Croatia: Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik "the pearl of the Adriatic"- could truly be used to describe this place but on the other hand, even a thousand words wouldn’t be enough to make this magnificent town justice. So let’s just give it a try and trust that the photos will do the rest.

As much as we had loved the peace and quiet of the last two islands, it was tickling to be back in the lively town and surrounded by crowds. Sometime in the early evening we docked at the Port Gruz (which actually isn’t the port next to the old town) and a short taxi ride later found our lovely accommodation Family Stanos, located on the hill just above the famous City Walls. This family run place would deserve a blog entry dedicated just for them, that’s how exceptionally fun place it was! Lets just say that none of the family members lacked on charisma or character, and the owner couple and their little daughter welcomed us warmly in their own cool and goofy way. We were getting pretty excited as we opened the window shutters and had stunning views down to the old town and the sea- bog bog Dubrovnik, we thought.

That night we put our best dress on, headed down the million stairs to reach the old town gate, grapped some delicious street food and a bottle of wine, and found a spot to soak it all in. After countless narrow cobblestone alleys later we found ourselves sitting at the port just outside of the city walls, and this actually is a cool, busy place at nighttime due to the number of restaurants and people chilling on the docks. By now we definitely thought we had seen it all when it comes to luxurious life of the international jet setters and yacht owners, but boy were we wrong as we watched the glamorous shuttles bringing in their guests and setting up red carpets for them to exit the boats- only in Dubrovnik…

“Avoid visiting the City Walls during the midday and afternoon due to the crowds and heat…” we had all read in our guidebooks, but guess when we got up there? Precisely at noon. Well, safe to say it was too hot, and at the same time we were wondering if we truly were the only stupid people who went up there during the hottest hours against all better judgment (read: it was not too crowded, at least). So the next couple of hours we were walking a lot, sweating, taking photos, sweating, and this went on for as long as it took us to finish the entire round.

Thankfully they do have a couple of places along the walls to sit down at, for cold drinks and surely for taking in the gorgeous scenarios. The whole round took us couple of hours altogether, and we really enjoyed getting all new perspective on Dubrovnik (in the night we had just gotten lost everywhere in that labyrinth old town!) and its surroundings. After that though, we needed to get to some place cool, preferably cold, and wet. Just right around the corner we came across to this little rocky beach (seemed to be just locals) and jumped in one after another.

Back at the Family Stanos, we chilled in their garden (they have such cool shade terrace and this little chill spot in the back), shared some home made local drink with the owner and just enjoyed the vibe.

Our plan for the night was to meet up with one other fellow traveler and find a nice restaurant (not a problem to find but may be a problem for your wallet finding the wrong one). The old town is so full of life in the evening and nighttime, probably because it is the only time of the 24 hours that its bearable to enjoy the weather outside, and it’s actually just warm. Same as the night before, we ended the night chilling at the harbor and enjoying what we had hoped would never come- the last night in Croatia.

For the absolutely last dip into the Adriatic, we had set up an early dip in and dip out swim meeting. We were so bummed the last time we dragged ourselves up the million stairs leading to our hotel, where we had to then say goodbye to Rachael and Christian. It’s always such a sad thing to part ways with great travel friends, also because you never really know when will be the next time for seeing each other. We still had some time to kill before heading to the airport, so we got around old town, getting some souvenirs (funny how that’s always the very last thing to take care of?) and just strolled around.

All good things come to an end, and so did this amazing trip. On the bright side, the bus ride to the airport was fantastic and I got the shots over the Dubrovnik old town with its endless terracotta roofs from the bus! We were homebound, but already looking forward to our next journey, which was just around the corner…