We woke up absolutely exhausted. All of the exploring of the past two days had taken it out of us, we’d walked more than we would in a normal month and our bodies were telling us all about it. But we powered through, because we’d heard there were four cruise liners in at the new harbour that day and naturally, for a couple who don’t like the sea and would never go on a ship, we wanted to see them.
Walking through the Old Town pretty much in a straight line down the Stradum and out the other side of the City walls, you get to an area called Pile. It’s a bustling area with day trip touts, restaurants, the gorgeous Hilton hotel with it’s gold gilt balconies and a key bus terminal. There’s a small bus ticket hut on the left hand side as you walk away from the Old Town, where we bought a day ticket for 30kn each – we only took two journey’s in the end, but if you’re thinking of doing a bit of bus touring around Dubrovnik this ticket is a good option.
The bus to the new harbour area takes around 10 minutes, but felt a world away from the Dubrovnik we’d come to know. We drove through parts that felt like a typical European tourist spot, I can’t put my finger on what it was but it definitely had less heart than the Old Town area. The harbour itself had pretty surroundings, with the hills and red roofed buildings, but there wasn’t all that much to it. In all honesty, not a part of Dubrovnik I’d recommend if you’re short on time.
We saw three out of the four cruise ships, the biggest being the Costa Mediterranea which was pretty unreal. I struggle to get my head around how these things stay afloat (I’m purposefully going to ignore the fact I’ve just mentioned a Costa ship), it’s just too huge, it baffles me. And scares me quite a lot.
We had a quick look at the Aida Vita ship and the Thomson cruise liner before wandering back along the dock and catching the bus back to Pile, and for a pit stop at the hotel before part two of Day 5.
The thing you need to know about Dubrovnik is that there are steps. Lots and lots of steps. One benefit of all the steps (other than developing arse cheeks made of steel) is some of the views, the higher you get, the prettier the view.
So after climbing this steep staircase, and then some, we got to another bus stop where we caught the number 10 to Cavtat, a little Croatian town just around the bay, around 30 minutes away. The bus ride was a cheap 15kn each and you get what you pay for. It was full, standing room only, with an open window giving me serious g-force face and my nose an inch away from a sweaty Croatian man’s armpit. It wasn’t pleasant and we weren’t looking forward to the return journey, so much so that we paid 25kn each to get the boat back to Dubrovnik, much more refreshing and touristy!
While we were there though, Cavtat was lovely. It’s only a small place and we didn’t spend long there but the harbour area is cute and had some impressive yachts moored for us to ogle over. We headed to a restaurant on the dock front called Dolium where we eat fish and chips (sardines and fresh potato slices) and prawn and avocado salad (recommended if you like every bit of your salad coated in cooked parmesan cheese. Unfortunately I don’t). A quarter litre of white wine took the parmesan pain away and we enjoyed our lunch before wandering around the dock and back to catch the boat. Cavtat’s a nice place if you like things quiet, with plenty of restaurant choices and easy access to a bustling town (Dubrovnik, by boat, in case you weren’t keeping up).
On the boat we made a drop off at a small town called Mlini, which looked too small for us but I’d imagine it would be a perfect place for a Croatian villa with it’s secluded shores and village feel.
Next the boat passed the old village of Kupari, once home to a fancy Yugoslav military resort with five top notch hotels on the coast edge. Now home to nothing but the shells of those five abandoned, looted and destroyed-by-nature hotels. Blown to bits during the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s – it’s unbelievable that this place was at war so recently, until you see sights like this, or spot bullet holes in the sides of buildings in the Old Town, then you realise how real and recent it all was. Kupari is an eerie sight, and one I was eager to understand more about once I got home. This article on Pause The Moment explains the history so well and shows internal photographs that left me stunned, it’s worth checking it out.
The boat took around 45 minutes to get back to Dubrovnik, and from there we spent a couple of hours on the sun terrace of Hotel Excelsior resting our walked-to-death legs and watching the sun slowly set behind the Old Town.
That night I dressed up my H&M lace up H&M dress – meant for the beach but with the right underwear can be so much more – with my River Island gladiators and a bit of lip blending with my MAC Creme Cup and Amorous lipsticks.
Wandering (slowly) into the Old Town, the sunset turned the sky pink and as we headed to our favourite port-side restaurant, Loksanda Peskarija for seafood risotto and white wine, looking out over the bay, it was the perfect end to Day 5 in Dubrovnik.
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Was just in Dubrovnik! I absolutely love Croatia 🙂
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Ah it’s so beautiful isn’t it! It’s a little gem of a place 🙂
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