February 27, 2016

Arriving in Dubrovnik

After a 6 hour bus ride and a border crossing we finally arrive in the rainy town of Dubrovnik.  We decide to walk to our guesthouse, which is an hour walk (over 2 miles uphill).  This was, of course, after we had walked just as far to catch our bus early this morning.  After having walked almost 5 miles in the rain (both times) we had arrived in our beautiful seaside mansion.  Our place easily sleeps 4 people, has a washer, huge family room, and kitchen.  The view of the old town from our front door is awesome.

We ventured town to Old Town to stroll the streets for an hour or so before coming back to pick up dinner for the evening.

Old Town

We walked into Old Town for an hour at night after taking 15 minutes to relax after a long day of travel.  The city as gorgeous.  On the way back we pick up some food to cook dinner for the two nights during our stay here.  After a lazy morning we left again to set Old Town more in-depth.  We finally set out just around 11:30am.

We had watched a few scenes from "Game of Thrones" the evening before and tried to find the locations of a few scenes.  It really does look the same, minus some CGI.  We walked the city walls of old town.  We were luck to only pay 60kn thanks to our student IDs (without the IDs we would have paid 240kn).  The Walls of Dubrovnik encircle the entire old town region, making a 2km loop.  The walls are up to 82 feet tall in portions.  Their construction started as early as 1317.  It was sunny when we left the apartment and then it started to pour for an hour or so.  Finally the sun came out and we enjoyed a nice stroll through old city.

There was not so much to do in the city of Dubrovnik and a day is all you need.  Actually 3 hours is more than enough to see the entire city!  Inside the walls of Old Town there were touristy shops and a few museums, which we avoided.  The cafes and pubs were pricey.  We are enjoying the city on a Friday and Saturday, yet the town seems almost deserted...thanks to low season!

Another note on low season:  We're paying ~$27/nt for our 4 bed apartment w/ kitchen and bathroom.  In the high season the rate jumps up 5x the price.  We know this because there is a price sheet in our apartment.  She rents our room through Booking.com and the room next to us through Airbnb.  What a lucrative business!

The city has a similar feel as Split, but the Old Town here is much more preserved.  However, Split does have the advantage of being lower to the water's surface making it easer for a quick dip in during warmer months

Some R&R

We are currently enjoying some chocolate pie, Croatian wine from the Dalmatian coast, and pizza as we read and relax in our apartment.  Tomorrow we're taking an early (7am) bus to Kotor, Montenegro, which is a similar coastal town 2 hours south of us.  We'll have to leave early since we'll probably walk 2 miles to the bus station tomorrow...hey, it keeps us young!