Skipping over the Adriatic Sea, we landed over in Croatia! More specifically, we landed in the new found fame port city of Dubrovnik! For those who do not know- Dubrovnik is the city used in Game of Thrones as King’s Landing. It did not hold back it’s epicness either – there are so many Dubrovnik activities! No wonder this town has become an absolute zoo for cruise ships to visit. As our taxi drove north along the coastline to get to our Airbnb, it was hard not to notice just how awesome the landscape was. Cliffs upon cliffs dove steeply into the sea while just inland tiny mountains spiked up in defense of the city. When we arrived at our apartment, we were itching to get in on the action! (Dubrovnik 1, 2)
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
The start of the slough.
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
Day 1:
Keeping our pizza game strong for just a little longer, we had lunch near the Airbnb at Pizzeria Buono. Again, it was delicious. Be warned that most places in Dubrovnik require cash payment versus credit card. Soon after, we bused south into the Old Town of Dubrovnik. It is in essence a stone-walled fortress holding everything you would ever need. It has back alleys and side alleys and diagonal alleys for you to get lost in or find a new favorite restaurant. Wandering around, we ran into the “Walk of Shame” staircase made famous in Game of Thrones. Making our way up, we stayed to the left and discovered we were on the very inside of the fortress’s outer wall. We continued on until we hit a tiny hole in the wall that a few people were coming in and out of. Extremely curious, we plunged right through the wall and emerged into what is called Buza Bar, a true “hole-in-the-wall” bar. It sits on the cliffside of the fortress facing directly out into the Adriatic. Climbing down a few staircases we were treated to a fully open-air, shaded bar. As people were enjoying their drinks, they were obviously watching some sort of action off to the left-hand side below them as well. Curious once more we made our way across the bar to find a huge crowd of young people cliff jumping off 2-3 different points! Each cliff had a different height and they were accessible from the bar area! Buying some beers we shared a table with some strangers and we became highly entertained with critiquing the different divers. (Dubrovnik 3, 4, 5)
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
The start of the slough.
We found gators!
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
After our interest faded, we headed back into the town through the hobbit hole and navigated our way up onto the fortress walls path. You have to pay 200 kunas (~$28) to walk the top of the wall that loops around the whole Old Town, but we think it was worth it! Walking along the parapet provided us with some amazing views of not only the surrounding environment but also of the numerous red-orange rooftops that give Dubrovnik a unique touch. Unfortunately, later on we learned that the colored roofs came about from a dark period of Croatia’s modern history. All of the bright colored roofs replaced damaged roofs after being attacked in 1991. Upon completing the loop path we headed back down to the Stradun, or main street, to find some dinner. Splitting off into a tiny parallel alley, we found a spot called Taj Mahal, a traditional Bosnian restaurant. Here we got our first taste of cevapi (amazing little smokie sausages) while sipping on Croatia’s traditional drink rakija. (Dubrovnik 6, 7, 8)
And birds!
And snakes!
And turtles!
The start of the slough.
The start of the slough.
The start of the slough.
Day 2:
Beaches in Dubrovnik aren’t what you would typically picture – sandy, but rather they are giant rocks. We went to a cliff beach near our apartment to jump in for a late morning swim before starting our hike up the side of Mount Srd. Please send me a link you want to use! This is the low mountain sitting just behind Old Town that raises to a little over 1300 ft. There is a trailhead at the base of the mountain but you have to cross the main highway 8 to reach it. The path itself is all switchbacks and at every other corner sits a stone tablet of the next Station of the Cross. It takes about 45 minutes to reach the summit where an old fort and giant white cross have been built. It provides for a stunning bird’s eye view of the town of Dubrovnik and the sea and then inland into the mountain ranges. For those that do not wish to hike up the hill, we found out there’s a cable car system you can pay for that brings you up from Old Town. A friendly couple told us they were hiking down from the summit and gave us their cable car tickets for the way down! We took them up on their offer right away and enjoyed the ride back to town. (Dubrovnik 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
We were impressed by the trees in this area!
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
We were impressed by the trees in this area!
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
We were impressed by the trees in this area!
