When we went to King's Landing (Dubrovnik)

So, I’m back!

I haven’t posted on my blog in over two months, but I’m back on a new computer and ready to catch you up on all our travels, photos and adventures. My plan is to post blogs in chronological order. So, we left off in Rome, next is Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik is a neat city, made famous by a little known TV show called Game of Thrones. Dubrovnik has an amazing old walled city from the Middle Ages. There are many small winding cobbled streets throughout making it the perfect place for the filming of parts of Quarth and King’s Landing (the capital of Westeros) for Game of Thrones.

We walked up a short but steep track to get to Fort Lovrijenac. Totally worth it for the views back to the Old City of Dubrovnik.

Narrow streets - Dubrovnik — There are narrow streets winding all around the Old City. You can spend all day getting lost in these streets. There are steps, shops, bars and homes scattered throughout the old part of the town. However the population living there has moved into the newer areas of Dubrovnik as housing prices and tourist numbers rise.

Walking through the streets - Dubrovnik — Exploring the streets.

Drinking fountain - Dubrovnik — We were in Croatia at the start of June, the weather was very hot and hydration was necessary. Here’s James filling up the bottles at a popular public fountain.

On our first day in the Old City we went on a walking tour. I highly recommend this, it helped us to get our bearings in the city and learn about the history. Our tour guide was a local who has lived in the Old City for most of his life, it was great to get an insiders look at Dubrovnik.

Latin on the walls - Dubrovnik — This wall has Latin writing on it, supposedly written by priests from the church next door complaining about the kids who would play football loudly in the streets. During the middle ages Latin was normally only spoken by church leaders and some scholars so the children couldn’t read it anyway. Note the date at the end; 1597.

Pre-Kayaking cocktails - Dubrovnik — Enjoying the local cocktails.

Sunset Kayaking - Dubrovnik — A guided kayaking tour was one of the best things we did in Croatia. It costs about an extra €10 to kayak at sunset but is totally worth it. The sunset over the Adriatic is AMAZING and it’s a slightly cooler time of day so the sun isn’t so harsh. We kayaked out from below Fort Lovrijenac around Lokrum Island (the close large island opposite the Old City, also used for filming in Game of Thrones). We kayaked past some rock/cliff jumping areas, a nudist beach and then stopped at a cave beach for a brief dinner and swim before kayaking into the sunset. It was an amazing experience to kayak in crystal clear water with such incredible views.

So many cats - Dubrovnik — Strangely, there were a lot of cats in Dubrovnik, not just in the Old Town but in the outer areas as well. Apparently it’s because there used to be lots of mice and rats so the cats would catch them, now I just think the cats like the warm weather and there’s always tourists to pat them.

Croatian flag - Dubrovnik — It’s not a trip to Dubrovnik without a walk around the wall. To be fair it’s pretty pricey but it’s an hour or so walk around with fantastic views in all directions, so it’s worth it. What more could you want on a beautiful sunny Croatian day?

Down the main street - Dubrovnik — View from the wall looking down Stradun (the main street of the Old City).

Along the wall - Dubrovnik — Looking back along the wall.

We couldn’t go to Dubrovnik without getting amongst some Game of Thrones sites.

Iron Throne - Dubrovnik — James looking pretty comfortable on the Iron Throne.

The House of the Undying - Dubrovnik — James at the area used for the House of the Undying.

Views through the streets - Dubrovnik — View from the top of the “Shame Stairs” from Cersei’s walk of shame.

Orange rooves - Dubrovnik — You can see why Dubrovnik made an awesome backdrop for Game of Thrones.

Beach and flowers — There are plenty of swimming spots around Dubrovnik. Most of them are stoney beaches, so you have to walk like a chicken to get to the water. This isn’t a problem through because the water in the Adriatic sea is the clearest water I’ve ever seen, it’s absolutely beautiful to swim in.

Adriatic waters - Dubrovnik — Enjoying the refreshing ocean water.

One day while in Dubrovnik we took a sailing trip on a boat. We stopped off at three different islands on the trip. The first island we stopped at James and I spent our time walking around the island, where I saw my first ever snake in the wild and proceeded to freak out whenever any branch or leaf touched me for the rest of the walk. The second island we went swimming, so refreshing and clear. On the last island we had an ice cream and just looked out at the amazing view and thought “How are any of these places real?”

Towers - Dubrovnik — Dubrovnik is beautiful in every direction you look.

Dubrovnik is an awesome city, with iconic orange rooves, the city wall and lovely clear waters. The world is learning why Dubrovnik is special so more and more tourists are coming each year. We were there in early June, just at the beginning of tourist season and it was mental! There were so many people everywhere, the locals that we met told us that this was nothing compared to peak season. So I’d definitely recommend going early or late in the summer to avoid the insane crowds. Overall Dubrovnik is an awesome unique city with interesting medieval and recent history and would recommend it to anyone, Game of Thrones fan or not.