Med Cruise: Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was the city I was most excited to visit on this trip. It's the whole reason we chose the itinerary we did. My dad's been talking about this city (and Croatia in general) for years, so I knew I needed to visit eventually. We weren't able to get a ton of time in the city, but the time we did have was very nice.

There was a $12 shuttle from the boat to the old city. It ran continuously throughout the day, so we could have gone back and forth if we wanted to. But that's ultimately a little silly when you only have a handful of hours to explore. The ride over was pretty, through a very hilly community that reminded me of Pittsburgh. Though that comparison was at the top of my mind thank to my grandmother, who told me that the family settled in Pittsburgh because it reminded them so strongly of the home land.

Dubrovnik itself (well, the walled part) is surprisingly small. I suppose I shouldn't expect more from a medieval city. But it does look a lot bigger when it's pretending to be Kings Landing on Game of Thrones. There were basically three main streets running from the gate in the direction of the harbor. There were crossed by a wealth of alleys filled with cafes. There were also souvenir shops and cats everywhere.

We wandered down to the harbor, stopping in a few stores along the way. In one corner of the city we found the stairs up to the tower wall, and paid for tickets to go up and walk around. We walked all the way around, stopping to admire the view all the way. It was cool to see the city from up above it, there were lots of forgotten and/or private courtyards and gardens. And lots of cats running all over the place and playing with each other.

After our walk we went to one of the cafes on the water. I got a glass of wine (sold as 0.15 liter) and a plate of smoked ham (the kind you can't get in America). Kevin got a beer and some fish soup. Then it was time for souvenir shopping. And just as it began to rain we hopped back on the bus for the ship.

The visit was short but sweet. It'd be nice to go back some day and spend more time in Dubrovnik (and Croatia in general). But we made the most of the time we did have. I feel like we saw what we most wanted to.