Croatia – Dubrovnik 13/8/16 – 16/8/16

Well another stunning drive through Montenegro to get to Dubrovnik. The bus station lady said it was 2 ½ hours, well we arrived after a 4 hour journey, but it didn’t seem to be that long as we enjoyed the scenery.
The drive entering Dubrovnik was superb, again we were able to get seats on the left side of the bus so was able to take full advantage of the views. The decline into the city was fantastic, first we looked down on the old town, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I could recognize “Kings Landing”, then the bus drove around the Marina to the bus station where there were several luxury large ocean going vessels moored, then once in the taxi we drove through another part of the city to our digs in Babin Kuk. We’re staying at Apartments “Lady Orsen”, about 3.5k away from the old town, but only 10 minutes walk to the promenade. It’s a brilliant apartment – 1 bedroomed with all you could ask for. Our host lives in the apartment next door, a sweet elderly lady who was as kind as any grandma out there. She even gave us a 1l bottle of red wine to enjoy. She couldn’t do enough for us.
Once settled in we went to the local supermarket, (about 100m from our front door), and stocked up with supplies. We had a grand feast of something we hadn’t had since we were kids. That was fish fingers, oven chips and a tin of peas! And of course slices from a freshly baked loaf of bread, still warm from the oven. Wow how we enjoyed this, and after a shower etc. we headed into the area called the promenade. This took us roughly 10 minutes to get there, and once there it was great. Restaurant and bars galore, all with outdoor seating, so we took advantage of the area as we sat and had a few cocktails, whilst watching the sun set, and the people around us going about their business. This part of the town is quite swanky and trendy, although not as busy as Kotor or Budva, it had an air of peace and tranquillity about it. The currency here is the Croatian Kuna (HRK), and as at August 2016 the rate is roughly NZ $1 to 5 HRK, that’s GB £1 to 10HRK,and I must say it appears quite an expensive place re drinks and food, we’ve Paid over NZ $600 for a 4 night stay but I think it’s going to be well worth it from first impressions.
Our first day we booked an island tour discovering the Elafiti Islands, which included Lopud, Sipan and Kolocep three of over 1000 islands off the coast of Dubrovnik. All 3 beautiful islands are full of lush vegetation and are the summer places to go for Dubrovnik’s rich and famous. Funny because if they go there to get away from the crowds, there not as boat after boat of tourists turn up hour after hour. We set sail at 9.30am and was back at the port for 6.30pm, a great day and lunch was included too.
Next morning we headed for a walk around the bay where we came across the Coral Beach Club, a lovely place just passed Copacabana Beach. From our digs it took around 15 minutes slow walk to get there. Lovely sunbeds etc we opted for the double sun lounger costing HRK200 for the day. The Coral beach club is set up in 3 specific areas, has a restaurant and 3 bars. Music plays whilst you just sit in the sun lounging around and go for a cool dip in the ocean. Very nice indeed.
Later that day we took the public bus to the old town, where we bought tickets for a Game of Thrones guided walk. The bus stops right outside the main gate for the old town and once off you have a host of people selling tickets for the walk, at least a dozen. So once chosen, which cost HRK 180 per person we had 45 minutes before it started so went for a drink as you do. This is day 3 for us and we purposely waited for the tour before entering the old city. The tour lasted 2 hours and as a surprise to me, all film locations except for a couple were filmed outside the old city. Our guide who spoke very good English informed us that not only is she a great fan, but is actually hired by the TV crew as a wardrobe person. She added that whilst the main stars each have their own wardrobe assistant, she takes care of the extras, all of whom are from Dubrovnik and can be up to 300 people. She went on to say that each episode cost US $6 million! And each scene is recorded 30 times. She gave us lots of inside info which was funny and witty throughout her tour. At the end I was not really impressed, she did do a terrific job, but our tour (like many other tours), started at 5pm and there were hundreds of people walking around. In season 1, Kings Landing was filmed in Malta, but after filming, the TV crew had destroyed one of the beaches, which was a UNESCO World Heritage sight, so the Maltese government told them not to come back. Therefore from season 2 filming for Kings Landing was done in Dubrovnik. The highlight of the tour was walking up and down the steps in front of the Royal Palace in Kings Landing, (the scene where Cersei does her walk of shame). This was brilliant but very, very popular so loads of people around. Sometimes where I guide showed us the film locations, it was difficult to see where we were in relation to the program as the production team had “super imposed or photo shopped” a lot in, including the “walk of shame”. Shae added that where streets scenes were filmed, anyone who owned these properties were paid US $200 per window to keep them closed !!!! A massive cost as a lot of properties were filmed during the 6 seasons. Season 7 has not yet been filmed as the crew and actors record during the months of September and October, not that you can do the tour then as they close off the streets. They even have drones flying around the area watching you, trying to watch them. Our tour finished with us all queuing up outside the Game of Thrones official fan site shop, where we had our photos taken whilst sat upon a replica of the THRONE itself. On the whole a great tour just far too crowded.
Next day a walk back into the old town for a real good look around. It’s great, mainly there are 3 streets all parallel to each other, a restaurant street, main street and a shopping street all interlinked by side streets. Not too big a place but lots of steps that take you high. On the tip of one of these we came across a place selling tickets to ride the cable car to the top of the hill. So tickets purchased and up we went. Great views from up there overlooking the old town. Also at the top we came across “Buggy Safari”, 2 seater 4 wheel drive buggies. Great and we didn’t have to wait long before the next tour began. There were 6 buggies on this tour including the tour leader, and it may 3 stops along the route which were all very impressive, which lasted about an hour. The buggies themselves were great and easy to drive along the gravel roads, dust flying everywhere, bumping all over the place, great fun. Most of the way tho the dust in your eyes meant pretty much driving blind so best ask for goggles. Once back we were given bottled water to drink. All for an amazing price of HRK 240 per person. We couldn’t believe how dirty this activity was going to be, but once back, helmets and sunglasses off, we all looked very dirty, all with dust everywhere. This activity was the best thing to do in Dubrovnik, even better than the GOT tour. A must for everyone to do, loads of fun, and easy to find.
That evening, (our last one in Dubrovnik), we spent on the promenade again where we had a great Mexican meal.
On the whole Dubrovnik is a large but easy enough place to get around. It’s very expensive but has loads to do. We heard from our guides that the whole place closes down from late October to beginning of April each year, as it’s not a winter holiday destination. I suppose that’s why the prices are high in summer. Still a great place to visit.