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
The afternoon was taken up by our return to Buza Bar where we decided to join in on the action we saw yesterday. Now, I know what you’re thinking. This guy wouldn’t even get on a steel reinforced bench swing in Amsterdam- how is he gonna have the guts to cliff jump? But we started out slow, jumping into the Adriatic Sea from about a 30 ft height. Building up some confidence and trying to impress my girl I somehow decided in my mind that jumping from the ~60 ft cliff was a good idea. I was trembling so bad at the edge that I made the cardinal mistake- looking over the edge twice. But away I went and to this day I’m happy to be alive! Coming back up from the jump Megan was so proud of me. Even she was not about to do that jump, which in hindsight makes me rethink my whole decision. (Dubrovnik 14, 15, 16)
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
We were impressed by the trees in this area!
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
Before our evening began we had dinner at Burger Tiger, supposedly Old Town’s best burger. We had to fuel up because we were going on a sunset sea kayaking tour around Lokrum Island that night. We went through Adventure Dubrovnik and the tour started in a small cove just north of Old Town. We’d say this ~$30 tour was worth every penny! We kayaked into caves on the island and even stopped at a cave beach for a bit where we did a tandem cliff jump! When we returned after sunset the tour guides poured everyone a couple glasses of wine to celebrate our adventure! Getting off to a good start we decided to hit up a few of the Dubrovnik nightclubs to keep the party going! First we hit Club Lazareti which is actually housed in the city’s old quarantine buildings for plague and malaria. The club has three different areas to enjoy the music but our favorite space was the outdoor patio where you can sit on your own little wooden square overlooking the water. The second club was the Banje Beach Nightclub which was a little more upscale than we prefer. Pretty much all of it is a private outdoor beach lounge and cocktail bar that looks sleek with white cushions, but the service was seriously lacking and we didn’t have much fun. To salvage our awesome day and night we went to our final club, Club Revelin. This unique club is actually located within the Old Town walls and gives off a high energy, EDM-like atmosphere that bounced our spirits back up sky high! And to top it off the DJ was actor Idris Elba! It was so fun we ended up getting back to our apartment just as the sun was coming up again. (Dubrovnik 17, 18, 19, 20)
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
We were impressed by the trees in this area!
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
And of course, the birds! (Egrets here)
Day 3:
Following up our exhilarating day we took a relaxing full day trip out to Koločep, Šipan, and Lopud- the three Elaphiti Islands just northwest of Dubrovnik. The Amico Tours package provided us with drinks and lunch. It was wonderful to just sit back and have the wind blow through our hair. Our favorite island was Lopud, but all of the island beaches had crystal-clear blue water that rivaled our Greece and Italy experiences. We returned to Old Town just in time for dinner and we chose another Bosnian restaurant to devour more cevapi and burek (meat pie), along with baklava for dessert! (Dubrovnik 21, 22, 23)
Manatee Park in Fort Meyers
The manatee viewing dock – all of those lumps in the water are manatees!
Waiting for the sea cows to come up for air!
Waiting for the sea cows to come up for air!
Adam becoming buds with a manatee!
Look closely for the light blob 🙂
Day 4:
Somehow we got a guy at Tenis Klub Dubrovnik to give us rackets and ball rentals to go play on our final day in Croatia. The best part- it was on a red clay court which neither of us had ever played on. And wow was it messy! It totally ruined our tennis shoes, but oh well, it was super fun to slide around and watch the ball fly high. Sweating profusely in the Mediterranean climate, we took one more dip into the sea after returning our equipment. We had lunch at a restaurant called Marianno (SAYS it’s permanently closed) and then trekked back through Old Town to reach the Victoria Restaurant and Lounge Bar just past the Banje Beach area. We highly recommend this one. It was like its own outdoor patio garden oasis separated from the rest of civilization. We had some cocktails here and relaxed on their white cushioned couches as we watched our final sunset fall over Dubrovnik. (Dubrovnik 24, 25, 26, 27)
Fort Myers Downtown Historic District
Millennial Brewing Co
We weren’t expecting a mimosa bar option!
They have cool events here like a boxing match!
Fort Myers Downtown Historic District
Millennial Brewing Co
We weren’t expecting a mimosa bar option!
A relaxed vibe 🙂