Paradise, as advertised

Dubrovnik, described by Lord Byron as the "Pearl of the Adriatic", comes as advertised.  The old city, surrounded by tall walls, is a sea of red roofs framed by the Adriatic.  In some areas of the city there are bullet holes, a reminder of the recent wars from 1991-1995.

After a hot walk around the city, I went down to the swimming hole I spotted from the walls.  It was a lot of fun lying on the rocks, swimming in the sea, and looking up at the walls rising high above me.  A local Croatian guy was jumping from some rocks high above the water, and after gathering the courage (or stupidity), I took a couple jumps from the rocks, which were around 16 meters (52 feet) above the sea.  It was a serious adrenaline rush, and I would have taken a few more leaps, except I actually bruised my heel on the water jumping from that height.  It was after this that the Croatian guy told me he broke his heels doing the same, and that one professional cliff diver broke his back jumping from the city walls into the ocean.  Yikes.