Postcards from Croatia (Part 2)

We are here in 30 degrees of sunshine, amongst the coloured flip-flops and shorts, a part of the tourists, no longer seeing something than pointing a digital camera at it and trying to capture it, trying to take a part of Dubrovnik old town with us. The sea is so clear and so blue - an aqua marine blue maybe - and I photograph it but can never do it justice.

We walk down winding steps, looking across the gleaming terracotta roofs at the welcoming blue of the bay. Couples take it in turns to take pictures of one another at the port. Wild cats roam the old town. Children fish with an elemental rod and throw their catch onto the hot pavement for a cat to play with and finally eat.

On the Isle of Lokrum there are no cats but peacocks roam freely. There are no beaches as such but rocks to lie on or jump off into the sea. The forest here is noisy, with loud see through insects, but cooling, and we walk through, beach towels over our shoulders. We buy Mares (shoes that you wear on stony beaches and can swim in) from a stall by where the boat picks you up. The woman seller is animated.

"Mr, Mr, you try these on here," she says, pointing to the step of her shop. And when I try to put them on over my sock, she gesticulates wildly with her hands and shouts "No" in the kind of manner that suggests I'm trying to burn her shop down.

When I try the Croatian for thanks - "hvalar", she fobs me off with a sarcastic gesture of the hand.

The following day we are on the isle of Lopud, beach towels draped over our shoulders, walking 2 kilometres uphill, crossing the island to find its only proper sandy beach. We hit the top of the hill and see it gleaming beneath us. It is worth the wait. Sand under foot takes us out to the clear blue sea of the bay. The sea is so salty and you can lie on your back in the Adriatic Sea and stare at the pure blue above you, the sound of moving pebbles beneath you and think: this is how it should be. You try and block out the world, the past, the time, the worries and just for a few seconds everything is perfect.