An Eventful Trip (Part 4): Dubrovnik, Croatia

Day 8: One day in Dubrovnik

The night before we landed in Dubrovnik at around 10pm and took the airport shuttle into the city. Our Airbnb host agreed to meet us at the Main Bus Terminal (which is different from the bus terminal outside of the Old Town Pile Gate). When we arrived at her home she quickly showed us around - it was a tiny space, they rent out a "studio" where the beds are in the main area, and there's a little kitchenette and a washroom with a shower and washing machine.

We again had trouble with the hot water tank even though we tried to "conserve" hot water and shut off the tap in between rinsing shampoo, conditioner and washing; it still went cold for the second person showering.

After a night of sleep, I got up and went outside to the terrace with a cup of tea and some fruits. It was really nice and warm as the sun rose, we had a great view.

This view reminds me of Repulse Bay in Hong Kong

Once we were both up, we walked to Old Town, which seemed far when I heard it would take 20 mins, but actually the walk was very easy, all gentle downhill and I was taking in the area around us so didn't even really notice how long it took us. Our first stop was at a restaurant to have brunch. We ordered quite a lot and most of it was good.

The food reminds us of Italian and Mediterranean foods. Lots of pasta, pizza choices, and dishes are mostly seafood based.

Dubravka (Dubrovnik in Croatian) - name of our brunch restaurant

After filling our stomachs we picked up our pre-purchased 1-day Dubrovnik Pass. This gives you access to the City Wall walk, and a large number of museums  as well as access to use the public bus (which came in handy that night when we went back to our airbnb).

The weather in Dubrovnik is very sunny and just a little bit hot and sticky, but not that bad. We decided to leave the City Wall walk till the end of the day so that the sun is not right over our heads, and also we'll get a nice sunset glow over the city.

So we went off wondering around the city and climbed lots of stairs and walked through alleys. There were so many great spots for photos.

above left: Entering Old Town through Pile Gate (one of three city gates)

The main street you arrive at after passing through the gate is known as Stradun or Placa

We made our way to the Rector's Palace, this is the place where the governor of the town lived, but the interesting thing is that the person who was the Rector (head of the government) was changed every 30 days! In fact, to prevent corruption, he was not allowed to leave at all during those 30 days.Dubrovnik was known as the Republic of Ragusa until the 19th century, and it was one of the most successful democratic states in history.

The palace is not that big, but I guess it suits the size of the town. It even has some rooms that are used for special exhibitions. There was one that showed photos from the Balkan war when Dubrovnik was under attack.

Rector's Palace on the right with all the arches

above right: this building faces the arches of the Rector's Palace,

on the right is a street, if you walk down this street you will see

a little, crowded square with lots of fresh fruit vendors (like photo below)

If you walk down the street that leads directly from the front door of the palace, you will find a little market square. There are some fruit and vegetable vendors here if you come early in the day. We bought some prunes and grape to ease our thirst.

above left: this is the door knob/handle on the main front door of the Rector's Palace

below right: the stair banister decoration is a fist holding the wood

We then walked down the Stradun, which is the Main Street in the town. It's actually the main street you see when you enter from Pile Gate and there's a Bell tower at the end if you are standing near the Pile Gate entrance. There are some cafes and souvenir shops along this street but that's about it.

We picked a side street to sit down for an afternoon meal of mussels, octopus salad, and espressos.

above left: After you enter from Pile Gate, on your left there's a little alley, this is to the Pharmacy Museum -

still in operation today and the oldest pharmacy in Europe

above right: going up the stairs to the top of the City Walls

below: views during our City Wall walk

Then we started on the City Wall walk. It was starting to near sunset, but still hot. We had water but still made a stop at one of the many bars on the Wall.

Along the walk we saw people kayaking, ships returning to the harbour, a painter painting the view of the town with its orange tiled roofs, and heard people singing from the town square.

below: have you ever seen a guillotine in a garden?

After walking around the whole City Wall, which took us about 2 hours (I think?), we went to try a Korean Restaurant that I had found during my research. We thought we would be tired of having European food so decided to go give this a try.

The restaurant is situated in one of the alleys, and they have outdoor seating right on the steps! I think it's ingenious how they thought to saw the legs shorter on the back to make it possible for the chair to be even on steps (photo, above right).

The food menu, however, was limited and disappointed us a little. They didn't have any of the jige (soup stews) that we are used to seeing on a Korean menu. They mostly had fried chicken and some other simple dishes. I got the Fried Chicken and a cold cucumber soup. From my memory I think the fried chicken wasn't bad, but it wasn't something unique either. The cold cucumber soup is not very common in Korean restaurants and it's great to have on a hot day - it reminds me of Japanese Sunomono.

above: look at the beautiful blue hues in the night sky!

When we left the restaurant, we decided to also go try Lady Pipi's which was highly recommended by many different blogs and travel sites. But we were left disappointed again because we actually wanted to try a dish known as Fish Soup in Croatia - we had heard great things about it. But they don't serve that dish at Lady Pipi's. If you want grilled fish/seafood this might be a good place to try.

As we were leaving and walking down the stairs of the alleys, we looked up at the sky and it was a beautiful mix of blues.  Walking through Old Town at night is actually quite pleasant, there aren't any crowds, and the temperature is cooler. The lamps light up the town and the old walls of the houses. Although it may have been too bright at times - the main street, Stradun, was SOOOO brightly lit it felt like we were on a movie set.

Day 9: Making our way to Split, Croatia

Day 9 morning, we packed up and went to have breakfast near the Main Bus Terminal. Waiting for the large tour bus that would take us from Dubrovnik to Split was a little surprising, but I think from our experience of UK and Paris trains, we weren't too surprised at how unorganized it could all seem. We arrived and wanted to find out which bay to board our bus. But it's not listed anywhere. We just saw people standing around blocking the doors to the terminal office. When you ask the ticket agent, they just tell you to wait with all the other people.

It's been so long since the trip, I don't even recall exactly how we found the bus, but I think I just saw people lining up, so I got in a line. When I saw a bus driver I asked him if he is going to Split at 12:30pm and he said yes, so we lined up again to load our luggage into the belly of the bus. The funny thing is you have to pay 1 euro per piece of luggage (it's not included in your ticket) - almost like a tip for them to "tag" your luggage and load it for you.

We got on the bus and it was quite a nice comfy bus, there was air conditioning and it seemed VERY LONG - maybe because it's a bit dark. The journey took us about 4-5 hours because along the way they stop in little towns to pickup/drop off passengers. Also I knew we would have to cross the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina because part of the Croatia coast line cuts off, I thought there would be long waiting times like the Canadian/US border. Not at all!

The officers came on the bus and only selectively chose passports to take, it seemed like they took Croatian passports more than foreign passports. We didn't have to get off the bus at all.

Along the way we passed by many picturesque towns, it would be nice to drive and make stops along the way whenever you like. Originally, we had considered driving ourselves, but the cost of car rental versus bus ticket.... the bus ticket was a lot less expensive.

We got to Split in the late afternoon and had time to settle in to our airbnb and do a little bit of grocery shopping before settling in for the night to prepare for the next day's adventure!