Dubrovnik

Monday, August 8

We took a ferry from Hvar to Dubrovnik. We didn’t get a window seat when we first boarded but managed to snag one after the first stop. Still, the windows were nasty so the views weren’t great, but it was nice to look out onto the water.

We were able to get an Uber from the ferry terminal to our apartment easy enough and the host was there waiting for us. It was one of the nicer apartments we’ve stayed at for a while. We had a full-size fridge with a freezer (and ice cube tray!), a strong AC, a TV with Netflix, and even a washer. There was also a patio that looked out onto the old walled city but it was hotter than the devil’s armpit so we just used it as a space to dry our laundry.

We unpacked and rested for just a little bit and then set off to explore the old walled city. We walked in through the east gate, over a wooden draw bridge, and it really felt like we were on a movie set more than in a real place. We meandered through the city, took a peek at the harbor where kids were swimming and playing, and wandered to every corner of the tiny city.

We recognized a set of stairs as the spot where the character Cersei walked on an episode of Game of Thrones and, of course, there was a bar selling Cersei-themed cocktails next to it. So I got a ‘Cersei’s shame’ which was like a Hugo Spritz with real slices of apricot in it. We sat on the steps and people watched. It was fun to overhear every other person yelling “shame! shame!” as they walked by (fans will understand).

After some more wandering we realized it was almost 6pm and a popular restaurant, Lady Pi Pi, which doesn’t take reservations, was soon to open. So we hiked up the (slippery!) stone steps and got to the restaurant 3 minutes before 6pm. It looked like they had JUST opened but they had already sat people at most of the tables. We waited around for about 20 minutes and then they miraculously sat us and a group of three girls. Everyone else was told they’d have to wait for about an hour for the first round of people to finish.

The sky darkened and threatened rain, which would’ve meant the end of our meal in the restaurant because the only roof was a wooden terrace with grape vines. Somehow it didn’t rain and we enjoyed one of the best, if not the best, meals in Croatia.

We got the seafood platter for two and a bottle of white table wine. We watched as they carried huge trays of meat and seafood from the kitchen below ground to an outdoor wood-fired grill. We could smell all the things cooking and it was marvelous.

Finally they served us the platter: it had tuna, squid, prawns, and some kind of white fish. The tuna was some of the best tuna steak I’ve ever had in my life (shout out to my dad for cooking it’s only rival). We enjoyed the food and the ambience but we didn’t dally so that another table could sit and enjoy too.

We hiked over to the grocery store to get breakfast supplies before hiking back up the hill to our apartment to watch Netflix on the luxuriously big couch with the AC cranked all the way.

Tuesday, August 9

Conveniently, our tour meet up spot was the same gate we’d entered through the day before during our amateur exploring and was the gate nearest to our apartment. I tricked Carl into going on a Game of Thrones tour of Dubrovnik with the promise that it would include ‘normal’ city history too. It ended up that half of the tour participants hadn’t even seen the show!

Right off the bat we could tell it was going to be a good tour. Our guide, Jelena, did an amazing job describing historical events, Game of Thrones filming locations, and giving insights on modern-day life in Dubrovnik. Though Dubrovnik still looks entirely like a medieval city, it’s been rebuilt several times due to catastrophic events like an earthquake in 1667 and the war in the 90s.

She led us through the city, stopping at all the major and minor GOT filming locations. She also took us to a souvenir shop with yet another iron throne for a photo opp. We had one pit stop for iced coffees on the shame stairs, of course.

We exited the city through the west gate entrance and then went up to Lovrjenac fort for views of the city from above. Jelena pointed out the terrace where the scene of the purple wedding took place, telling us how she and some residents want there to be a plaque there to commemorate Joffrey’s death.

Then the tour was over so we said goodbye to Jelena and set off to do a little more exploring on our own.

