We were looking forward to this port, me because I’d heard it was a brilliant place to visit, and Peter because he’d been before and really liked it. He told me it was a brilliant place to visit.
And then of course, there is Game of Thrones. We were both avid followers of the series, and with Peter being a bit of a groupie regarding anything to do with filming, Dubrovnik promised so much.
We docked in the port, surrounded by hills and mountains on land and islands out to sea. It all made for a gorgeous view as we stepped out onto the balcony this morning.
We didn’t rush, making sure we had a good breakfast, and caught the 10 o’clock shuttle bus which took us the 3 miles or so to the historical centre of Dubrovnik. The old town is completely walled in, full of narrow and angular streets that criss cross in all directions, climbing up and down on steep sets of stairs. Not a place for a car, van or lorry. Again, after a little online research before we came away, we had decided our aim today was to walk the city walls. The shuttle bus stopped just outside said walls, so we headed straight for the entrance gate.
Our first shock came when we realised that in order to walk the walls, we would have to buy tickets at €35 each! We were astounded. But tickets included access to all the museums etc within the walls, and it’s not as if we come to Dubrovnik every day. We paid the €70, got the tickets and set off.
There are a LOT of steps up and down the walls, and it’s a good trek to go all the way round, but we loved it. I remarked to Peter that many places that we visited had one or good views to enjoy as you walked round, but here, everywhere you looked from those walls was a view. It was stunning.
I loved looking inwards from the walls, at the narrow stair ways and alleys running throughout the old town. The tiles on the rooves, the chimneys, ruins of old buildings, cafes, gardens and churches. They all made up the fascinating landscape of the city. Although the it was expensive, we were very glad we’d opted to pay the price and do the wall walk. It was brilliant.
We came to the last tower - here's Peter, I made him stand while I took the picture of the backdrop.
And it turned out it was the one from the Game of Thrones scene where Daenerys can't get into the tower where her baby dragons have been locked away (second series I think). I remember her walking around it, and there wasn't an entrance.
In reality, of course there is an entrance, and quite a lot stairs to the top to give excellent views.
And finally, we'd done the complete circuit. So we descended back into the old town and then wandered up and down the streets and stairways to find a couple of locations where GoT scenes had been filmed, one of the most famous of which was the Jesuit Staircase, where Cersey had to make her Walk of Shame.
As we wandered we came across an art type museum covered by the Dubrovnik pass, so we decided to pop in and have a look.
But our tickets weren’t right? We were told we couldn't go in? Apparently there are two types of tickets: the Dubrovnik pass, at €35 which allows access to the city walls, visit Fort Lovrijenac and all the museums etc, and the city wall tickets, at €35 only allow you to walk around the walls and visit the fort. But that wasn’t explained when I bought the tickets, and the guy in the ticket office never asked if I wanted one or the other. So if you are reading this and plan to get tickets yourselves – check first! I suspect that you can only buy the Dubrovnik pass online.
Anyway, feeling a little miffed, we consoled ourselves with an ice cream as we made our way towards the town gate. And what an ice cream! We certainly weren’t short changed there. Two scoops equalled a mountain, and it took us a while to eat it all. It was really nice too.
Out of the gate, we made our way over to Fort Lovrijenac. Oh my! More steps, up and up and up. But once we reached the top and got inside the fort, we found ourselves looking at more GoT film locations, and even better, more views. The top of the tower at the fort must be nearly as high as the highest point of Dubrovnik old town walls. Looking over, we could see the rooves of everything inside. Fantastic.
Then it was down, down, down all the way to the gorgeous little bay used in so many GoT scenes and then on to the shuttle bus back to the ship.
A brilliant day, and somewhere we would be very happy to visit again, which is really good, cos we are coming back in October.
Tomorrow we are in Split. I wonder how that will compare.
No comments:
Post a Comment