Our Venice Cruise Chapter 21 part 1: Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our next port of call was Dubrovnik, Croatia. A port that I was looking forward to for several reasons. Foremost, it is a beautifully preserved medieval city. I really like exploring old places like this. Secondly, Robbie and I had become Game of Thrones fans. This beautiful medieval city was a prominent Game of Thrones filming location. Also Croatia is one of those Slavic countries that you hear of but really don’t know too much about. I was curious to see what it was like.
Dubrovnik is a great city to explore on your own, so there was no need to pay extra for a cruise line shore excursion. The cruise port is however about two miles from the old walled city. Not super far, it would be an easy cab ride. The cruise line did hire a bus to take passengers to and from the city. There were several people in our group that wanted to see the city together, so we opted to pay the small fee and take the bus. We woke up to some light rain showers. This was the first and only rain of the trip. The weather for this trip was amazing! It was unseasonably warm and sunny for pretty much the whole trip. It wasn’t until we returned to Venice that it cooled down to normal fall temps. It was lightly raining when we boarded the bus. The bus dropped us off just outside of the old walled city. Before entering the city we visited the old West Harbor. The weather was starting to clear. What a beautiful little harbor. There is a stone pier jutting out through the rocky cove. To the left there is a great view of the stonewalls of the city that was built on the rocky cliffs. On the cliffs to the right is Fort Lovrijenac. The harbor was a beautiful place to visit, which is probably why it was used several times as a filming location for the Game of Thrones. Almost all of this little harbor was used in GOT at some point. It’s not hard to imagine the Red Keep CGI-ed on the old city walls or Cersei standing on the stone pier as Jamie’s boat returns with the body of their daughter.
We entered the old walled city through the Pile gate, another GOT filming location. The old stone walls and cobble stone streets are truly like strolling through a medieval city.
Exiting the Pile Gate puts you on the Stradun, the wide main boulevard through the city. We strolled down the Stradun taking in the beauty.
At the end of the Stradun, we made a right turn that took us to the famous Jesuit staircase. The staircase was used several times in GOT. Notably, Cersei’s walk of shame. Looking up the staircase you need to imagine the huge Great Sept, CGI-ed at the top of the stairway. We walked up the staircase to Saint Ignatius Church. The actual real Catholic church at the top of the staircase. Once at the top of the stairway, turning to look down, you see all of Kings Landing Dubrovnik in front of you.
Winding our way through the cobbled streets, Robbie spotted a sign that read “Cold drinks with the most beautiful view.” This we needed to investigate further. The arrow on the sign pointed to literally, a small hole in the wall. We went through the hole in the wall and were treated to the most beautiful view! The bar was not open, it’s called the Buza Bar. Standing on the rocky outcrop, we had a nice view of the city’s stone wall. Below the beautiful Adriatic Sea was lapping at the rocks.
After visiting the amazing view of the Buza Bar, we made our way through the winding streets of Dubrovnik. We passed by many medieval stone buildings through narrow cobblestone streets. There were several churches, the Church of Saint Stephen and the Cathedral of the Assumption. The Rector’s Palace is the home of the Rector who was the head authority of the town. The palace has been beautifully restored and is now a museum. It was also a GOT filming location.
roy thoman photography 