Down to Dubrovnik

There's a reason people flock to Dubrovnik, and while it's crowded with tourists, it's also a bit magical. I'm glad we stopped here, and I wish we'd had more time. Ideally 2-3 days here, with a few more days to ferry out to islands. Croatia is lovely indeed.

After our debacle returning our rental car at a hotel (we couldn't drive it into Montenegro/Albania - more on that later), we took a cab to our place for the night to get settled. Of course the cab drive couldn't quite find it, as it was tucked away on an old back alley, through a staircase. But he dropped us off close enough.

The old city is where most of the action is, but it's harder to find accommodation around there, so we stayed in a neighborhood that's about a ten minute bus ride away. Easy to hop a bus into old town, so that's what we did after we dropped off our suitcases.

First sight - a group of nuns having a grand ole time.

And then, through the gates and into the old city. I'm also amazed at all these old cities surrounded by walls. No cars, which is great, but how do they get everything into there? To fill the shops and restaurants? Seems crazy to try and park outside, and wheel everything in with a cart, but that's what they do, and they're good at it.

As soon as we walked in, we saw the entrance to climb the city walls. It's a bit pricey, but absolutely worth it. The sea breeze was blowing, and it was a most beautiful day. Get ready for photo overload of the Walls of Dubrovnik.

What's it take to live in one of these places? Like, it has to have been in your family for ages? Or you can just go rent a place? Would you want to live here, with tourists peering into your laundry and having to wheel your groceries in from outside the walls?

Apparently they film Game of Thrones here sometimes. I haven't seen the show, but I saw plenty of GoT tours going on.

Back down on the ground floor, where we walked around and would stumble upon two weddings.

Now this is a celebration.The flares shooting off messed up the lighting a bit, but you get the idea. How fun!

A bit blurry, but I love these tourists.

Best thing we overhead: an American kid asking his mom - are there dragons in Croatia or was that just a long time ago?

We passed many more pirate candy shops and found a place for dinner that wasn't too overpriced.

We hopped the bus back to our neighborhood, which also had a nice pedestrian boardwalk, with shops and restaurants. We walked down to the water for a bit before heading home. Off to Montenegro next!