Air, Landier, and Sea

After all of the incredible sight-seeing and pub “crawling” in Ireland, Croatia was our rest and relax stop on the trip.

What I found when telling people we were going to Croatia is they typically fell into one of two camps: 1) They’ve been before and absolutely love it or 2) They’ve never been and asked “Why Croatia?”

Well, for those who fall into camp #2 let me tell you that Dubrovnik, Croatia is one of the coolest places I have ever been. It’s hard to put into words without sounding generic, but it’s really gorgeous! It’s on some amazingly clear, beautiful Adriatic waters.

Here’s what we did in Dubrovnik:

1. Walked Around the Old City– Dubrovnik was originally named Ragusa, and was established in the 7th century. Refugees fleeing from the barbarians lived there, so it was always a place protected by castle-like walls. Fast forward to 1667 when there was an earthquake that destroyed a lot of the renaissance architecture and the new baroque style was used to reconstruct the perimeter. Dubrovnik experienced destruction again in the 1990s when it was attacked by the Serbians. Many of the historic buildings in the city were damaged or destroyed and required rebuilding (this is why you see some terracotta roofs that look brand new). The old city is so cool to walk around in- it feels like you’re on a movie scene (or like you’re on set for an episode of Game of Thrones). There are alleyways lined with shops, bars, and restaurants, and lots and lots of stairs!

2. Walked the Wall– In addition to walking around in the city, we also walked along the perimeter of the old city on the defensive wall. While the city itself is stunning, seeing it from up above is really incredible. We also enjoyed drinks at sunset and gelato up there as well. We were all particularly impressed by Aunt Lauren facing her fear and climbing up quite a few flights of stairs to join us for the walk. It really is well-worth it to see it from this viewpoint.

3. Set Sail– Well, we didn’t exactly sail, but we took a boat around the mainland, went for a swim in the Adriatic, and visited the village of Lopud, where we enjoyed lunch and gelato. Lopud is home to Croatia’s Sunj beach which is one of its most famous sandy beaches.

4. Swam in a Cave– Croatia is well-known for its Blue Cave, where the water has a vibrant blue color. While we didn’t go into that specific Blue Cave, we did hop off our boat and swam in a cave, and it also had very pretty, vibrant blue water, and pretty marine life as well. The water felt really refreshing and not too cold, which we were pleased about, but it was by far the saltiest water I’ve ever been in. The captain of our boat wasn’t exactly excited about stopping to let us out to swim (he seemed like he had somewhere to be at 5:15 that evening) so he didn’t make much of an effort to get us close to the cave, so it was a bit of a swim there and back, but it was well worth it.

5. Drank at the Cave Bar– While we didn’t make it into the real Blue Cave, we did make it into the real Cave Bar which is located in the newer part of Dubrovnik. Just as it sounds, it’s a bar built into a cave and has four levels of places to lounge and enjoy drinks. We really loved this spot! Some people in our group enjoyed another dip in the Adriatic while watching the sunset and others stayed in the cave and enjoyed drinks. We did find it interesting that in Croatia (or at least this bar) you don’t walk up to the bar to order, rather the waiter/bartender must come to you. It did take a little while to get drinks (especially when we were on upper levels) but it was a lot of fun to be in there and enjoy the unique setting. We then sat down to an infamous 3-hour dinner brought to us by Seth Jameson. Dinner was on the rooftop of the More Hotel, which is where the Cave Bar is located. The scenery was beautiful and the food was great, but Bryce and I are still firm believers that dinner (or appetizers, as this outing was supposed to be) can be accomplished in an hour or less.

6. Ate Pizza!– Believe it or not, Dubrovnik has great pizza, like really great pizza (one place we went to even had gluten free crust!). We dined on quite a bit of pizza while we were there and were quite impressed. Prior to this trip I really thought Italy had the monopoly on good pizza, but Croatia is right up there (if not better).

7. Took the Gondola– Another great way to see the city is by gondola, which takes about 5 minutes to get to the top of the city. Once again, just a great place for scenic views and an opportunity to appreciate the immense beauty of Dubrovnik.

There are really only great things to say about Dubrovnik! We had a blast there and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a unique paradise to visit!