Dubrovnik (with some Game of Thrones)

After having spent a week in Croatia I was ready to head to the number one tourist destination in Croatia- Dubrovnik!!!  Dubrovnik is at the very southern edge of Croatia and to get there you have to actually stop at customs and go through (and quickly exit) Bosnia because it’s cut off from the rest of Croatia (see the map below). Sounds fairly easy enough right? The problem is when I rented my car in Vienna I found out that I was not allowed to take my car past EU borders and this, of course, meant driving to Bosnia was out. Luckily I was with my friend Dan and he had a plan (that’s why we call him “Dan the man with the plan”. We don’t actually, but that would be a good nickname for him). There was a ferry that went from the town of Ploce to Trpanj, so for about $30 for the car and then $5 for each passenger we avoided Bosnia (and thus avoided getting thrown into jail- or whatever other imagined consequences we would maybe face. I tried to convince Dan that if we did take the Bosnia route that at least Irina and I would’ve been together in jail; Dan, being the sole male, would’ve had to fend for himself. Alas- he didn’t like the idea and we took the ferry).

The ferry ride was very nice, it took about an hour and it was a much-appreciated break from driving. But it did take the purported 3 hour drive from Split to Dubrovnik into about 5 hours, thus we arrived in Dubrovnik around 3pm, and were ready to take on the Old City.

We found out our Airbnb was only about a 35 to 40 minute walk into the Old Town of Dubrovnik so we decided that we would do that and possibly take an Uber back later if so desired. I’m so glad that we took the walk into Dubrovnik because the view along the way was so beautiful. Walking along the coast and looking down into those aqua blue waters that I had come to know and love in Croatia was just spectacular. We also passed lots of homes that were just lovely, many with beautiful gardens and orange trees in the front of their houses.  I thought if this is what it looks like BEFORE we hit the Old City, I know we’re going to be astounded once we get there.

And then we were there- we could see the city walls but before passing through them we veered to the right to look over into the water and that is when we saw this lovely view, pictured below. You might recognize it if you’ve seen Game of Thrones- it’s the beach entrance to King’s Landing and this is also where the Lannister’s say goodbye to Princess Marcella- and also where Cersei awaits her return.

Most people enter into the Old City through the Pile Gates.  This is also a scene from Game of Thrones, when Joffrey is returning to the Red Keep after Marcella is sent away, and he gets attacked by angry mobs gathered in the entrance so he screams ‘Kill them, kill them all!’ (man, that guy was a jerk).

After passing through the Pile Gates you are immediately on the main street, known as Stradun, which stretches from the main entrance all the way down to the city clock, and is lined with cafés and little shops. We encountered the Onofrio fountain which was built in 1438, and to the right and left of the Stradun there were beautiful little street and alleyways that were just gloriously beautiful, all lined with paving stones were laid in 1468. It is just remarkable as you’re walking down the street just how impeccable the city is. It really leaves you with a sense of awe. It’s easy to see why Dubrovnik was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979.

The very recognizable and strikingly beautiful (get it? striking) clock tower dates from the 15th century. The bronze bell strikers are locally called Maro and Baro.

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Dubrovnik was an independent merchant republic for 700 years until that ended all because of a little man with an major ego named Napoleon in 1806. It had traded with Turkey, India, Africa and sometimes even England. Venice was so envious of the beauty and trading of Dubrovnik that it attacked the republic in the 12th century and Dubrovnik was under Venetian rule from 1205 to 1358. During the 13th century the old town was completed and Dubrovnik had a lot of advancement, including a pharmacy that opened in 1307 and an orphanage in 1432, making these the first of their kind in the world.

We wandered around the city taking in the sights, and came to the Dubrovnik version of the Spanish Steps. At the top of the steps, which I’ll talk about later, we visited the church of St Ignatius. The church with it’s beautifully painted frescoes was built between 1667 and 1725  and includes now a shrine in a grotto to ‘Our Lady of Lourdes’, added in 1885. I love stopping in all the churches I can during my travels, sitting down for a few minutes of quiet and thanking God for all the beauty that he created in the world, and for blessing me with my travel opportunities.

We continued on to the back entrance of town and walked around the Old Port of Dubrovnik, where there were plenty of boats, mostly small fishing boats and sailboats, as well as people swimming, sun-bathing and children playing games. It was a beautiful, albeit hot, day.

At this point in the day it was time for our to join our walking tour- and we had done it- booking a walking tour of Game of Thrones.  I will go ahead and say now, the tour was fine, we got to see a lot of sights, but I was hoping there would have been a bit more information about the actual city of Dubrovnik, but there wasn’t- I had to do a lot of the research for this blog after I got home.  In addition, throughout the tour we were told often about HOW MUCH wasn’t filmed in Dubrovnik, or how much was changed because of CGI, but luckily the city is so beautiful it wasn’t a disappointing tour.  So all of you Game of Thrones fans, here we go:

Our first stop was the location we had already spotted when we were first entering the Old City. Just outside of the town walls is Pile Harbor, also known as the entrance to ‘King’s Landing’, or Blackwater Bay.  But how beautiful a spot is this?  It’s no wonder it was used as a filming location, if there is ever a movie about me, please use this location. The small fishing harbor is set between Bokar Fortress on the left and Fort Lovrijenac on the right, and is where the numerous kayak tours start from.

