Dubrovnik

Sunday 14th July

Up and running at 3:00 to make our way to Edinburgh to catch our Jet2 flight to Dubrovnik, check-in and security went well, despite recent press reports of long delays. Despite being held for about an hour by air traffic control, with a strong tailwind, we made the time up and we landed almost on schedule. We were collected by our driver and quickly made our way to the Hotel Lero, being early, our room wasn’t prepared so we whiled away some time in the hotel’s piano bar with a couple of beers over lunch. Once in our room, which was very nice and ideal for our time here, we took a 20-minute wander down into the old town. Having no particular goal in sight, we strolled aimlessly around to get our bearings, we stopped off in one of the small bistros in the old town for dinner, before returning to the hotel using public transport. The bar was bustling as the EURO final was being played, so we only stayed for one drink before retiring for the night, tired after a long and busy day.

Monday 15 July

We had a longish lie-in this morning after such a long day yesterday, we had a leisurely hotel breakfast and then sat by the pool to meet the Jet2 rep, Antonio, through him we booked a couple of trips for our week here, one to Mostar in Bosnia on Wednesday and a cruise and Game of Thrones tour on Friday. In the afternoon, we made our way into the old town and walked up to the Cable Car station for a ride up to the top of the hill to see some spectacular panoramic views of the city. It was so nice up there, we stayed to have a refreshing cold beer before our trip back down. Once again in the old town, we managed to find our “dive bar”, this time, Bar Primo, a typical old sailors’ bar, with good cheap beer and friendly people. We purchased a Dubrovnik Pass for use the next day, then made our way back to the hotel to cool off with a dip in the pool, before a short siesta. We had dinner in the hotel, listening to some local musicians on the terrace bar before calling it a night.

Tuesday 16th July

A reasonably early start this morning as we had planned to walk the city walls before the sun got too high and the visiting cruise ships disgorged their hoards of passengers. Despite it being in the morning, the temperatures reached around 34-35° while we walked around the city walks, they really are spectacular and it certainly was worth doing, although we were pretty knackered by the time we finished, I don’t know what was worse, going up or down the many stairs. After leaving the walls behind us, a nice cooling beer in Bar Primo finished off the morning. A quick picnic lunch from one of the many fine bakeries set us up for a panoramic bus tour of Dubrovnik and the surrounding area in an open-top bus, again this was a worthwhile trip, I even managed to capture my first piece of street art down near the ferry terminal.

Feeling a wee bit tired we returned to the hotel for our siesta before returning back downtown for dinner. Feeling like a nice long pint, we stopped off at the Gaffe, an Irish bar for a refreshing Guinness. In our hotel room, there is a large photo wall showing a Dubrovnik harbour scene that we wished to see, so we walked along to the old port managing to find it, this interesting spot, called Porporela, populated by crowds of local people celebrating Porporela Night, dressing up in traditional clothing and enjoying beer, wine and food, with music provided by local DJ’s, it was great fun watching the antics. One local told us that the festival is much reduced from his youthful days due to a declining local population.

Ready for some food, and with a seafood vibe in mind, we made our way to Barba, a nice little Street food/Seafood diner where, after waiting on the stairs outside for a bit, we enjoyed a lovely meal. One of the things we like about Barba, apart from the food, is the friendly staff and the tub of markers on the table to enable you to leave your mark on the wooden cutlery. A couple of nightcaps in Bar Primo finished off another splendid day.

