Dubrovnik - Pearl of the Adriatic

After crossing the border from Bosnia, it was a short drive to Dubrovnik. Our AirBnB (just outside the city wall, but about 150 steps above it) had a dedicated parking space. After checking in and getting situated, we walked down toward the old city to have a late lunch (and early dinner) at 3pm at Dubravka 1836. We sat outside with nice view of city walls and the sea. It was kind of a weird time of day to eat; most people were just having cappuccinos and smoking. They did switch over to "dinner mode" while we were there, putting out umbrellas, table lights, and heat lamps. After eating, we crossed the bridge into the old city, and walked around exploring for a bit, stopping in a couple of small churches. Dubrovnik is a picturesque city, although seemed to be the domain of tourists and cats, with most of the locals living outside the city walls. We stopped for a drink at Beer Factory Dubrovnik (and were the only ones there) and got burek to go from Babić bakery. To wrap up the day (which was mostly the road trip from Mostar) we went back to our AirBnB and ate our dinner-snack and had some wine we had bought at the monastery in Bosnia.

Our first view of the coast after driving back into Croatia.

There was also a nice view of Dubrovnik as we got closer, but the sunset backlit the city.

View from our AirBnB's porch, including the ramparts of the old city.

The imposing city walls

A distinguished gentleman cat.

Our restaurant had amazing views of the water and the city walls.

Drinks with dinner.

Giant delicious pizza! Look at all that prosciutto!

Heading into the old city.

The Onofrio fountain! Yes! The same saint that gave David his family's name.

One of the squares of Dubrovnik.

Inside a church.

The northern side of the city has a couple of bars and cafes outside the city walls.

Sunset on the Adriatic.

This was a pretty decent local wheat beer.

Nighttime atmosphere in the old city.

We had the wine we picked up at the monastery in Bosnia.

Burek for a dinner/snack.

On Wednesday morning we walked down the steps to the old city and got a Dubrovnik pass. This tourist pass includes entry to the city walls and a few museums. It's only 15 euro in the off season, which is a good deal since that's the price of the city walls alone. The walls are probably the main tourist attraction of the city. It's a one-way walking loop around the old city that takes about an hour with all the stops and photos you'll take along the way. The views across the old town are amazing. You can also look out to sea and into little courtyards and balconies. Highly recommended!

The giant staircase from our AirBnB to the old city.

Views from the city walls.

Looking through a window onto the old city.

The walls themselves are massive and very impressive.

A little slice of life viewed from the walls.

For much of the walk you have the sea on one side and the city on the other.

A cat making its way across a very narrow pointed wall.

Ferries and islands in the morning light.

David on the wall.

Looking down to the marina.

Panoramic view from the top of the city walls.

Domes and islands.

1990s glamour shot unlocked!

Everyone loves pictures of things viewed through other things. Don't deny it!

Looking towards the newer side of town from the wall.

Pretty much the entire old town in one photo!

The red roofed city is charming.

After exiting the city walls, we went to the Franciscan church and monastery. This is a small little museum with a nice cloister and is known for its small pharmacy museum. We walked to the nearby Rector's Palace - this building was the seat of the ruler of the city-state of Ragusa - which was what Dubrovnik used to be called from the middle ages until early 19th century. The palace hosts a small museum with an open courtyard center. After wandering around the palace, it was still morning, so we went to the nearby Natural History museum to kill a little time before lunch and since it was included in the pass. It was... interesting. There was certainly some love put into this museum, but the main attraction is some bad taxidermy and a "Queen of the Sea" exhibit with a Freddie Mercury fish. Yeah, it's as odd as it sounds.

We had lunch sitting outside at Moskar Street Food, which was actually a somewhat fancy and nice restaurant. We tried a few local/regions dishes: cuttlefish black risotto and Dubrovnik style macaroni, paired with a nice local white wine (Pošip). 

The cloister of the Franciscan church.

Rector's Palace is on the left. The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is straight ahead.

Mechanical bell ringers on display in the museum.

They're just roommates.

The center of the Rector's Palace.

Taxidermied cat. Ahhh!

Told you there was a Freddie Mercury fish. Not sure what you expected!

The northern part of the old city has a lot of steep stairs.

Lunch time.

Why buy one drink when you get two for only twice the cost?!

Atmospheric streets.

Would recommend this place.

After lunch, we had a siesta at our AirBnB, and then around 3pm we drove up to the top of the mountain where the cable car goes. This was one benefit of having a rental car, as it was an easy drive and we avoided the cable car costs and limited schedule. The view from the top was decent, but it's not necessarily worth the trip if you have limited time.

Looking north toward Bosnia.

View of the old town of Dubrovnik.

Views down the coast of the Dalmatian islands.

After driving back down, we walked to the Lovrijenav Fort, just across from the city wall entrance. Unfortunately it had closed early, probably because it was the off season. We did have nice views though of the little cove. We then walked into the city and had a cocktail at "The Bar." It wasn't very busy. Again, we weren't really sure when locals or tourists eat around here. The off season seems to have a huge effect. Even at lunch, there were only two other people in the restaurant. We'd learn more about the reasons in Split in a few days when we directly asked a bartender. Stay tuned for that!

Another thing we noticed and appreciated about Dubrovnik in particular is there are cats everywhere, and for the most part they're clean and well fed. They're called mačka ("mahtch kuh") in Croatian, and the fact that it's one of the few words we learned helps to get across the point of just how numerous they are in the city! After petting some cats, we took a short Uber ride to Mr. Foster bar, which was in a quiet neighborhood west of the old town. There were some locals here, mostly just drinking coffee despite it being marketed as a cocktail bar. But the cocktail list was cool, and all of our drinks were really inventive and tasty. Of note was the "Edison," which came in a box with a light and mist. After enjoying our drinks, we walked back to old city (20 minutes) and got take away dinner from "Take Away." We finished off the night at our AirBnB eating and watching Youtube.

View of the cove and old city from the entrance to the fort.

Our light-up Edison drink!

We do love some fancy cocktails!

Quiet old town entrance at night.

Meat and ajvar sauce for dinner.

That wrapped up our time in Dubrovnik - the next morning we'd be on our way to our last stop, Split. Overall, Dubrovnik is a pretty interesting spot. A middle-ages diplomatic and commercial powerhouse, mostly now reduced to a touristic oddity on the Adriatic. There are lots of reasons to come to Dubrovnik, and we think most of them revolve around sun and fun in the water and trips to the nearby islands. In late fall that's less appealing so overall we found the place a little boring. There aren't many museums, there isn't much nightlife and the town itself can be walked across in about 5 minutes. Definitely worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood and we're sure it's great in the summer months... but colder months might not be the time to visit Dubrovnik.