Balkans ’26 – Day Six

Hello Dubrovnik! Janie & I turned in early Day 5 and managed to catch a serious sleep. We got our first daylight glimpses of this ancient city centre from the window of Blue Suite Old town Center AirBnB. Known as ”The Queen of the Adriatic”, Dubrovnik is a serious tourist destination and famous for the massive stone walls that encircle the Old Town and, more recently, as a set for “Game of Thrones”. Most reviews also note that visiting comes with a price tag… staying can be expensive!

The rain of Tuesday evening seemed to have subsided and Day 6 planning began with the purchase of multiple 1 Day Dubrovnik Passes. A cursory look at pricing / reviews suggested that we’d likely manage to have these pay for themselves fairly quickly if we held our scheduled itinerary so we hit the street. To boost morale… we grabbed yummies from Pekarnica Pile (Bakery outside the city walls with awesome Google reviews) and a coffee at Dukah Bar just up the street from Pile Gate. Then began what would be a very busy day in Dubrovnik. (ps. We spent 40 EUR on pass and leveraged 81.50 EUR worth of use without trying – solid bargain if you’re a Museum goer)

Passes in hand, our first stop landed us at Lovrjenac Fortress. We arrived before opening and got in about 15 minutes early. The hilltop medieval fortress holds a prominent position overlooking the harbour and outside city walls of Dubrovnik. Game of Thrones fans will recognize this as the Red Keep area in King’s Landing. In true fashion, we were able to visit this cold, stone structure before any other visitors had arrived. Stunning views and an amazing architectural feat!

Among attractions, one of the top rated “Things to Do” in Dubrovnik is to walk the City Walls. We gained entry via pass shortly after 9:15 AM and spent the next hour and 15 minutes on a route that encircles the entire old town from above along the heights of the ramparts that overlook both city and harbour. They are an amazing example of medieval fortification. The specifics listed on the website are pretty spectacular… “The 1940m long walls consist of the main city wall, sixteen towers, three fortresses, six bastions, two corner fortifications (’kantonate’), three bulwarks with rows of turrets, three moats, two flank fortresses, one breakwater, and two drawbridges. At some points up to 25 m high, the main wall is 4 – 6 m thick on the land side and 1,5 to 3 m on the seaside.”

Normally being one of the busiest venues in the heart of the summer, our March off season visit gave the whole wall to us and we may have encountered 4-5 other couples completing the one-way circuit. Great walking (although I was a little uneasy with the drop on the ocean side) with multiple places to stop and rest should visitors require it. The views are simply beyond… the stone, the clay rooftops, blue Adriatic waters / skyline and dramatic hillsides create a vista where it is hard not to drop the jaw! It was a favorite attraction for us in Dubrovnik. Indeed a walk through history, while at the same time a living city (we noted school children playing, contractors working on homes, teens coming from school and hanging out in these ancient stone streets).

Upon completion of the full circuit, it was “Road trip”. Janie got on her moxy and, since the Dubrovnik Pass included a days free public transport, we decided to get a little resourceful in regard to making a bus run for groceries. While sitting at Pile Gate, the terminus for most city routes, she created a plan via Google to get supplies that we could keep / prep at home over the next few days. Since almost all Libertas Public Transport buses seemed to depart from Pile, the closest station, we accessed the first one, validated our pass for a ticket, and were off!

We stopped, a little by accident, directly in front of Tommy Hipermarket! It had everything we needed for the customary meats, cheese, cracker and grape 🍇 snacks we thrive on! And to boot, pretty decent prices. Also found a few refreshments that were priced better than home! Of note, we had not one, two, but three folks kindly ask if we needed some help and offering to assist in the bus / grocery experience in the run of about 45 minutes. That’s pretty damn good (but also planted the idea that we must’ve looked pretty lost in the self checkout / bussing process 😂)! Back home for the ringing of noon bells here in Dubrovnik, and a little breather before heading back out!

By afternoon Dubrovnik was seeing showers again (we were glad to have gotten our outdoor attractions done) so we opted for indoors and several of the museums included in the pass. The Rector’s Palace / Cultural History Museum hosts an eclectic collection presenting artworks, sedan chairs, iron “lock boxes” for money, bell ringer statues, a “very clean” dungeon and a kitschy gallery that drew on the “tram cars” that once were part of the local public transportation system. We followed up with the Dubrovnik Museum of Natural History that focused on Adriatic and Dalmatian species of fish / bird, especially the video, sounds and information on 2026 bird of the year the “Common Swift”. Nothing incredibly spectacular in these museums, just good information. We did note, however, that the architecture of the buildings that house them was just plain impressive!

For something completely the same 😂, we ducked out of the rain and landed in another Irish Pub… The Gaffe! We curled in for website edits, vitamin “G” and the warmth of a snug for an hour to regroup. Curiously (and we’re not sure why except the possibility that most folks were our age and perhaps tourists doing the same) the bar was almost entirely smoke free. It’s been noticeable! We ordered up a mixed plate of snacks and sussed out a few details for Thursday… good to back track to itinerary to make sure that items are still in play! We managed a great little organizational session before departing for an early evening sunset walk (dark here by 6:30 PM). Speaking of walk… since hitting the ground in Europe we’ve been averaging around 16,000 steps a day which is admirable. All in… excellent afternoon!

By early evening we found ourselves (once again) cold, damp, foot weary and tired. Further, we knew we were facing an early rise Thursday morning for a day long excursion. It just seemed time for a break to gather ourselves for the last push of our journey. As such, it was home to a hot shower, morning planning and some time to enjoy the lodging. Alarms ⏰ were set for AM departure, tix pinned in the email, Audio Guide downloaded and everything but some cash in place! Good night all!

… Balkans ’26 – Day Seven