryl back at the ship and come back to town.
Julie, Rollie and I looked into some buildings, browsed in shops and perused some art, but one thing kept coming back to my mind: the view of those people jumping off cliffs into the Adriatic Sea.
We had to ask a few people before finding a Medieval-garbed performer who knew where the opening to the diving cliffs was located, and Julie’s feet told her this was not a good idea, but we all proceeded on.
When we finally made it through the wall, we found ourselves at a little cafĂ© perched on the wall, and I think someone could enjoy a wonderful day in Croatia just going to this spot.We had no time to spare, since our ship would be sailing within the hour, so I dove right in without the perfunctory “should I or shouldn’t I?”
We all liked it so much that we repeated our dives a few times.
By the time we returned to the ship, it was parked at the pier, taking the place of a ship that had departed, so we didn’t have to tender back.
Dubrovnik earned designation as one of my all-time favorite cruise ports.
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