Our first stop was lunch. We went to a place called Bura which we had read had good cocktails and tapas style food. We got chicken liver mousse with a side of some kind of fruit (could’ve been really squishy apricot or maybe persimmon?) and crostinis. We also got toasts with fried sardines and greens on them.

The best dish by far was the Gnudi, which were like spherical raviolis. They were filled with ricotta and covered in a sweet butternut squash sauce. The cocktails were also pretty nice. I got a Pink Rosemary Fizz that had grapefruit juice in it and Carl got the Raspberry and Rosemary Collins.

Then it was time for more tourism. We had bought the Dubrovnik pass for 250 kuna each (about $35) because it was the same cost as walking the wall, which is a ‘must do’ of Dubrovnik. The pass included entrance to a bunch of other museums but none of them strongly appealed to us. But Jelena had recommended going to the Rector’s Palace – essentially the mayor’s house turned museum- so we started there.

The building itself is very beautiful with Venetian architecture and ornately decorated ceilings and walls. The ground floor included old prison cells that were fun to explore. The top floors house all kinds of different artworks including paintings, sculptures, and -most interesting to me- furniture.

Before we left we strolled through a gallery of black and white photographs that had been taken in December 1991 when Dubrovnik was attacked during their war for independence. It was very sad to see photos of the old town, UNESCO-designated heritage site being bombed. The residents tried to maintain positivity by painting the wooden panels that had been placed in windows to protect historic buildings.

After the museum we were feeling the mid-afternoon slump. So we headed to a bar that Jelena had shown us. There are two bars along the southern side of the city that you have to go through the city wall to get to. Buza means ‘hole’ in Croatian so both of these secretive feeling bars have the word Buza in their name. We found the unmarked entrance and went through the wall, popping out onto the other side onto a rocky cliff perched above the sea. It was still early afternoon so it wasn’t too busy and we were able to get a table.

The Buza bar we went to is actually right above the public ‘beach’ (rocky bluff with cement platforms and metal ladders). So we jealously watched people swim as we admired views of the ocean and sipped our overpriced light Croatian beers.

Then it was time for the main event- to walk the wall. People had advised that we walk it before 10am or after 5pm to avoid the intense heat because there is no shade on the wall. But because it was the first overcast day we had seen in weeks, it felt ok to go a little earlier than 5pm and also try to beat the crowds who had been given the same advice.

The wall encircles the entire old city and offers amazing views of the city and sea from above. The pass only allows entrance one time, and it is required to walk counterclockwise around which is said to take about 2 hours. Even without the sun shining bright, the views were amazing.

We took our sweet time and took a million and one photos from every angle. At one spot we could go around the Minceta fortress, where another GOT scene was filmed, the one where Daenerys is stuck in the house of the undying.

Towards the end of the walk, rays of light were streaming through the dark clouds giving the whole scene a very heavenly vibe. At the end of the walk we spotted a water polo game being played in the sea below the wall. So, we were sad to have to leave the wall but we decided to do one more fun activity and go watch a little of the game.

We had to walk around the boardwalk and pier to get to the outer area of the little port where the water polo court was floating. There were a TON of fans. A bunch of little kids had painted their faces and bodies with red and blue body paint and they were holding handmade signs.

It seemed we were there at half time so we had to wait for the action to start. When it started up again a bunch of fans opened their colored gas canisters. It was cool to see, and pretty, until everyone in the stands started coughing. All the kids that had lined up in front of us started screaming and crying and running away-through our legs and up and over the rocks and cement walls to just get away. It felt like we were in the middle of a battle which was even more surreal since we were hanging out on a bluff at the base of a real medieval wall.

The smoke was awful but it cleared out enough fans that we were able to get a good viewing spot. It was so fun to watch the game! I can’t imagine how the guys could play with waves smacking them in the head and saltwater stinging their eyes. Finally it seemed like it was over, though we couldn’t really tell who had one. So we left, and walked back up the hill to our apartment.

