I absolutely love Dubrovnik but word of caution to those wanting to visit and stay at a place in the Old Port: AVOID LUGGAGES. I knew it would be challenging with my 30lb medium-sized luggage, but it was challenging. Overall my hostel is a 10 minute walk from the Pile Gate - the gate into Old Port, which is the furthest any car or bus can go - but there are hundreds of stairs and slippery smooth stones. Gorgeous, but a trek.
The "first day" Monday was spent traveling from Munich into Dubrovnik, waiting for the city shuttle bus and dragging my luggage and trying to find my hostel. Luckily, I befriended a really nice Canadian lady at the airport who was traveling and meeting up with her friends. We took the bus together and walked the main street until we both had to depart for our destinations. I hope she is having a great time!
It was a challenge finding my hostel with the heavy luggage and all the stairs. When I checked into my hostel, I had to go, you guessed it, up another three flights of stairs 😫 I dropped my stuff off to get a quick dinner, walked around the immediate neighborhood for a bit, and returned back to my hostel where I was falling alseep since 7pm. I pulled through and waited until the respectable time to sleep at 10pm so I don't wake up restless. And I didn't!
Woke up refreshed and ready to do things. First things first, breakfast. My hostel was supposed to have breakfast included but when I got to the kitchen, it was pretty disappointing with only a box of cereal. Not even toast! Hostel breakfast are always 50/50 if they didn't include photos of it. So I went out and got some instead.
I knew I wanted to do all the outdoor activities first during Tuesday and Wednesday since Friday might be rainy, and rainy days should be all about museums! By 8:30am I was up on the city walls surrounding the Old Port where I'm staying. It was still early enough that it wasn't super crowded and I could take photos as much as I wanted to.
Phone pics, since I can't transfer any pics from my camera to my iPad.
Bonus picture of me being blinded by the sun.
Around the halfway point, an English girl asked me to take a photo of her and I did. We struck up a conversation and realized we were both traveling solo. Though she is much more seasoned and is backpacking the trip. We ended up finishing the rest of the walls together and getting some drinks after. Finishing the wall took me about an hour and half while stopping for photos! Emma and I had such a good rapport we decided to make plans to go kayaking together tomorrow (Wednesday) morning! We booked our kayaking together to Lokrum Island where I'll be kayaking to a nearby island, cave exploring and snorkeling! It is going to be so much fun, I look forwards to it!
We departed ways from there. It was just before noon and I was on my way to the hostel. Just down a few flights of stairs (lol) there is the Buza Bar, the seaside bar accessed only by a door in the wall, boasting the "greatest views" in Dubrovnik. Decided to check it out and lucked out with an empty seat right at the front table. I sat down and cracked open a cold Croatian beer.
What. A. View.
After a hour of relaxing by the sea, I left and realized I felt gross and sweaty so I returned to my hostel to take a shower. I realized I had forgotten my shower toiletries so I asked the hostel front desk where to find them. She pointed to a street on the map outside the city walls.
It was a quick 15-20 min walk, I found the DM convenience store after stopping by a tourist info desk. Got the stuff and walked back through the city. At this point, I was already feeling comfortable not consulting my map.
Showering in the middle of the day with no one around was great! Though I found the missing toiletries deep in my suitcase hours later at night so now I have full-sized toiletries to carry :( After showering I went outside the Old Port walls again and wandered through the busy streets until I found cable car tickets and entrance!
I was up in the air in no time - breath taken away again. If I thought that the top of the walls were amazing, this view was even more amazing.
Obligatory awkward selfies.
After the cable car ride, I headed back down and went to a different wall entrance that is not Pile. I got to discover new streets here and stopped by a seafood restaurant/stop called Barba. I got two oysters as a snack and drew on some wooden forks to leave my mark on the wall.
They had markers and forks for people to leave their names and mark behind. So I doodled one out and placed Boston, MA USA on the other side. And the oysters were delicious.
At this point, I was confidently strolling through the streets, being able to recognize some landmarks I noticed even though I was in a completely different area. I explored the maze-like streets until I felt hungry again. I stopped by a nice wine bar/restaurant and got some caprese, steak, and finished it off with sparkling rosè. Splurge dinner for sure.
By the time I finished, darkness fell. I'm so glad I learned to get around because otherwise I'd be very uncomfortable at night. The city is well lit and super vibrant anyway so I had no concern. I took the long way around and strolled down the main street on my way back to the hostel. Nothing like a full moon to lead the way.
I returned to my hostel and got to know the one guy in my hostel room (4 beds) - Jeff, from Florida, who's returning home this weekend and I told him to be safe because of Hurricane Irma hitting this weekend. I hope he'll be okay.
I'm ready to crash. Yesterday afternoon I was still in disbelief I am actually on vacation but now I'm taking it aaaaall in. Tomorrow, I will be kayaking and maybe go back up the cable car and do some dune buggy riding, depending on how much money I have left. Thursday and Friday, I think I will reserve for exploring the port area and visiting museums.
Onto another day 👋