Exploring the Old City of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was our third and final stop in Croatia.

We got pretty dodgy directions to our hostel and caught a bus that seemed to go nowhere near it (although I think we were going the wrong direction, even though the bus was going towards our hostel… if that even make sense) and ended up getting off early and walking a pretty long way up about 4 flights of LONG stairs ahhhh!

We got there eventually, woo! It was pretty late and night and we were tired from spending a day on a bus so aside from watching the World Cup Final on TV we were boring and did pretty much nothing.

The next day we headed into the Old Town of Dubrovnik, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and probably the most famous (and therefore most expensive) city in Croatia. For those of you who don’t know, Michael and I are pretty big fans of Game of Thrones and the Old Town of Dubrovnik is the home of Kings Landing! They do all the filming for Kings Landing here, which must be ridiculously hard because there are people everywhere, and recruit lots of random Croatians as extras. You can even do a Game of Thrones tour in Dubrovnik but they cost about $90 AUD for a 3 hour tour, (WOW)  they are definitely capitalizing of the Game of Thrones trend!

The first thing we did was walk the medieval city walls of the Old Town of Dubrovnik, which also double as the city walls of Kings Landing.

The picture on the top right in above set of photos is of the old town water fountain, people still use this to drink from today, I filled up my water bottle here!

The walls date back to the 13th Century and are a full 2km circut that surrounds the Old City of Dubrovnik, they were used to protect the city from attack. We have been to a lot of cities in Europe that used to have city walls or still have partial remains but none as complete as this. 

Game of Thrones nerds might recognise the above panorama, a similar shot is used when they jump to Kings Landing scenes.

In the above right photo I am standing in front of St Lawrence Fortress, which is the home of the Iron Throne in Game of Thrones (and yes I am a bit addicted).

The views from the city walls were amazing, especially looking down at the beautiful blue ocean from so far up! This section of the walls is the highest point so I suppose they were pretty worried about being attacked from sea!

The photo of the island in the above set of photos is called Lokrum Island and is where scenes involving the Palace of Quarth, as visited by Daenarys, were filmed in Game of Thrones (apparently there is an old monastary and some gardens on the island and not much else). 

Walking along the walls was pretty surreal and it’s amazing to think that something built so long ago has survived completely intact until today.

The walls circled around the Old Port of Dubrovnik, which used to be the main port but it now used for small fishing or tour boats and around the back of the Old Town. 

The view of all the tiny red-roofed apartments and houses (as featured in Game of Thrones) from this section of the wall is amazing.

We walked up onto Fort Minceta, which for Game of Thrones fans, was used in the filming of the House of the Undying scenes. The views from here across the Old Town and out to sea were pretty spectacular.

  

The view from Fort Mineceta. 

More views from Fort Mineceta and while walking towards the ocean.

  

We made the mistake of going in the middle of the day (aka the hottest time of day) and it was scorching hot walking along the walls, we were going at a pretty leisurely pace so it took us about two hours and by the end we were both boiling hot!

After finished walking the walls and got out of the sun we walked through the Old Town of Dubrovnik, which is quite similar to that of Split and Zadar but packed to the brim with tourists – this was definitely the most crowded and touristy place we visited in Croatia. We did spend an evening sitting just outside the port and city walls watching crazy people jump off rocks.

The below photos are not that exciting but I thought they looked kinda cool, Michael is walking home right as the sun is setting and the photos to the right are of the view from our balcony (up a lot of stairs), not too bad for the cheapest accommodation we could find. 

Another highlight of our time in Dubrovnik was a boat trip we caught to the Elafiti Islands.

We jumped on the boat at the Old Port of Dubrovnik and cruised past the Old Town, giving us a beautiful view of the Old Town and city walls from the sea (very Game of Thrones!). 

Our first stop was at Kolocepo Island, we were only here for 45 minutes so we walked around the tiny harbor and grabbed a seat on a lovely sandy beach and pretty much just chilled for the entire time.

Back on the boat again and this time we were headed to Lopud Island, this time for a 1½ hour stop. This time we grabbed some ice cream and icy poles and once again went and grabbed ourselves a nice spot on the beach (this time it was rocky L) to swim and relax. 

After 45 mins we jumped back onto the boat for lunch, Michael got a chicken and I got a whole baked fish, I wish I had taken a picture because it was pretty awesome for a meal that was cooked in tiny boat kitchen!

Photos below are of the beach at Lopud Island.

Our third stop for the day was Sipan Island, this time we were here for 3 hours. We walked along the promenade which was pretty much one huge beach, although a lot of it was private beaches. We finally found a tiny spot to ourselves (sandy again, yay) and spent the afternoon swimming in the lovely cool water and lying on the beach relaxing.

On the way home we made the most of the drinks we were offered, which there was certainly no shortage of. I think all up I had maybe 6 cups (not glasses haha) of red wine and Michael had probably the same amount, plus 2 cups of grappa – we were certainly making sure we got our money’s worth!

  

That about sums up everything we got up to in Dubrovnik, although it was probably not our favourite city in Croatia it was still beautiful and we loved experiencing the Old Town and city walls of Dubrovnik.

Croatia has definitely been one of my favuorite countries to visit so far! The small towns and even larger cities of Split and Dubrovnik are all amazingly beautiful and the coast is like something you see on postcards! It is a gorgeous country with really friendly locals and I am very glad we got the chance to experience its charm!