The Iron Throne of Croatia: Dubrovnik Travel Guide

After Split, mom and I took a bus down the coast to the magical city of Dubrovnik.  Strangely enough, to go from Split to Dubrovnik (same country) you have to pass through Bosnia Hercegovina (another country) for a stretch of land. But we jumped out of the bus long enough to snap this shot of the scenery:

After arriving in Dubrovnik and settling into another cute apartment, we headed straight for the famous Old City.  Every image I had of Dubrovnik before this trip (and most of my images after) were of the Old City.  The fortress-like walls and winding alleys are straight out of the medieval ages – no wonder Game of Thrones films here!

The next morning we trekked back down to the Old City but decided to take a back road, instead of the main one.  It was definitely a more scenic route and felt more direct, but we couldn’t be sure.  Our Dubrovnik days were always filled with uphills and downhills, regardless of which path we chose.

On our second day we stopped for lunch at Mimoza, a restaurant our landlady had recommended to us.  To be honest, the main dishes weren’t too wow. The meats were a nice break from seafood (a break from seafood? Blasphemous, I know!) but were nothing special.

However, we did notice a certain adorable slow-walking creature in the flower pots by our table. And mom managed to find a pretty amazing cake for dessert.  She may or may not have come back on our last day to order one (or 4) more slices!

Another restaurant find: Wanda’s! I had found Wanda in one of our guide books and after scouring the incomplete street signs, we finally found the place in a back alley of the Old City.  Right away Wanda won our hearts when a waiter insisted we sit down for free prosecco, even though we were just making a dinner reservation for later.

After exploring more of Stari Grad (Old City), we met up with my Amsterdam friends, Candy & Carlie, who were just starting their Croatian adventures. We took them to Wanda’s for some delicious carpaccio, pasta and, of course, more free prosecco!

We also became pretty convinced that our waiter (the one pouring the free drinks) wanted me to marry his son! Living in Croatia and eating free at Wanda’s? I do!

The next day we met back up with the girls and headed up…all the way up the Dubrovnik Cable Car to get full views of the beautiful city! While we almost melted waiting to get onto the car, the views (and cool wind) at the top were spectacular!

From the top of the mountain to….the sea! After returning to ground level, we decided to take our group to the water and try our luck at a few hours of sea kayaking and snorkelling.  Overall, it was a really fun experience and great way to see more of the Old City.  That being said, the water was freezing and my arms were definitely in some pain the next day!

After kayaking it was time to replenish liquids (aka get our day-drink on) and grab some dinner.  Mom and I tried out a few new places in the Old City, before meeting back up with C&C for dessert and drinks while listening to my favourite jazz band.

The next morning we packed up and got ready to head to Montenegro! But before our bus left, I managed to sneak in one more must-do Dubrovnik experience: walking the Old City walls! I joined Candy & Carlie for the 2km walk which felt more like 10 thanks to lots of stairs and the scorching midday heat.  But, the views were incredible! I kept expecting to see a GOT star shooting a scene!

After finishing the wall, we met back up with mom and enjoyed some Mimoza cake.  Saying goodbye to the girls we grabbed a quick lunch (back at Wanda’s, of course), picked up our bags and boarded our bus for Herceg Novi, Montenegro!