A day in Dubrovnik

So!  Onto the next city on this quick and crazy trip – Dubrovnik!

Looking down into Dubrovnik

Now keep in mind we are waking up in Montenegro.  So we still have a small road trip to the next country ahead of us.  Fortunately, for my travel mates, I am an early-ish riser.  Now, don’t get crazy… I don’t like waking up too early.  BUT, I usually wake up naturally around 0700 regardless of when I go to sleep.  Because I fell asleep, sprawled out on the hardwood floor, while watching Big Band Theory, the night before at around 2100 – I was ready to get up at like 0630.  So I got up quietly, had my shower, and started breakfast.  I cooked us up a hearty homemade breakfast of chunky hash browns with cheese and onions with eggs.  It was the perfect way to fill our bellies and keep us going during the busy day to come.

Once we were all awake and ready we packed up the car, said goodbye to Montenegro, and got on the road.  Now, there is an optional ferry you can opt in on to cut about 45 minutes of the drive, however, I would suggest the drive unless you are in a hurry.  The drive itself is PART of the trip in my opinion.  The views are spectacular.

Now, Teanna, from Sidles Adventures, was smart and had an address ready for a parking deck.  So we had it punched into the GPS.  Upon arrival, we discovered that the main road into town… and also to our parking deck… was totally closed.  No detour… no nothing… just closed!  Fortunately, there was another parking deck right at the point the road ended – So we just had to figure in a bit more walking than originally planned (and stairs… we will talk later about those dang stairs).  The bigger problem at this point is that we were two women who desperately needed to pee…  So we searched, slightly desperately, for a place to pee… and a snack.  We found the snack first in a small local bakery, but no toilet.

We finally found a public toilet but it took Croatian Kuna coins… Now luckily I had to take money out to buy the food at the bakery, but I only had bills.  So we had to ask a very confused, and non-English speaking, elderly man that had a little shop set up, to trade us out for some coins.  I think we gave him a little more in return… I think… it was confusing. Anyway!  The toilet itself was also an adventure, haha.  I have done loads of pay to pee but this one was unique.  You put the money in and then a sliding door opens next to you and lets you into your stall.  Once inside there is an all in one auto sink, soap, and dryer that you just stick your hands into before leaving.  I think Teanna has photos she will share over on her blog.

This is where our city adventure began.  We started out walking to the bay area to get a view of the sea and also a view of some of the Game of Thrones sights.  We spent quite a bit of time on the water playing in the waves… You would have thought it was spring and not the middle of winter watching us not care about being  somewhat IN the water.

Teanna hanging out in the Dubrovnik harbor

Playing around in the Dubrovnik harbor

Portrait on the Dubrovnik harbor

Playing in the Adriatic Sea

Playing in the Adriatic Sea

Playing in the Adriatic Sea

Posing for a photo with the Adriatic

Yeah, we may have a had a little too much fun, but that is what travel is all about right?! Right!

Dubrovnik from the wall

From here we ventured back into the city and walked a portion of the wall. It had amazing views of the city, and also the sea. There was a bit of confusion and we did not walk the entire wall because we got to the point where you must pay and it was the equivalent of around $18. The man at the checkpoint was very rude and didn’t try to sell us tickets but simply told us we could not continue without one. But they did not make it clear that you could purchase the tickets at the checkpoints and that it covered the entire wall and also the fortresses. So we ended up missing going up into 2 of the fortresses because of this. Live and learn. Hopefully, our mistake might help some of you if you happen to be planning a trip there. I am sure it is also much different and more obvious when it is not off season. There were very few other tourists.

One of the many allies in Dubrovnik

After we left the wall we decided to explore some more within the city.

City center – Dubrovnik

City center – Dubrovnik

Another amazing Dubrovnik alley

Fortress

We did get into the final fortress just outside of the city, but it took some major effort. As we began to walk we found out the fortress closes at 1500 and it was around 1430… to be clear… we also might have been mildly lost. So first of all… this is where we needed to end up.

Fortress above the Adriatic

Dubrovnik

Teanna decided to skip the insanity that followed. These photos do not do the elevation change we faced justice. But despite my better judgment, Drew and I decided to make a run for it… Drew is in the Army… Drew can run. Paige… is not in the Army, and does NOT run, and did not have 100% lung function. But I gave it my all! I might have thought about quitting at the last 25 stairs. I might have had a coughing gagging fit at the top. But I didn’t vomit up the gelato I sucked down when I found out we had to run for it and didn’t want to waste it. And we made it in time to walk around – all be it quickly. Also… Totally worth it! The view was absolutely amazing – even if I couldn’t really breathe. I mean… just look.

Adriatic Sea

A rough portrait after our “run”

Yeah… we on the other hand, not such a great view after that run.

As we left the fortress the wind picked up, the air cooled, and I knew rain was coming. So we made the decision to go ahead and walk toward the parking deck. To my horror, this would involve another MASSIVE flight of stairs back up to the main road. I may or may not have thought of refusing and telling them to come pick me up. Instead, I just made my VERY VERY slow way up the stairs, pouting and wheezing the entire way.

We still had a bit of a drive ahead of us to the apartment. Teanna had booked us outside of town to save money. But I was totally fine relaxing in the car for a bit. Especially when the sky opened up and let the rain come down in buckets.

Finding the Apartment Marija proved to be a bit of a challenge. But the owner was very kind and helped navigate us to where we needed to be. We followed him up MORE stairs to our quaint little apartment on a hillside. He welcomed us with chocolates and drink (I think drew was the only one who indulged on the latter). We got a quick tour of our home for the night and then began settling in. Had it not been dark and pouring rain, we would have had an amazing view. The apartment was perfect for the three of us. It had one bedroom and a pullout couch. I was so sleepy that I just slept on the couch as it was. My only complaint was it was a bit chilly. But I think this was more a comment on the less than average weather and not the apartment.

Now it was time for dinner and let me tell you, we had a TIME feeding ourselves that night. And it was Valentines day to top things off – not that any of us cared, but you would think eating out would be easy. We ended up roaming around until we found an open convenient store. So frozen pizza and chicken fingers it was. Then it was time for more lounging, big bang theory, and then finally sleep in preparation for our 0500 wake up time.

You can watch my vlog of the following day now

See all the photos here.

For more of my adventures make sure to subscribe to my channel here on youtube: http://tinyurl.com/kmo9cnc

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