Dubrovnik, Croatia September 18-23, 2017

This part of our adventure landed us in Dubrovnik. There are not very many options for easy travel within Croatia (or much of the Balkans really).  Buses are the main form of travel here, with train service much less frequent, and flights significantly more costly and often involving one or more stop-overs.  So for us the easy choice was the bus.

Unfortunately the bus from Split was a bit of a milk-run.  Though the bus company sold only enough tickets to fill the seats leaving from Split, along the way we picked up more and more locals who were taking the bus from relatively isolated locations.  We eventually had people sitting on stairs, standing in aisles, and generally packed in like sardines!   The distance from Split to Dubrovnik is only 230km but the trip took 5 hours with several people standing or sitting on the stairs for much of that time!  We had been told it would take a little over 4 hours so this was not too much of a shock.  We did have to cross two borders after all (leaving Croatia into Boznia-Herzogovinia and then back into Croatia). This was not our first bus adventure and will certainly not be our last.

Our Airbnb host- Ivona- had arranged for her mother to pick us up at the bus station to drive us to the apartment (so lovely).  We felt quite bad that she waited almost an hour for us to arrive due to the bus being delayed.  She also insisted on carrying Gilles’ luggage which was sweet but also kind of funny as she was schlepping luggage around for us as we climbed the stairs through the streets and up to our apartment.  Unfortunately this was our first bad Airbnb experience.  Please note- photos CAN be deceiving on the Airbnb site.  The photos had made the place look like a dream.  I think the photos were perhaps several years old as the place was somewhat run down.  It also had a musty smell so the bathroom window was always kept open.  We had also picked this place for the espresso maker prominently shown in many photos.  Alas, no espresso maker (or coffee maker- which has been a big trend strangely).  The place was clean, just a bit rough and not what we were expecting after having had several nice places where we had stayed so far along the way.

We stayed outside of the old town in the neighborhood of Lapad with its mixture of parkland, older homes and new apartments/hotels aimed at tourists, of which there are many.   This neighborhood was a good choice for our relatively short stay as it had a beach, walkways along the ocean, restaurants and shops all about a 5 minutes walk away.  Buses were also easily accessible to get into the city center or a very pretty walk of only 25 minutes.

We ended up spending much of the time in our neighborhood as the old-town was quite crowded and after a few excursions into the crowds we had had enough of the people and settled on enjoying our more secluded area.  We certainly enjoyed the local cafes (shout out to Fashion Café) and the amazing views!  We also enjoyed an afternoon of sun tanning and swimming in the ocean.  Along the coast there is a lovely walk with staircases leading down to cement platforms where you can lay out to catch some rays.  After a while it was time to cool off and we hit the beach!  Another pebble beach which was a killer on the feet but worth it for the very refreshing (read cold) dip in the water.

The highlight of the old town was certainly the walk along the walls of the beautifully preserved historic city.  Amazing views of the city and across the Adriatic were to be had along the entire length.  We did stop of course for the obligatory drink along the top of the wall with an

amazing view!  Part of the tourist appeal is also for the Game of Thrones connection.  Many locations in Croatia were used for filming of scenes for the show.  You are constantly reminded of the use of Dubrovnik as the location of King’s Landing with the various GOT wares and excursions being sold.  We managed to witness someone re-enacting Cercie’s walk of shame (though fully clothed).  🙂

Another nice discovery was the port of Dubrovnik which is nestled in a bay that was quite close to our neighborhood and this proved to be a great walk as well.  There were fish absolutely everywhere- so plentiful you could practically dip your hand in and pull them out!

Speaking of fish, one of the culinary highlights of Durbovnik was a dinner of tuna melts a la Gilles!  Our culinary skills have not really been put to the test despite all of our best intentions of travelling cheaply and eating in.  There are just so many places to go and see (and food to try).  We did have a really good meal at Lapad Restaurant on our last night in Dubrovnik.  Such great gnocchi with veal!  They also cooked everything over coals which we could watch from our seats which was a nice bonus.

Having come to Dubrovnik by way of Split, it is hard not to compare our journeys through the two Croatian coastal cities.   They are very similar in that they cater to tourists, but clearly Dubrovnik is more refined and the city has worked hard to repair/maintain its city center.  Split on the other hand was more ‘rough around the edges’ and the city center had what felt like a more authentic vibe with crumbling structures and people clearly still inhabiting the space.  We have enjoyed our time in both cities and Croatia in general, but alas, our time to move on has come.  Before we left however, Ivona’s mother once again picked us up and drove us to the bus station at 7:15am!  So, as the commercial says, “Thank you means Merci” and thus Merci chocolates were purchased for this very kind woman. Next stop, Boszia- Herzegovina!