Croatia
Dubrovnik
From May 24th to May 27th, 2023
Day 1
We drove through the Debeli Brijeg Border Crossing around 1:45 on Wednesday and the crossing took less than 10 minutes. A miracle! The drive from Montenegro to Croatia reminded us a little bit of what the coast of Big Sur looks like. The drive was only about 55 miles, but it took almost 2 hours due to the winding roads. From a first impression, Dubrovnik seems to have sharper peaks and higher mountains that plunge directly into the coast. When driving in from the south, you can see the city of Dubrovnik down below from up higher on a mountain road.
Checked into Villa Dubrovnik around 3pm and took a 5 minute shuttle bus into the Grad Dubrovnik (which basically just means the old city surrounded by the city walls). We wandered around the streets until we realized that we should probably be walking along the city walls instead. We paid around 70 euro to do the 2km walk all around the city. It was a little warm, and the stairs around the city walls seemed endless, but we enjoyed the exercise and there wasn’t a bad view from any angle. It was neat to look down and see how locals live inside the city walls. We stopped to have a drink at a cafe while on the top of the city walls and enjoyed the view out over the sea.
We then caught onto the Game of Thrones theme and checked out a few of the spots where they filmed the show. We recognized a few locations (watch some GOT & Dubrovnik YouTube highlights if you need a refresher).
Back at the hotel we went to Prosciutto & Wine Bar, our “rooftop bar” that overlooks the old city of Dubrovnik - one of the only hotels on the coast to see it. We had some great sunset cocktails and watched boats and kayakers down below scurry around to make it back to the city by sundown.
We had dinner at the Michelin recommended restaurant at our hotel called Restaurant Pjerin. The food was Italian themed and we imagine one day they will get a Michelin star.
Day 2
We woke up this morning and prepared ourselves for a full day on a boat exploring the islands of Croatia. Our hotel set up the boat tour, but the skipper on the boat allowed us to modify whatever we wanted. He knew all the spots, so we just let him drive the tour. We went to a cave at the southern top of Kolocep, the Blue Cave just a bit west from that cave, a few more canyon caves in between where we got out and swam, then to Sunji Beach on Lopud Island for lunch at Bindo. There are other places to eat, drink, and bathe on the beach, but the area is small and quaint. On the way back to port from our boat cruise we got stopped by the water police. A routine traffic stop as a safety precaution. It took about 5 minutes and then we were on our way.
We had dinner at a pizza spot in town and then went for a wine flight at a local wine bar called D’Vino
Day 3
Went for a ~3 mile walk in the morning south, away from the Old City of Dubrovnik to get a look at some different scenery.
Took the cable car up to the top of the city view and had lunch at Panorama Restaurant & Bar. They say this place books up months in advance, but we went early enough (around 12pm) and were able to just walk in. It started to rain, so we quickly paid our bill and took the cable car back down to the city to wander around the city streets some more. We went back to the hotel and took a nap while it rained.
That night we had dinner at Restaurant 360, the only Michelin restaurant in Croatia. The views were, of course, spectacular, and the food and service were also top notch. We ate dinner and watched as the sun went down over the old city.
Day 4
Woke up this morning and left around 9:30 for a ~5 hour drive to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We crossed at the Metkovic Border Crossing and it took less than 10 minutes. Hooray!
Next time we visit we plan to check out:
Banje Beach Club - for a lively beach club experience
Hvar Island
Wine tasting at any of the wine regions
Arboretum Trsteno - near Dubrovnik