Split and Dubrovnik

I arrived in Split at about 9pm, and met my airbnb host with the help of the guide and bus driver from the transfer company. I was staying at The Happy Jackdaw, a cute little airbnb flat just near the port and the palace, which conveniently had a kitchen and washing machine.

My only full day in Split was thundery and rainy, so I didn’t explore very much past Diocletian’s Palace and the promenade along the waterfront. It was very pretty, but there were so many other people around that it was hard to get a good feel for the place amongst all the hustle and bustle. Maybe that is the feel of the place!

I was catching the early ferry to Dubrovnik, so had to say a quick farewell to Split in the drizzle as I clattered over the cobblestones down to the port. Since I was early enough, I snagged a seat at the front of the boat near the aircon, but not near a window, and even though it was a little stormy the ferry ride of 4 hours was calm enough. There wasn’t nearly enough room for everyone’s baggage, so the suitcases were piled up in various points around the boat

We all disgorged at Gruz Port in Dubrovnik, conveniently enough right in front of the Hotel Petka that the Intrepid tour started at, which I’d booked a couple of extra nights. I was too early for check in, so I had lunch down the road at a little seafood café, and headed up the road to the supermarket, Konzum, to pick up some supplies. I love that the supermarket is basically called “consume”!

I checked into the hotel and freshened up before catching the bus into the Old Town to explore a bit. Once off the bus it was easy to see where to go: follow the hordes! I’d thought Split was busy, but Dubrovnik at the height of summer was something else again! Even without the GoT fans, I can certainly see why – the beautiful white stone, old buildings and terracotta roofs look like they belong in a postcard.

After a quick explore, I found a place offering GF pizza (Pizzeria Castro in the little square where the market is in the mornings) and bunkered down. The pizza was delicious, but I think I heard the phrase “King’s Landing” from every second person walking past!

Catching the bus back to the port was a bit trickier than originally catching it into town, since the bus stop was nowhere near the first one, but I made it eventually, after a detour to the bus station… and promptly asked to swap rooms since mine had a large soggy wet patch of carpet (in addition to horrible smoke odour and lots of burnt patches in the carpet). Luckily they had one room left which smelled a lot less of smoke, and had no suspicious carpet issues. The view was just as good over the port.

The next day I’d booked in for a Dubrovnik Walks walking tour of the Old Town so I could work out what old buildings I was looking at. The guide was a hilarious guy who identified himself as a metal music fan, and who did a great job of dramatising the Dubrovnik-Venice rivalry by occasionally drifting into über-dramatic flights of fancy to “crush” the opposition. He talked about the big changes in Dubrovnik since the war and independence as well as the deeper historical past. Well worth it.

I headed back to the Petka in time to meet C soon after she checked in. She was keen to see a bit of the place before nightfall, so we headed up to the cable car to get a bird’s eye view of the city. Unlike the cable car in Germany, this was one of the ones with a large car where ~20 or so people stand up, rather than a few people sitting. The viewing point at the top of the hill was gorgeous, and there were lots of other people there taking glamorous selfies and stopping for a meal. We decided to sit down and have a drink to savour the view before we headed back down.

We took a quick walk around the Old Town so C could have a look-see, and found a little place for dinner in one of the small alleyways. It offered a tasting of local wine, so I tried the whites – to my taste the Sauvignon was the best of the three.

On our way back to the hotel we went past a Dali exhibition – unexpected!

The standout for the next day was climbing the city walls, which was daunting for me both because of my fear of heights and my “allergy” to stairs! With only a small wobble at one section open except for a single rail, I coped OK with the heights, and while my step tracker logged climbing 31 storeys that day, it was totally worth it. Great views across the city, out to the Adriatic and across to the other fort were the reward.

As well as a visit to Captain Candy!

The afternoon was spent rewarding ourselves for the climb by parking in the hotel’s outdoor café for a few hours, C finding a new favourite drink in the grapefruit mixed with local beer, and me with a cider, until it was time to meet up with our tour group for the next 12 days for the Intrepid Balkans Real Food Adventure.

Our first group activity was to head out to dinner, to the café near the hotel I’d had lunch at on my first day. They seemed a nice bunch – eight women and one guy, plus our guide, A. Dinner was mussels in tomato sauce, followed by fried seafood (I had grilled fish) with salad, followed by apple strudel (or fruit salad for me). The fish and mussels were really good.

Our final day in Croatia was spent heading up to the Pelješac peninsula, where we visited the town of Ston and saw how traditional sea salt was made.

Our next stop was further up the peninsula at Putnikovic where the locals make wine and grow mussels and oysters. We tried some local wine (the red was even better than the white, even on a hot day!) with our lunch – mussels cooked in onion sauce, a grilled fish with potatoes, followed by icecream. So good!

We then hit the road to drive across the border to Montenegro.