Wednesday 17th July

Yet another early start and quick breakfast this morning. We had booked a day trip to Mostar in Bosnia Herzegovina and our pickup time was 7:35 am, down the street from our hotel. Once underway, we drove north along the beautiful Croatian coast before reaching the border at Nuem, we were held up at the border post for around 2 hours, mainly to allow the many buses to get through passport control. Eventually, we reached Mostar and parked up at the Franciscan church where we met our local guide, he led the way through the Christian part of the town, passing some buildings destroyed during the Bosnian war in 1990’s, then over the famous bridge into the Muslim quarter, finishing his tour at one of the town’s many mosques. We then returned to Urban, a restaurant recommended by our guide for a lovely eastern-inspired lunch overlooking the bridge and the fearless jumpers. We then strolled back across the river, taking great care on the very slippery cobbled street. It was so hot, around 45°, that we stopped off on the way for an ice-cold beer. Back on the bus, we made our way back to the border, the crossing, this time at a different point, was much speedier than the one going in. All in all, when you consider the amount of time travelling and the limited time we had in Mostar, this trip was a bit underwhelming and I would not recommend it to others, despite that, it was an interesting trip seeing different parts of Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina. After a little siesta, we ventured out to El Toro, one of the restaurants near the hotel for a very good meal before retiring for the night.

Thursday 18th July

To recover from our long bus journey yesterday, we had a leisurely breakfast then sat by the pool just chilling out (if you can call 35° chilling). We decided that we would visit Lokram Island in the afternoon, and stopped off on the way downtown to buy a picnic lunch before catching one of the regular ferries. This was a great place to visit, with nice little coves to dip your toes in the Adriatic, a botanical garden, and loads of Peacocks wandering around, this was all topped off with a Game of Thrones exhibition in the old monastery building, with the Iron Throne from the series available to get your photograph taken, a really good relaxing way to spend some time. On our way into town this morning, we were set a challenge by Fiona to find the first orphanage in the Old Town, after wandering around the labyrinth of narrow streets, we came across the remainder of it, it certainly is a place of interest. The latin inscription above the door translates as “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned”. We were back in the old town for our evening meal in one of the many seafood restaurants before finishing off with a nightcap (or 2) before returning to the hotel.

Friday 19th July

Relaxing by the pool after breakfast quickly became our norm, we are coming to the realisation that running around everywhere is not always what holidays are about, so we’re happy to relax in the mornings and then head out in the afternoon for some adventures.

Tonight’s adventure was a cruise we had booked on the Karaka, a replica of one of the ships of the 15 &16th century Dubrovnik Republic ship from Luka Gruz, on the other side of Dubrovnik, round to the old port. It really was a pretty special sailing, with our blood-red cocktail in hand, into the old port, passing the city walls, it was just like a scene from Game of Thrones, they even had the theme music playing. Once back on dry land, we were taken on a GOT walking tour to some of the most famous scenes, it was interesting how CGI was added to some locations and the upheaval the locals had to endure during filming. Whilst on the old town following a nautical evening, we finished it off with a couple of nightcaps in Bar Primo before returning to the hotel.

Saturday 20th july

We had to forgo our morning by the pool this morning as we had planned to take a trip to Cavtat, a town south of Dubrovnik. We walked halfway into town to board the bus for the one-hour journey. Cavtat is a nice little seaside town with many coves and beaches ideal for swimming and messing around in the water, however, I don’t think I would have liked to stay there for any length of time as there didn’t seem to be much else to do. We stopped off in Desetka, one of the many restaurants hugging the coast, for a nice lunch and a refreshing beer, before taking a ferry back to Dubrovnik, this was much more interesting than the bus journey, we stopped off at a couple of other towns on the way back and could see the many large hotel complexes along the coast, including the famous Hotel Belvedere, abandoned since the Croatian war of Independence, it was, however, used in a major scene in Game of Thrones. We arrived back in the old port and made our way back to the hotel for our siesta and to start packing ready for our return home in the morning. The restaurant we wished to visit, unfortunately, was closed for the evening, so we returned to the hotel and had our meal there before paying a final visit to Bar Primo, the barman there said he was sorry to see us go and gave us our final drinks on the house.

Sunday 21st July

An early rise and breakfast this morning to prepare for departure. We were picked up, by the same driver as our arrival, for our trip to the airport. Check-in, security and passport control all went smoothly, however, we were held on the tarmac for over 2 hours before takeoff. We had a great time in Dubrovnik and the other places we visited whilst there and would certainly recommend the area as a place to visit, however, I didn’t enjoy the journey and the delay in getting to Bosnia Herzegovina, but our time to Mostar was enjoyable nonetheless. This was a great short holiday, the sunshine really brightened us up.