Day 24: Dubrovnik!! and Six Border Crossings

5/30/22

I've heard everyone talking about this place and seen pictures on the internet, so I was teeming with excitement to see it myself.

It's also the city that Game of Thrones used for Kings Landing. At times I felt like I was right there in a scene that was familiar to me. It has a unique and ancient charm, situated on a peninsula, where ten feet thick tall stone walls encapsulate as many houses and churches can possibly fit, creating beautiful alleyways and the feeling of a vibrant city.

Countless other movies have been filmed here too.

Dubrovnik is in southern Croatia, so we drove up from Montenegro and went through customs.

Once there, I was awestruck. There was intricate stonework and red roofs at every turn.

Dubrovnik was under Venetian and Byzantine control, but also was a free state for nearly 500 years, and has its own flag and is proud of its independent history.

I payed an unfortunately expensive ticket (was hoping my program covered it) to go up and walk the walls, but it was so beautiful I couldn't miss it. These are my views from various points circling the wall. There were lots of stairs, so we definitely got our exercise for the day.

There were sights inside the city that normally would have been very beautiful, but were even more exciting because I felt like I was walking around King's Landing.

There were lots of sweet street babies. :) Dubrovnik is known for its cats too.

Fort Lovrijenac, providing crossfire to protect the city

Be prepared to pay American prices or higher for things here. The best advice I can offer is to check the menu before you eat somewhere. Everything is very expensive, but BOY was it beautiful.

Dunja and I split a delicious Dalmatian pizza: shrimp, parsley, garlic, and Gorgonzola. I ate nearly all of it because I was so hungry- LOL!

My colleagues spent over 1,546 kuna/$200 on drinks... oh my!! But they got to sip them at the best view in the whole city on the cliff right next to the sea outside the wall. Apparently at least the cocktails were good! 😂

We went through six customs today. Wowee! None of the customs gave us any difficulty,

But the roads existed before the border lines were drawn, which makes the customs points in silly places- ie you have to cross quite a few in one direction on the same road.

Take a look at these borders (especially Bosnia's little slice of coast!)

We went from Croatia through Bosnia, we ended back up in Montenegro where we spend the night.

Ćao for now. :)