Dodging the Heat in Dubrovnik

Up at 5:00 am and out the door by 5:50 am in an attempt to walk the inner old town of Dubrovnik before it got too hot. It was already 24°C and rising when we set off, hitting 31°C by the time we finished.

We started with a 2 km walk to reach the old town gates and then began wandering and exploring the inner streets. It truly is a beautiful place. Dubrovnik has become even more famous thanks to Game of Thrones filming the King’s Landing scenes here. There’s now a set of steps called the Jesuit Stairs, where Cersei did her naked walk of atonement. We headed there first, expecting big crowds later in the day. I asked Sarah if she’d like to re-enact the scene, but she said she had nothing to atone for. I believe her! 👍

The steps look nothing like they do in the series—much smaller in real life, with plenty of CGI involved. But they do lead up to a wonderful church called the Church of St. Ignatius. We went inside, knowing it’s open 24 hours, but it seemed the other people visiting the stairs thought it was closed—so we got to enjoy the place to ourselves. Looking around inside, I can understand why churches like this are made so beautiful and awe-inspiring. It’s a breathtaking experience.

Next, we visited another church: the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Try saying that five times fast! 😂 That one required a ticket, which we didn’t have, so we only looked around from the outside. But really, when you’re in Europe, how many churches do you actually need to see? There are plenty of free ones if you haven’t had your fill in other cities.

Nearby was the Ploče Gate, which offered a nice view of the harbor and the city walls, so we checked that out too.

After that, we went in search of the local basketball court. Yes, you heard me right—why wouldn’t you want to see a basketball court in Dubrovnik? We’d read it was another free vantage point to get views over the city without paying €40 ($80 NZD!) to walk the city walls. The views were pretty good, though I’m sure they’re even better from the walls. Still, don’t let me put you off spending your money on that if you come here—it’s just not something we needed to do.

We then headed back down to a lower level and a street referred to as Stradun Dubrovnik, which is a wide (for Dubrovnik) street with towers at each end.

We saw a few other things—a fountain, another church, and a few named squares—but you get the gist. There are about four museums you can also visit with your €40 ticket, so it's not just for walking the walls. Our highlight was simply seeing the city streets and the skinny, steep alleyway steps branching off them—one of which we used to reach the basketball court.

At the top of one landing, we met an older Croatian woman doing yoga. She walks to the top every day to do her stretches there. That combination of walking and yoga must be great for you. We also came across a young woman from Hamilton, New Zealand. She spotted my cap and we had a quick chat. Her name was Libby, and she’d just finished studying in the States. She’s slowly making her way back home via Europe. Meeting Kiwis two days in a row has been a nice travel bonus.

After exiting the old city and reaching the bus stop, we decided to detour slightly for a closer look at Fort Lovrijenac/Lawrence. This fort was the inspiration for the Red Keep from Game of Thrones. Your €40 ticket also gets you inside. I’m thinking it might be more interesting than the city walls—I’ll do some Googling. It’s certainly an impressive structure and may be quite unique inside.

After that, I thought the plan was to grab a bus back to the apartment, but Sarah suggested we walk. Definitely not my idea! But since we were walking, it made sense to go via the Tommy Hipermarket to pick up lunch and dinner supplies. From there, it was just 1 km and—supposedly—seven sets of steps back up to our road. Honestly, it felt like way more. It was definitely hot by the time we got back.

Oh, I almost forgot—on the walk back, we came across a couple on holiday having a full-blown argument about navigation. They were dragging wheeled suitcases in the heat, each insisting they knew the correct direction—opposite directions, of course. We passed them as they were arguing, and when we stopped five minutes later to take photos, they caught up to us, still going at it. The woman was especially upset, going right off at the guy. I’m not sure they’ll be traveling together much longer if that continues.

Back at the apartment, we cranked the air conditioning, grabbed cold drinks, took showers, updated the blog, and had a coffee (for me) or a nap (for Sarah 😉). She’s definitely earned it—we’d been out for three and a half hours and walked over 10 km. 👍 Actually, it turned into a very short nap—soon enough, she was back up having a cup of tea.

We then had a quick trip meeting to reflect a little— we are just over a month into our travels now. It was a chance to review what’s gone well and what we might want to change. We’ve travelled a bit faster than ideal at times, so we’ll aim to slow down a little more after exiting the Schengen Zone. The only thing we agreed we might have done differently, in hindsight, was to cut a day from Zagreb and add it to Split. Not bad for four weeks of travel. Let’s see how the next four go.

We spent the afternoon just relaxing at the apartment—some TV, a nap (S), a bit of computer work (A). We also watched some YouTube footage of walking the wall and it helped confirm that were won't regret skipping that expensive exercise. 

Dinner was quite basic tonight: luncheon, lettuce salad, tomatoes, and gnocchi with passata sauce. Nice enough, but basic. We’ve got an idea for something slightly nicer tomorrow.