This tiny jewel in the Adriatic Sea is a must visit on any traveler’s itinerary. The charming old town with its city walls and limestone paved streets will stun you even if you have seen a lot of Europe’s walled cities. This town also has several Game of Thrones locations as King’s Landing. Even if you are not a fan you can see why this charming town is so popular!
We flew Lufthansa from Birmingham with a short stopover at Frankfurt and arrived in the early afternoon. I had booked an Air Bib right inside the old town. The old town was going to be our main and probably, only interest.
Old Town
Ploče Gate
Ploce Gate is located at the eastern end of the old town, overlooking Dubrovnik’s old port. Many drivers prefer this entrance to the old town as there are fewer traffic restrictions and there is more plan to park. Also this entrance seems to be less busy than the other, more popular, Pile Gate.
As we were dropped off near the Ploče Gate we were straight away charmed by this beautiful old town. It was the day after Christmas and there were a lot of people out and about. The streets were busy with diners, stalls and tourists. There was loud music playing and it appeared like a carnival was going on. However when we entered the side streets it all quietened down and we rolled our suitcase on the limestone streets towards our Air BnB.
It is a blessing to find an apartment with kitchen facilities in the middle of the old town. Saves a ton of money on food and a lot of time when you want to go out for sight-seeing. After settling down we walked to the only shop that was open on Boxing Day. Got ourselves some supplies, went back to have lunch and decided to have a short nap before heading out into the old town. Our flight out of Birmingham was at 6 am and we were beaten.
It was dark outside by the time we woke up! We went down to Stradun to see the Christmas decorations lights and a small Christmas market. The atmosphere was festive and we spent a couple of hours enjoying the atmosphere before returning to the apartment.
On our first full day in Dubrovnik and we wanted to maximise our sight seeing. So we reserved a Dubrovnik card (now called the Dubrovnik Pass) in advance. It cost roughly €30. Since we purchased three adults passes one pass for our 11 year old was included for free.
Pile Gate
This was the first time we were actually exiting the old town and we used the Pile Gate to pick our passes up from the tourist center located just outside the old wall. It was quite a transition from the quiet and secluded world of the old town to the bustling, crowded and noisy new town!
Onofrijeva fountain
This is a huge fountain located just inside the Pile Gate and the first thing you’d see as you enter the old town. It was designed in 1438 by an Italian architect from Napoli who also designed the old town’s waterworks and fountains. There are several other fountains located both within the old town and just outside. A small Onofrio fountain is located at the other end of the Stradun.
The City walls
Due to its vantage position in the Adriatic Sea, Dubrovnik had long been targeted by armies of different kingdoms in Italy. Hence it needed a strong defence. The Dubrovnik city walls were started in 13th century when the city was called Ragusa and a republic by itself. They were continuously updated and being built until 1660. The nearly 2km long walls were built so well that they continue to stay strong until today despite bombings in the 20th century war.
The city walls are an attraction by themselves. We climbed the steps at the Pile Gate and were treated to expansive views over the pretty old town, the Stradun, the blue Adriatic Sea and to the rest of Dubrovnik including the Lovrijenac Fortress. The walls were had several towers, bastions and fortresses. The entire circuit on the city walls with its highest point at the Minceta Fortress took us over 3 hours with several stops along the way to admire the expansive views.
Dubrovnik saw a lot of losses during the Yugoslavia war in the 1990s. Due to this many buildings were damaged and had to replaced. However they were rebuilt using the same limestone and red tiles for roofs. A view from the walls show the difference between the old red tiled roofs and the ones that were replaced after the war which still remain bright.
The Stradun
Once we completed the walk along the walk we walked around the old town of Dubrovnik especially along the Stradun and into the Franciscan church across from the Onofrijeva fountain. We continued to walk along the Stradun and look at several shops along the way.
The areas of south of the Stradun is flat while the area north is steep and has a lot of steps. Apparently the steep area was called Dubrava and what is now Stradun, also called Place, was a river separating it from the marshland in the south. The river was then filled in during the 11th century and the whole area was made into one city.
We then returned to the apartment for our lunch before making our way over to the Rector’s Palace.
Rector’s Palace
The Rector’s Palace served as the palace of the rector of the Republic of Ragusa between the 14th and early 19th centuries. The Palace had some wonderful collections on display, though not as expansive as other large museums in Europe. As with most of Dubrovnik this too was a location in the Game of Thrones.
Apparently a rector had only one month of term. If his rule was good enough he was granted another month. This was done to keep his rule corruption free.
Old town port
This port has been in continuous use during the medieval times. It was protected by several fortresses and bastions. Today it is used by private boats and occasionally for trips to nearby islands in summer.
It was early evening and we wanted to climb up and get a view of the whole old town at sunset. We walked through the Ploče Gate and up the hill to catch the sunset. The sun setting over the Adriatic and the explosion of colours was a magnificent sight that will be etched in memory forever.
Loverijenac Fortress
On our last day in Croatia and we checked out of the apartment in the morning, stored our luggages and walked over to the Lovrijenac Fortress
The fortress is located just outside the old town on its western side. It’s location helped defend Dubrovnik from both land and the sea. Perched high up on a mountain, views from the fortress back towards the old town and out to the Adriatic Sea are extraordinary. The entrance to the fortress was included in our Dubrovnik Pass.
The access to the fortress was through the western harbour. This is another popular location in the Game of Thrones. Cute doors carved into the sides of the limestone cliffs, crystal clear waters and limestone rocks all around make this location surreal!
Apparently in the 11th century the Venetians wanted to occupy Dubrovnik and came location hunting to set up a base. They found this hill on its western side and went back to gather men and materials to build a fortress at this location. The Ragusas learnt of this plan and quickly built a fortress themselves before the Venetians returned. When they returned they were attacked from this very fort and their attempts at gaining control of Dubrovnik was thwarted. A fort has existed at this location from that point which has been upgraded several times since.
The fortress had canons and limestone canon balls with several look out towers.
We returned to the old town from the fortress for lunch. This was our only eating out in Dubrovnik and we had veggie burgers at the Burger Tiger in a lane off the Stradun. We then returned to the airport for our Lufthansa flight back to Birmingham.
We were mighty glad we chose to stay in the Old Town. We practically had the whole old town to ourselves after the day tourists had all gone. The charming back streets, alleys, steps leading up to old churches, the quietness, footsteps echoing off the limestone paved streets in the distance, church bells tolling, a laughter here and there… great memories to bring back home!
Itinerary
Day 1 – City Walls and old town (Rector’s palace, Stradun, fountains, churches)
Day 2 – Lovrijenac Fortress and beach (in summer)
Day 3 – A day trip to Montenegro to see the southern most fjord and lovely towns.
Fly ✧ Ride ✧ Drive 