Dubrovnik

A perfect place to start.

Dubrovnik is a very safe & clean place, uses the euro and everyone speaks English so it was a very easy place to start. The view of this town from our airbnb balcony alone was worth the trip with ships and cable cars coming and going and epic sunsets every night.

The downside to these beautiful views is that it comes with stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. Stairs from movies, stairs up, stairs out, stairs to nowhere and labyrinths of stairs everywhere.

Wondering the stone streets of old town in the morning was one of our favorite activities. We could grab a cappuccino and a pastry and get lost in the ancient stone alleyways discovering little shops, tasty treats and local artwork, Although window shopping was all we could afford to do (and no room in our suitcase for souvenirs), there was plenty of interesting things to see with the occasional splurge on gelato. We went ahead and got ourselves a city pass to save us some money on attractions in the city. It allowed us into many museums, the city wall walk and public transportation for the duration.

Easily one of our favorite day trips was a quick ferry ride over to Lokrum Island. 30 Euros for the ferry was a bit steep but everything on the island was free. It was quite beautiful with lovely beaches and parks with wild peacocks waddling around. We saw the little botanical gardens, museum and monastery ruins and then spend the afternoon swimming at various stunning beaches and in the "dead sea" ocean trench. The little museum is home to lots of facts about the island and plenty more about Game of Thrones (complete with a throne you can take a photo sitting on). There was even a little cafe where we enjoyed an afternoon snack and cocktail.

That evening we came back and got on another boat. A big old tall one. We sailed out to watch the sunset with a glass of sparkling wine and a few dozen other tourists.

We thought about venturing out on the ferry to visit some of the Elaphiti islands but we were glad we decided instead to take a day tour. We visited three islands and swam in the blue cave during our tour and a few hours at each location was sufficient to see what the little island towns had to offer. The blue cave was neat but full of tourists all trying to swim in together kicking and splashing every which way. The tour ended up being around 80 dollars each but they provided lunch and drinks and 8 hours of adventuring. We were pretty exhausted by the end and just stopped at the market for some frozen pizza for dinner.

Another day trip that was completely worth the 10 euro ferry ride was to Cavtat. A sweet little old town with several shops and restaurants and a relaxing and less crowded beach. We spent the day wondering the shops, relaxing on the beach, petting street kitties and enjoying some delicious fish for dinner. The sunset ride home on the ferry was the perfect end to the day.

I particularly loved all the street kitties hanging around. They seemed healthy and well taken care of for the most part and were happy to get a little bit of pets where they could.

You can get anything you want to eat in Dubrovnik. There's traditional food and lots of sea food but there is also Indian food, burgers, pizza and sushi. Eating out here was a bit pricey so we often hit the little corner store and got some snacks and wine to enjoy on our patio at home.

It's not the place for you if you have mobility issues and it was more expensive than we expected but overall we loved our time in Dubrovnik. It's just beautiful with something stunning to gaze at around every corner. I would say it seems to be an underrated destination but there were no shortage of tourists flooding in everyday. This was a good time of year to visit, the temperatures were still warm but not stifling and we're told the crowds are thinned out from the summer months. The food was really good, it's easy to get around and there's lots to explore and do.

Now off to Greece!