Dubrovnik Old Town

Catching glimpses of Dubrovnik as we arrived by bus, I can agree that it is indeed the “Pearl of the Adriatic”. Dubrovnik is very beautiful from afar, clear crystal blue waters surround the walled old town with its white buildings and red tile roofs. Once inside, the buildings are so well preserved that it almost feels as if the entire place is a giant theme park called Old Town.

20160625042257 — First night walking through Pile Gate at Dubrovnik Old Town

20160625043120 — Very busy as we are in full tourist season by the time we got to Dubrovnik at the end of June

Most of the restaurants in Old Town are geared towards tourists, are very expensive and offer seafood. Poor jojo lived off pasta and pizza the entire time. We met a lady from London who was surprised by how expensive everything was. That’s incredible coming from a Londoner.

20160626013309 — Octopus salad was very good at Barba in Old Town

20160626074609 — I also had some very tender grilled calamari

One of the main activities to do in Dubrovnik is to walk around the city walls. We decided to tackle the wall early in the morning to beat the crowds and the heat. We started at Pile Gate (one of three entrances) and from there, it’s a one way walk all the way around the wall.

20160625224229 — Looking down on the Strata, the main street

Game of Thrones season 6 has already ended by the time we got to Croatia so we didn’t see any filming. From the wall, we did see film props still located in one of the harbour but I’m not sure if it was for GOT.

20160625225255 — Starting our walk around the wall

20160625225028 — Fort Lovrijenac in the background is a popular GOT filming location

20160625230150 — Laundry hung out to dry from one of the apartment buildings

20160625231753 — It’s a long ways to fall from the top of the wall

20160626002713 — Parts of the wall gets very narrow with room enough for one person to walk through

DSCF82471 — Drinking spot along the wall. We didn’t stop because all the drinks were very overpriced.

By the time we got to the halfway point of the wall it was about noon and extremely hot. There were also more people by then and everyone was trying to take pictures with their selfie sticks. We got pretty cranky by that point.

20160626003340 — The stairs to the right was also a GOT filming location but jojo didn’t really care by this point

20160626004456 — It was so hot, smiling was the last thing on our minds

DSCF83491 — No cover under the midday sun

DSCF83571 — Couple of very bored first aid attendants

By the time we reached Minceta Tower, we were so hot that we didn’t even care that this was also a GOT filming location. While Jay went up the tower, jojo and I just sat in a shaded area too lethargic to move.

DSCF83521 — Lots of people at the Minceta Tower

20160626011205 — Base of Minceta Tower appeared in GOT where Daenerys went looking for her dragons in the city of Qarth in season 2

20160626011418 — If I squint hard enough, I can see King’s Landing

On our last day of Dubrovnik, we drove up to the lookout point above the city where the cable car is stationed to get a better view of Old Town. The road there is a one lane road and at times a bit scary to navigate with other drivers going fast around blind spots. But it’s all worth it for the view from up top.