An early morning flight from Prague landed my mom, sister and I in Dubrovnik around noon on a sunny afternoon in late May. We booked an Airbnb right in the middle of old town and within the walls that surround and once protected Dubrovnik from invaders. If you’ve read some of the other posts I’ve written, Google maps in Europe is not always the easiest to follow for someone directionally challenged like myself. We were following the route that was going to lead us to our apartment for the next couple of nights, and we come upon this giant (and I mean, GIANT) set of steps. We’re all looking at each other, like “no, there must be another way to get there!” I called our host and she explained that we were in the right spot and just had to climb up all of those steps, then make a turn, take some more steps (with a little bit of flat ground in between) and then up some stairs into our apartment. You guys – I’m from the Canadian prairies – I can look outside as far as the eye can see, and there won’t even be a hint of a hill. I was not made for this.
It was probably +30C and because we were on a two-week trip, we had large suitcases that we carried up the 125-150 steps (not exaggerating; I roughly counted them). I swear to you, we considered just paying random, large Croatian men (there’s a lot of them!) to carry the suitcases up to our apartment. So – if you’re staying in old town; pack light or get a pack mule – because you’re going to need it. However, look at the view from our apartment!
After nearly passing out from over-exertion, we decided we needed some food. When travelling, we like to try as much traditional food as possible. What’s traditional in Croatia? Well, meat definitely is. We ordered a meat platter with chicken, sausage, cevapi (type of kebab) and pork.
After we devoured our much-deserved meal, we decided to walk around old town. I’ve mentioned this before, but I just love the old architecture and the culture of European cities. We found a place called Buza Bar that faces the Adriatic Sea and had some drinks while enjoying the sun. 10/10 recommend for views and vibes; they had great music and the place was packed. There’s some rocks that you can lay out on and some steps that take you right down to the Sea.
Next, we checked out the harbour and were told about a bar/restaurant just outside of the main gate and what do you know – we had a couple more drinks there. We deserved these, ok guys? The view was stunning and looked out to a Game of Thrones location. Now, I’ve never actually watched one episode of Game of Thrones; however, a friend of mine loves it, so I made sure to scope out and take pictures of as many locations as I could for him. If you’re really into GoT, there are specific tours in both Dubrovnik and Split that will take you to filming locations for the show.
The next morning, we had an “early bird” tour scheduled for 8:00 a.m. I’m not a great sleeper and have no issues with waking up early, so this was a no-brainer. Hit the tourist spots before they get crowded? Sign me up! Croatia has a very long and interesting history and our guide provided us with so much information – I had to take notes to remember everything.
Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th century; however, some evidence, such as a military fort, was found after the 1979 earthquake that shows it could have been founded as early as the 3rd or 4th century. Dubrovnik’s walls were constructed to protect the city from attacks and originally made from wood, prior to being constructed from stone. The walls were adjusted over time based on the weapons of enemies that were used from the sea and land. The walls didn’t stop Dubrovnik from being conquered though and the city was ruled by various empires. At the beginning of the 13th century, Venetians took the city and ruled for 150 years. Later, the Ottoman Empire allowed Dubrovnik to keep its independence. The 1667 earthquake almost destroyed the entire city, but the walls remained standing.
In 1806, Dubrovnik lost its independence to Napoleon and the French, who ruled for nine years. Later, it was part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. In 1918, Croatia joined with Serbia and in 1920 the area was named Yugoslavia. During WWII, Croatia was occupied by the Nazis. In 1990, Yugoslavia was dying and there was an independence referendum for Croatia to separate and become its own country. 90% of people that were permitted to vote did, and 94% of them voted for independence. In 1991, the Serbians began bombing Croatia, which continued for nine months. Villages around Dubrovnik were occupied by the enemy; however, Dubrovnik never was. In 1995, the Croatian army won the war and Croatia was liberated. It seems crazy to think that this liberating war happened in my lifetime.
The main street in Dubrovnik became a street in the 11th century and an irrigation system was built to bring water to the fountains in the city in the 15th century. The city was mostly constructed with wood until the 1667 earthquake, and then paving stones were used, which provided Dubrovnik with the look that it has today. There are a few different gates where you can enter old town, with the main one being Pile Gate. There was a moat in front of the gate, which was closed at night and guarded. Anyone entering had to quarantine for 40 days because of the threat of the plague. Currently, about 1500 people live within old town and the city walls, with about 42,000 living in Dubrovnik total. In 1979, old town was designated as a UNESCO world heritage site, and with this much history, there’s no doubt why.
After our amazing tour, which had so much more information than what I’ve provided here, we decided to walk the city walls. The cost is about $60CAD and we spent about an hour and a half walking the walls/perimeter of old town. You have amazing views of the city, its buildings with their orange roofs and the sea. We were also able to spot our apartment during our city walls trek, which makes sense, because from our balcony, we could see people during their city walls adventure. Touring the walls after our tour was amazing because we had all the information from our guide, and I imagined people from the past hundreds or thousands of years; walking the walls, watching for enemies and protecting Dubrovnik.
Now that we soaked up as much information as we could, we decided to take a boat tour from the small harbour. We lucked out and no one else signed up for our time, so we got the boat to ourselves! It was roughly a 30-minute tour that took you out into the sea and around some islands near the shore and then back to the harbor. After this, we checked out Fort Lovrijenac for some amazing views of old town and the beautiful waters surrounding it.
After a pit stop for some beer and cider (you guys sensing a theme here yet?) we went up the cable car, which gives amazing views of Dubrovnik from atop Srd Hill. It was built in 1969 it was the first and only cable car in the Adriatic. We didn’t eat at the Panorama Bar & Restaurant as we had dinner plans, but we did stop for – you guessed it – some drinks. The view of old town and the Adriatic was stunning!
