May 4-6
We got into Dubrovnik on Thursday evening and met Josip, soon to become our trusted driver for our time in Croatia. We got his contact info and reached out any time we needed an Uber. Josip was young, mid-20s, and use to be a policeman. Similar to a lot of young people that we talked with in Croatia, there is little industry outside tourism. Apparently, Josip was paid only about 600 Euros per month as a cop and couldn’t make ends meet, so he quit to become an Uber driver. A guy we met later in the trip who drove us to Bosnia has two masters degrees but makes more money driving tours. We also found out that a lot of young Croatians leave to go work in Ireland, and so many have left that now Croatia has been pulling in immigrants for high season since they have lost so many young people. The high level of tourism has also made it very expensive to live in the area.
Anyway, Josip is our guy. He dropped us off at what we soon found out was the best airbnb ever. The apartment was just outside Dubrovnik at Lapad beach. And it really was amazing: clean and new with a lot of amenities and extra touches like fresh fruit and a few bonus items in the fridge. Croatia is shaping up to be awesome.
After getting settled it, we headed out for dinner at Taverna Otto. Time to get into some fresh seafood!
The next morning we were hoping for some sun! After a few rainy days in Tuscany and then rain in Florence and a forecast full of rain in Dubrovnik, we were scheduling activities around the sun. If we had any inkling that it was going to peak out, we were heading to the beach. So Friday was a “maybe” day for the beach. We woke up to some clouds, but it was looking like a potential break around lunchtime, so mom and I headed to the beach while Michael went out for a run.
Dubrovnik, so far, seems to be a super family friendly type of town. We walked past a great playground on our way to the beach and once we hit the water we saw… a slide into the water. Amazing!
There was also a place that rented out jet skis and kayaks. It is the beginning of the season, and a little cool, so the beaches were pretty empty. But I imagine this place will be just packed with screaming children running around in a few weeks. The water was fairly warm, considering, and the sun came out! Yes!!! We got a few good hours of sun before Michael finished up his run at our beach. We packed up our things and headed to lunch at a seaside cafe.
That night we went into Old Town for dinner at Restaurant Azur. It was our first time in town and we immediately loved it. The winding streets, the cute shops, the beautiful streets. Amazing.
Artistic black and white photo:
Plus dinner was great – seafood with Thai and Mexican influences:
Curries and tacos and seafood! Our favorite foods!
On Saturday we hung around the airbnb. Another great relaxing day of reading, enjoying each other’s company and playing cards. Also, Michael cooked us some fresh fish for dinner. Did I mention that the airbnb has a bunch of crazy colored lights, so we could enjoy this meal with a purple hue?
Sunday morning: First thing’s first, we hit the beach at 7:30. My weather app was telling us we were only getting 2 or so hours of sun, so we took advantage of it.
We also met this cool dog who wanted to sunbathe with us:
Then we headed into the Old Town for a mass in English at St. Ignatius!!
This is only the second mass that Michael and I have attended in English in 6 months (the other was the mass that Fr. Tom did on the Antarctica ship). It was hard to understand the homily, but it was in English and you have to take what you can get.
After mass we spent some time wandering the city. We started by walking the old city walls.
Tell me it isn’t incredible how crystal clear this water is:
Random submarine:
That’s right, every combination of the three of us in one location. We thought it was a really, reall good photo op:
#winteriscoming #youknownothingjonsnow
There were a few other notable Game of Thrones things we saw.
Quite a few scenes were filmed on the walls (see pictures above).
Shame, Shame:
Sansa Stark has a few scenes on this pier… without all the boats and tourists:
This fort on the right near the sea is the Red Keep in King’s Landing:
Lokrum Island, which we visited later in the week, was used for the city of Qarth:
The Rector’s Palace was used in Season 2 when Daenerys visited the Spice King’s mansion to request ships to carry her army across the Narrow Sea:
And I feel this general area was in scenes, but no real specifics to throw at you:
Most important, a bunch of really legit souvenirs:
So basically, Michael and I geeked out and hummed the theme song and repeatedly quoted Game of Thrones as we wandered around the city. Also I made mom watch the Stark sister scene with Littlefinger because it’s amazing even though it has nothing to do with Dubrovnik. This makes us cool among a very small group of people.
After hours of wandering around, we had another amazing dinner at a place called Proto.
We started with oysters.
For some reason, Michael took about 10 photos of us getting our oysters prepared:
Before taking this picture:
We had some amazing seafood, some great lamb chops, fresh fish and delicious port to end the meal. Incredible!
More from Dubrovnik to come!