After a surprisingly comfortable overnight boat ride from Bari, Italy, we arrived in Croatia's tourism capital, Dubrovnik. With its old city walls and almost perfectly intact medeival township it was almost like stepping back in time. Walking through the main gate and onwards through the stone lined streets we immediately got the sensation that we had somehow been here before. Was it that most if Italy has similar style towns..., perhaps some crazy medieval dream..., or maybe it was that Dubrovnik is in fact Kings Landing. For those who don't understand this reference Kings Landing is one of the main settings for the hit book and HBO tv series Game of Thrones. Now having finally witnessed this amazing castle its no wonder why the directors chose it to shoot the show.
While in Dubrovnik we wanted to slow down a little and enjoy some time at the sea. Although the beaches were not as nice as back home, with rocky entrences and a significantly cooler water temperature we still managed to spend a lot of time in the water. We also spent a day on a small boat, where we cruised some of the Dalmatian coast and sunned ourselves on the islands. Another evening we also organised a sunset dinner cruise which cruised around the old town as the sun sank slowly behind the buildings, an amazing experience. The old city was also great to wander around with an excellent aquarium and of course walking the city walls. We also managed to find an amazing photography exhibition which showcased pictured from the 1990's war. Whilst many of the images were terribly saddening, it gave us a great insight to what it was like back then and fueled our desire to learn more about the war.
One thing we were particularly looking forward to, was visiting the small town of Ston and the peninsular that the town is on. Ston itself is famous for its oysters and the small walled city. We arrived at lunch time and quickly found a restaurant serving fresh oysters and other seafood delights. Afterwards we strolled around the town and sampling some of the local brandy - two were added to our bar on wheels, walnut and fig. We then drove out onto the peninsular to visit the Croatian wine country, where we sampled some of the local wines, Dingač and Plavav. We enjoyed Ston and the scenic drive so much that we returned later in the week for more oysters bought fresh from a local family.
*A small warning* slightly explicit picture below. A particularly interesting restaurant on the upper city walls of Dubrovnik was a strangely appropriately named place called Lady Pi Pi, see photo below and make up your own mind. While the fountain at the front and the name are probably enough to draw the curious crowds, the view from the restaurant was also quite spectacular, situated high up at the back of the old city, with the balcony overlooking the entire old city. To the important stuff - the food - we shared a large plate of grilled squid and a mixed grill which we watched cooking over a coal fire as we relaxed in the late afternoon sun. The food was delicious and even though they were huge we managed to finish everything! On another night in our culinary tour of Dubrovnik we went to a small place near our apartment which was highly reviewed, after much deliberation we settled on the mussels and lamb chops, both very tasty but the mussels were a stand out - perfectly cooked in a garlic, lemon sauce. We followed this up with a bourbon vanilla ice cream which did not disappoint.
On our final night in Dubrovnik and our last night with Sharon and Rodney, we decided to book into Kanoba Dubrava, on a recommendation from friends. We had to go up to the restaurant a few days in advance to order, as the traditional dalmation dish takes three hours to cook in a dome over hot coals. Again by recommendation we got the mixed peka of lamb and veal. Arriving at the restaurant we ordered drinks and a platter of Dalmatian smoked meats and cheeses while we waited for our main. After checking out the domes cooking over the coals we were excited when our dish was brought out. As anticipated the meat was cooked beautiful with the potato, almost mashed they were cooked so long.
Waking up the next morning, it was time to say goodbye to Sharon and Rodney before continuing down the coast to Montenegro.
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