My eyes sparkled as the plane drifted over foggy mountains, craggy islands and turquoise water. The haze of our nightmarish BnB in Barcelona still lingered in the corners of my mind. Boggled by the fact that we flew over the beginning and subsequent end of Italy not 30 minutes ago, Croatia was blissful, beachy, paradise, perfection.
Welcome to the sparkling, old-town of Dubrovnik, our first stop of 3 in Croatia. The gothic buildings and shining streets served as the filming location for Game of Thrones, and perfect spot for Josh and I to indulged in some first-class holiday relaxation.
Truth-be-told, our budget was a little squeezed by this point and we had heard that Croatia was the place we could get back on track. Shopping in the little grocery stores (more like Australian deli's) became our favourite past time and money cruncher. My Dad and his partner invented a game fit for the finest penny-pinchers during their travels. We scoured the isles for an entree, main, dessert and drink each, for under $10 AUD. The jars of stuffed peppers, or dolmades that so eagerly entered our hands at the beginning of the game were later returned to their shelves. As limiting as this may seem, there were a number of Croatian foods thats we never would've chosen had we not had such a tight budget.
Between grocery store chaos, our days were filled with soaking ourselves in the warm waters of the mediteranean and sipping chilled beverages on the cliffs. There are loads of tourists in Dubrovnik and we met people from all over Europe and Australia as we watched the travellers with better travel insurance jumping from the cliffs. We free-dived to 7m to collect a rogue GoPro and got tips on where to find the best bikini in Italy, from a German girl.
This is what travelling in Europe is all about. Talking about Italian shopping with a German girl as though it was a real possibility that we would visit there soon.
With no solid plans after Croatia, we added Italy as our next destination.
Tate x
For Travellers:
- Watch out for the water in Dubrovnik. They get their water from the Mountain and if it hasn't rained in a while, it may contain ecoli. We drank water from store bought bottles just to be safe, as some of the waitresses told us it wasn't safe, and the walking guide told us that it was. Just be safe.
- Dubrovnik is a town of stairs. Some of the main shopping is on ground-level, but you'll be hard pressed to find a BnB that isn't 5 flights up. There aren't any lifts so make sure your bag is light, you've recruited help or you find a rare ground-level place.
- There are Dubrovnik Card's that allow you to do lots of the attractions around Dubrovnik. For $68 AUD you can walk the forts walls, visit the museum and a number of other attractions anytime over 7 days. There are 2 cheaper options for 3 days or 1 day, so make sure you ask at the visitor centre. All three cards allow you to do almost all the Dubrovnik attractions, including public transport.
- There is a mountain flanking Dubrovnik that you can hike if you're feeling energetic, otherwise there are chairlifts to get you to the top with much less stress. These are not included in the Dubrovnik Card attractions.
- Google free walking tours in Dubrovnik. Although ours was VERY fact heavy, it was really interesting and I would definitely do it again. There is so much about Dubrovnik that you will (or might not) notice, and never know the story behind it unless you do one of these.
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