While I was worried about sleeping soundly due to jetlag this first night after arriving, my concerns were stymied quickly. Aside from waking 47 times because I drank so much water yesterday, I woke at 10:30 this morning! When I saw the time, I panicked a bit, then I remembered, we’re on vacation and Dubrovnik really isn’t going anywhere.
Libby and I had a slow start with showers and such, and she found a great place to eat breakfast lunch. Except when we found it, it was closed. We ran into this a lot today – many places are simply closed for the season now.
We sat on a step trying to find another place that’s on her “good food list” and nearby. We wandered a bit trying to find our next choice – Lucin Kantun. According to our map we were standing right next to it at one point, but it’s location still alluded us. When we finally found it, we had to laugh – the steps near the restaurant were the same ones we were sitting on moments before trying to find a new place to eat! Too funny.
I was a little nervous because an empty restaurant usually means (in my head) that the food isn’t so great. Fortunately I was wrong. We decided to share a collection of tapas – black (squid ink) risotto, tiny lamb skewers in honey and lavender (bet you never thought of that combination, huh?), olives and cheese, and tuna carpaccio. Some water “with gas” and a coffee and we were ready to take on the day!
The meal was exceptional, and we don’t think it was simply because we were famished.
Once fueled up, we wandered aimlessly trying to figure out how to get up on the wall which surrounds the city so we could walk its perimeter. Eventually we figured out you had to buy a ticket and enter at a specific location.
Do we get the tickets up those steps? Or, no wait…maybe it’s up there?
We persevered, purchased our tickets, and had the most amazing time. Researching Dubrovnik, I saw a lot of reviews discussing the massive crowds and extreme heat which made walking the wall less enjoyable. Visiting here off-season, we had a threat of rain which managed to hold off. The wall was nearly abandoned due to the timing of our visit (to the wall and to the city in general), and the air was windy but comfortable. The two of us kept stopping and saying “I’m sorry, I know I just said this but this is so amazing!”
We observed the crumbled buildings we came across from time to time and wondered “Do you think that’s from bombs?” then sort of shamed ourselves about the fact that we know so little about the history of the area. Embarrassing but true.
Once down from the wall, my diabetes and I were in need of a snack. One preferably involving chocolate. The main street in Old Town (Old Town is the part of the city that exists within the ancient wall we had just explored) was almost empty – a real rarity according to the travel guides I’ve read. It was there that we found our perfect little bakery with the most delicious chocolate croissants. It’s only downside was that it didn’t have a place to sit and coffee to go along with it. So I gobbled-up my croissant and we found another spot to perch to have our afternoon coffee.
Following our afternoon coffee and people watching session we charged trudged our way back up the 132 steps to our apartment, for a break.
The restaurant Libby found for dinner was outside the city walls. Called Otto Taverna, it was another charming place built inside what claims to be a cave. Clearly it was man-made, but was a really cool space just the same. We got into a conversation with the people sitting next to us. They were a couple from Michigan who have been traveling around for a little while longer than us and gave us suggestions for other places to eat, including in Mostar ,Herzegovina which is where were headed tomorrow! We ended our evening with some gelato from a shop near the steps leading to our apartment, made our way back home again.
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BEAN'S BABBLETORIUM 