And thus starts an introduction to our adventurous experienced within the seaside city walls of The Pearl of the Adriatic! Dubrovnik is great so far; more our speed and less of a party vibe with still a to see and do; Nellie refuses to go on a guides Game Of Thrones tour with me but we’ve done a lot of swimming, wandering, coffee drinking, and jumping off of rocks, which has been very adequate for both of us. There’s also a great cafe here called Soul Cafe that anyone visiting Dubrovnik should check out for an amazing and laid-back lunch; $10 for 2 coffees, a croissant, and the best sandwich we’ve had on the trip!
The most striking pleasure of the city so far is that it is super spooky in the best way; you walk into a literal hole in the castle wall with no signs and when you pass through to the other side you are either at a beautiful secluded beach or at some insane bar overlooking the water with cliff side seats. Buza Bar represents the absolute best of this mystical ambiance; do not visit the city without taking in the view and a cold Karlovačko from this secret spot extraordinaire.
Our only ding on the city is that it smells like a litter box, everywhere. Maybe this is just a new “seaside smell” that we are not used to, and I’d give this more leeway except on the way out of our apartment this morning we took ONE wrong turn and walked right into what will now be heretofore referred to as “Dead Cat Alley.” I’m not going to elaborate, but it was awful. Fine I’ll elaborate it looked like three dozen anorexic felines stumbling out from the Cat Club into the sunlight and sleeping off that last Vodka Soda and shot of heroin. That or they were dead.
Back to the talk about Dubrovnik being amazing and wholesome: we’ve visited a lot of churches and they are all beautiful. And we’ve been on a scavenger hunt for all 47 St Blaise (Nelly’s confirmation Saint!) statues and we’ve found 4! It will probably help when we find the Cathedral of St Blaise which is giant and apparently right next to our apartment but we can’t seem to find it. More spooky Dubrovnik mystical magic.
Game of Thrones LARPing is wildly accessible here – opportunities about to pretend that you, yourself, are the manipulative and murderously maniacal ruler of King’s Landing. So far I’ve gotten mine by buying a sweet coral necklace with a snake on it that is totally something Ellaria Sand wears and finding the stairs and big palace that are the backdrop to the path to the Castle (the same setting where Cersai did her walk of shame)! I also followed a Game of a Thrones tour for 5 minutes before getting the stink eye (I told Nellie I was just going to the post office but I happened upon the group mid-tour and just couldn’t help myself) and learned that Game of Thrones has the most expensive TV production budget in history – $65 million dollars.
We are currently resting up and staying out of the oppressive, almost blinding heat in our A/C apartment before we head out again to walk the city walls.