For dinner I made fancy grilled cheese and was actually pretty impressed with my ability to melt the cheese well despite only having olive oil and an electric stove.

Wednesday, August 10

Without any set plans for the day, we let ourselves sleep in and have a lazy morning. We decided to pack some sandwiches and head to the island of Lokrum. We didn’t really know what to expect on the island except Jelena had told us it was worth seeing and that it has cooler temperatures than the mainland. Also, lots of peacocks and some more GOT filming locations.

We got the ferry for 200 kuna each, which includes the island entrance fee. It was only about a 10 minute ride over.

Once we got to the island we hiked first to the Monastery complex in which sits the visitor center. We read all about the island, it’s history, and the different sites to see on it, and watched a couple of videos of GOT cast members saying how much they love Croatia.

There are about 15 ‘sites’ on the island and we unknowingly set out on a scavenger hunt to see them all (including big water reservoir and little water reservoir which looked very similar in size). Before leaving the visitor center we got one final picture on an iron throne- the real one used in the show and donated by HBO to sit at Lokrum island. It was by far the best throne so far, but the first time I didn’t dress up for it, haha. Let this be a lesson for future fans.

We walked through some gardens before going down to the ‘dead sea’ which has reconnected to the ocean underground anyways so it was more like a really salty lake. Then we went to ‘the rocks’. It really was just rocks on the sea side but it seemed that some people had dug holes to collect salt from the drying seawater between tidal periods.

We watched as people jumped into the ocean and then decided we couldn’t resist. So we changed into our swimsuits and jumped in. The waves weren’t bad until the moment where I was trying to get out via the one metal ladder and then they knocked me into it before I could hoist myself up. But it was fine. The water was so nice and cold that our mood was improved immediately.

There were also fresh water showers, a nice treat, so we used those before finding a shady place in one of the nearby gardens to air dry and eat our sandwiches. The peacocks were all hanging out in this garden because, we immediately realized, people were feeding them. As we munched, the peacocks got closer and closer, eyeing our sandwiches. We watched as one guy had to aggressively shoo them away. Probably the prettiest animal to ever be shooed.

Our next item on the list was the Path of Paradise. This path leads up the island to a fort on top. The views were indeed divine, but it was hot as hell. We took our time walking slowly up and then enjoyed the small respite of the shade inside the fort, despite the lack of breeze.

Then we walked down the other side to an area where there had been a famous shipwreck. Now it was a swimming spot. We found a little rocky area to put our stuff and jumped into the water. The water was sooo cold it was shocking. The sun moved behind the clouds and I actually felt cold for once.

We sat out on the rocks and read for a couple hours, enjoying the breeze and the views of Dubrovnik from afar. Then I got hungry so it was time to go. We hiked back over to the ferry port and didn’t have to wait long for the next ferry to arrive. There were even more peacocks here, and a mama and a baby peacock decided to come sit right next to us as we waited.

Back on the mainland we hit up the grocery store again and for dinner Carl made us some really delicious burgers, also with no condiments- just olive oil!

Thursday, August 11

To get from Croatia to Montenegro we decided to take a bus because it was the cheapest, fastest option. Our check out wasn’t until 11am but the bus wasn’t until 3pm so we needed to spend some time somewhere.

We decided to take an Uber to the bus station area and find places to eat, drink, and loiter around there. Conveniently, Dubrovnik Beer Company was right across the street! We got a sampler flight and then a couple pale ales. The beer was really good!

Unfortunately they didn’t have food yet so we migrated to a pizzeria. We got a simple cheese with oregano pizza (they called it Margarita, but ok) and a ‘salad’ that was a ball of mozzarella with tomatoes on top. We got some snacks from a little grocery store and then waited to get on the bus.

The bus left on time but we had to cross the border which also meant leaving the E.U. The line to get out of Croatia was long but when we made it through we saw the line to leave Montenegro was even longer. All in all we were there for a little over an hour.

Bok Croatia and Zdravo Montenegro!