Our dinner plans were to visit a restaurant called Lady Pipi, which I’d read about online. You can take a look at this photo of the statue outside the front gates and take your guesses as to why it has that name. We had some meat and cheese, a beef stew, grilled vegetables and my mom and sister tried shrimp (I’m not a major fan of most seafood). The shrimp were very different than what we’re accustomed to in Canada; they’re larger and were the full shrimp – heads and all.
We had a busy day, so after dinner we headed back to our apartment to pack and head to Tucepi for three nights. Luckily for us, we were able to find another way down to the gate where we’d be picked up that had less intense stairs than our first set (the GoT wedding staircase shown earlier; still a lot of stairs, but easier to carry a 50lb suitcase down). We booked private transportation from Dubrovnik to our all-inclusive resort in Tucepi, which is in the Makarska Riviera. The drive is about two and a half hours and we crossed into Bosnia and Herzegovina for a short part of the trip, so you need to show your passport there and then also to cross back into Croatia. Since our trip (May 2022) there’s been a bridge constructed so you no longer have to pass through and show your passport.
Coming from Canada, we were comparing the all-inclusive experience to that of Mexico (which in my opinion, cannot be beat). There was nothing wrong with the resort itself; the rooms were nice and clean, there was a pool and was steps from the beach. The only disappointment was the alcohol/drinks; however, we ended up finding something we liked and my mom and sister said the beer was pretty good (I don’t drink beer). We really didn’t do much in Tucepi as we were about ten days into a busy two-week trip and enjoyed the slower pace and relaxation. After our three nights there, we again took private transportation to Split, which is about an hour and a half drive.
Our Airbnb was inside Diocletian’s Palace, which is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thankfully, it was flat ground (no steps – just cobblestones) to our apartment and our kind host met us at one of the entrances to the Palace to show us the way, and also carried our bags up the apartment stairs. Angel. Our apartment had a small balcony and also a hidden terrace that our host showed us; both of which were great to sit and have some drinks or morning coffee and tea.
We had an afternoon walking tour booked so we headed out to the meeting point, ready to learn about Split and its history. We started at the Golden Gate of Diocletian’s Palace, which was constructed about 1700 years ago and took approximately ten years to build. Diocletian was a Roman Emperor and divided his empire in half and appointed his best friend, Maximian, to rule with him. Two Caesars were also appointed and were to reign after Diocletian and Maximian resigned. All entrances to the Palace have two gates so if an enemy made it through the first gate, they were trapped in between the two and then killed. This strategy prevented the Palace from ever being invaded.
Diocletian’s Palace is the oldest living monument in the world, as people still live within the Palace, and also has the oldest working cathedral in the world inside its walls. The sphinx in front of the cathedral is over 3,000 years old (shown in the photo). The basement under the Palace, which was used for storage of food, weapons and other supplies, is one of the best-preserved structures. This was later used as a sewage system by Christians and storage for garbage. In the 1950’s, the structure was found and it was dug out. For Game of Thrones fans, the scene where the dragons are held in the dungeon is filmed in the basement of the Palace.
Our tour ended at the Riva Promenade so we found a rooftop bar that overlooked the Promenade and had some beers and cider before walking the Promenade, stopping for another drink and then climbing – you guessed it – stairs, to the Marjan Viewpoint, which gave a bird’s eye view of Split and the Adriatic Sea.
We’d heard good things about the Adriatic Restaurant, so decided to head there for dinner. We tried more traditional food including dalmatian pasticada and black risotto with cuttlefish. And take a look at the views!
When we arrived back to the apartment that night, we received an email that our Blue Cave and 5 Island Tour the next day was cancelled, due to sea conditions. We decided we’d get up early and head down to the Promenade to see what kind of last-minute tours were being offered. While waiting, I stumbled upon an all-day boat tour, leaving that morning, for about $40CAD and booked it online. Funnily enough, the boat we were to board in about an hour was the one we were sitting in front of. Guess it was meant to be.
The first stop was to snorkel over a shipwreck in a bay. There were a few schools of fish, but I thought the coolest part was seeing the shipwreck. Some people were walking on it, but that just sounds like you’re asking for tetanus, so it was a pass for us. After the snorkeling stop, we headed over to the Blue Lagoon, where we lounged on the beach until our included lunch (chicken, fish or vegetarian) with rice and salad was ready. After lunch, we had more lounge time on the beach until we were ready to head to our final spot; Solta Island. We were given approximately an hour to explore this quaint island, where there were small restaurants and stores you could buy ice cream or snacks at while wandering.
We were a little disappointed we didn’t get to see the Blue Cave; however, this was an inexpensive tour and we had an amazing day! Now it was time to head back to Split, where we had dinner reservations at Bokeria Kitchen & Bar and had some amazing truffle prosciutto pasta and bombolinis to end our time in Croatia. We had the best time, and memories (and about 1,000 photos) to last a lifetime!
Croatia is part of the European Union; however, until December 31, 2022 they still had the Croatian Kuna as their currency (although Euros were still accepted in some places). As of January 1, 2023, the official currency is the Euro. If you’re travelling through multiple countries in Europe like we were, having all one currency (as is the case now) does make it easier, especially as the Euro is easier to convert to CAD than the Kuna was. These Croatian cities were more expensive than I thought they would be, but it’s still fairly affordable for food, drinks and excursions. I’m a sun lover (will likely regret that in the years to come) so Croatia was a great combination of vast history and beautiful architecture mixed with sun and sea time to satisfy the desire I have to soak up all the rays I can. I also realize we only saw a small piece of Croatia and there are many other areas and cities within the country to see and experience as well. We really enjoyed our time in Croatia and I would recommend it to others who are interested in history, but still want to have that sunny, coastal experience.
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Amy’s Adventures 