In the harbor is this pier which, for Game of Throne fans, is where Sansa and Shae are watching ships when Littlefinger comes to talk to Sansa and offer her a way to escape King’s Landing. Irina and I got to react this scene of the show, look at our amazing acting skills, I trained for a long time for this moment.

Also visible from the same location was this darling cliff side with the interesting doors (dang, doesn’t a cliff come off as so bada** yet so adorable just by adding some colorful doors?).  The Game of Thrones tie-in is that this is where all the bastard children of Robert Baratheon were drowned in season 2.

After viewing the harbor we climbed up the steep hill and steps to arrive at Fort Lovrijenac, a stunning fortress located outside of the Old City of Dubrovnik, but in Game of Thrones words is the Red Keep of King’s Landing.  We had to pay to enter the Fort, but if you buy a ticket to walk the walls of Dubrovnik it is included. There were many memorable scenes that took place here, like Joffrey’s naming ceremony where a tournament was held, it’s where the Hound rescued Sansa, and numerous scenes with Cersei.

Getting up to the fortress is a steep climb up, but you’re rewarded with a fabulous view that overlooks the city. The fortress has been dated from around 1018, when legend states that Dubrovnik citizens learned of an idea from Venice (remember their jealousy) to build a fortress on this rock in order to attack and take over Dubrovnik. However, when the citizens of Dubrovnik got wind of the plan they decided to build their own fortress first (can you imagine the Venetians arriving with all their tools and supplies to start building and discovering something was already there?). This continued to be an important location for the defense of Dubrovnik, though it is not large- it was usually manned by just 25 people but helped to protect against attack from land and sea, with the help of it’s 10 large cannons.

From this picture you can see the island of Lokrum.  This is where the scenes for when Daenerys visited Qarth in season 2 were filmed.  It is a 10-minute ferry ride and if I’d had more time in Dubruvnik I would’ve loved to visit. It’s basically a huge garden island, with lots of peacocks roaming around and beaches to relax on.  You can also visit the  ruins of a 11th century basilica and monastery (where they filmed for Game of Thrones). The ferry costs less than $10 and includes entrance to the nature reserve, and I’m sure it would have been a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The next location was definitely one of the most recognizable/ memorable in Game of Thone’s land, the Jesuit Staircase, where the Great Sept of Baelor forced Cersei to her infamous “walk of shame” in season 5 in order for her to achieve atonement. There were plenty of tourists walking by saying “Shame, Shame…” and you could even hear ringing of the infamous bell. For those who so desire it, you could also stop and visit one of the many cafe’s selling ‘Shame Burgers’ or ‘Shame Mojitos’.

The Jesuit Staircase, which leads from Gundulic Square to the square in front of Collegium Ragusinum and St Ignatius Church (which I talked about earlier), were completed in 1738. The designer of the staircase was Pietro Passalacqua, who was a Roman architect inspired by the Spanish Steps in Rome.

One of the last places on our tour was the Rector’s Place,  featured in Season 2 when Daenerys visits the Spice King’s mansion to request ships to carry her army across the Narrow Sea.

Built in the late 15th century for the elected rector, who governed Dubrovnik, today the palace is used as the Cultural History Museum.

One thing I did not do was take a tour of the city walls because they’re quite expensive ($30) and I decided to spend the next day visiting Montenegro, but in the picture below you can see the Minceta Tower, the highest point in Dubrovnik.  The walls have been around since 1453, though construction on them began in the 10th century, and there are fortresses at the four corners.  In Game of Thrones this location served as the House of the Undying in Qarth in Season 2 when Daenerys Targaryen searches for the entrance in the walls while in pursuit of her stolen dragons.

And of course no Game of Thrones tour is complete without a seat in The Throne.  Here I was channeling my inner Daenerys, can you see the resemblance?

After our walking tour we had worked up a thirst (Because it was over 90 degrees that day) so we went to the Buza Bar, where you can sit an have a (quite expensive) drink overlooking the Adriatic Sea.  We weren’t the only ones with this idea, and seeing as how Dubrovnik is the most popular tourist destination in Croatia, we were hard-pressed to find any place in Croatia that wasn’t crowded.  It is still a very beautiful, charming city, but it did make me yearn for a chance to have seen Dubrovnik before the days of Game of Thrones (pretty ironic since I took part in the tourist madness).

Dubrovnik has had its share of hard times– it was hit by an earthquake in 1667, killing 5000 inhabitants and destroying much of the city, though the city walls still remained. In 1806, when Napoleon entered Dubrovnik, he was met with little resistance, and after the fall of Napoleon, Dubrovnik became part of the Astro-Hungarian empire. It wasn’t until after the first World War that Dubrovnik became a part of Croatia. Croatia then became  a part of Yugoslavia after World War II, and during the war in 1991 with the Serbians Dubrovnik suffered damage because of shelling during a siege that lasted seven months, though after Dubrovnik was quickly restored to its former beauty.  I loved wandering the seemingly endless maze of pedestrian cobblestone pathways- everywhere you look is picture-perfect. Have you been to Dubrovnik?  What was your favorite part?