Dubrovnik, Croatia 2018

Under the third white umbrella from the right is where the lunch photo below was taken from

Lunch in Old Town

The 25 minute taxi from the airport to our hotel gave us an idea of why they call  Dubrovnik ‘the pearl of the Adriatic’ - stunning coastline! The popularity of Game of Thrones (filmed around the walls of the Old City) has helped to make it one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean. We were initially allocated a very dilapidated hotel room, but the next morning we were moved to a room with a stunning sea view. The next 4 days were absolutely wonderful. The weather was hot, 28 C (82 F) throughout our visit. Most days we had either lunch or dinner beside the ocean. Each evening (apart from one night) we timed our meal to allow Murray to make it to the bar to watch the 8pm World Soccer game. Last night's game was the best, given that we were in Croatia and they got 3 goals. 

You’ve probably all heard about) and many of you may have visited) the walled city of Dubrovnik Old Town so I won’t go into too much detail. For those of you who are Game of Throne fans, you will recognise the walls as I understand that is where it was filmed. We checked out the old Franciscan Monastery that opened within the walls in 1317. It houses the 3rd oldest pharmacy in Europe (1317) and it is the only one of the oldest Pharmacies that is still operating. Unbelievable! We made several visits to the walled city as it was too much to take in during a single visit. We wandered the cobblestoned alleys and climbed the winding steps that have been worn smooth over the years. I checked my pedometer readings and over the past 14 days (only 4 of them in Dubrovnik), we have averaged 5.9 Km (3.6 miles) per day. I think steps should count twice as far as the actual distance recorded!! 

The buildings, walls and paved roads radiated heat 

On our first visit to the walled city, the stone buildings and roads radiated so much heat that we jumped in a ferry and took a 45 minute boat ride to the picturesque town of Cavtat - on the mainland and you pass it on the way into Dubrovnik from the airport. There we had a delicious seafood lunch (mussels, oysters, sardines) on the waters edge, and spent several hours strolling along around the town. I highly recommend anyone visiting Dubrovnik to come here for lunch - delightful town and the best meal of our stay!

Our Hotel overlooked the turquoise waters of Sunset Beach. The beach has smooth small stones instead of sand. They may be smooth stones but they sure were painful to walk on.  I noticed that most people wore rubber beach shoes and left them on when swimming. There was sand underfoot once you got away from the shore. Sun lounges with an umbrella and side table can be hired for €10 per person per day. Waiters patrol continuously and take refreshment & snack orders. I had a refreshing swim there as I have to be able to say I have swum in the Adriatic Sea!

They say the thing to do when in Dubrovnik is to take a cable car 780 meters up to the top of a hill to have unparalleled views over the walled city. We timed our visit to coincide with sunset - a chilled beer with a Mediterranean food platter in the restaurant at the cable car plateau as we enjoyed the bird’s eye view below us capped off our day.

One other place I will mention is the More Hotel’s Cave Bar. While the More Hotel was being constructed on the cliff's edge, they discovered a huge cave underneath the construction - down at the waters edge. Thanks to an enterprising mind, they created a unique bar/cafe area - seating can be inside the cave or outside on the terrace, with the Adriatic Sea inches away. The hotel reception is on a road that has an entrance to the hotel on the 5th floor. To get to the cave bar, you have to go down in a lift to level -2. Guests can wear their bathers, sit and have a cold drink or a snack, pop into the water for a swim, and return and dry off before ordering something else. Simply fabulous. 

Interestingly, one of Dubrovnik's twinned sister cities is Bad Homburg in Germany - the last city we stayed in on our Cosmos Europe Tour that ended a few weeks ago. What a coincidence - otherwise, I would never have heard of Bad Homburg! After 3 weeks in Africa, followed by 3 weeks touring Europe, we were ready to have some sleep-ins and get around at a slower pace. Dubrovnik provided all that and more. What a fabulous 5 days!