We Do Adventure

The Union Jack you see here is hanging from the front of the building that houses the British Consulate in Split, Croatia. It was a stop-and-stare moment when we spotted it on Sunday. At once it seemed to capture something of the romance of an Imperial golden-age - not that this part of the world was ever part of a British Empire - but also highlight what so often seems to be the archaic nature of bureaucracy. Faded glory seems inappropriate in such glorious sunshine but this was definitely old-school establishment. Still I doubt the pen-pushers employed here are complaining. Situated on the waterfront in the historic part of the city, their offices look down on a promenade packed with caffe bars and look out over the beautiful Adriatic. Location, location, location! There are worse places to be serving Her Majesty's Government.

The three L’s are the watchword for purchasing property but what about selecting a cinema? Those who follow all my digital output closely might have seen me talk recently about living six months in a city with no cinema. In the last week we were staying in Dubrovnik - one of Croatia’s leading coastal destinations. It’s a city steeped in history and, rain or shine, it never fails to be beautiful. The Old Town houses numerous museums and art galleries. However, these we overlooked upon the discovery of the cinema nestled as the end of the Stradun. Sure it wasn’t the size of those in London’s Leicester Square, perhaps it doesn’t impress like a night on Hollywood Boulevard – and, yes, the seats were hard, the screen small and the sound a little dodgy – but how many times can you say you’ve been to the cinema and walked out to be greeted by a view like this? We have – twice!