I’m picking back up with Day 4 of our Balkans road trip, which means it’s finally time to share my photos from the breathtaking coastal city of Dubrovnik (!!) A quick word of warning: After perusing this post you will almost certainly want to book a flight to Croatia. No, you’re not convinced? Okay, let’s see…

Dubrovnik is quite full of tourists but — as I’ve written before about other cities — that’s for good reason. And I’m not talking about how Game of Thrones is filmed there, though judging by all of the tours and merchandise that is a clear draw for some people. I’m referring to the shiny Venetian-like stone streets, the bright orange terra-cotta roofs, the dramatic city wall overlooking the blue ocean… It’s lovely and the secret’s out, so come to terms with the crowds before you arrive so you don’t end up disappointed.

Gui and I stayed at one of the many hotels in Lapad — the beach area outside of the city walls — and really loved waking up and seeing the ocean from our balcony each morning. After driving in from Mostar Sunday evening, we headed to the nearby restaurant/bar Peppers for one of their famous frozen margaritas and a spread of appetizers. I will say that there is a lot of construction around the Lapad area, which could potentially be noisy if you are not visiting over the Easter holiday like we were, but hopefully they finish that up soon.

The next morning we took the public bus from the Lapad boardwalk down to the city walls — roughly a 15-minute ride and undoubtedly a better option than driving your own car and attempting to find somewhere near the wall to park it (the old town itself is pedestrian-only). Our first stop was the lovely cloister in the Franciscan Monastery and then we took some time wandering through the labyrinth of streets and exploring the port. For lunch, we had a delicious meal at Oliva Pizza and then bought tickets to walk the top of the city wall, which was a bit pricey but also my favorite thing we did in Dubrovnik. The views are incredible and we were probably up there for a good two hours soaking it all in before we climbed down and went for drinks at Buza Bar. The outdoor bar is arranged on jagged rocks looking down over the water and the nearby island, and includes a fun playlist of music that periodically features the Game of Thrones theme song 🙂

After drinks, we took the cable car — made in Switzerland! — up the mountain for an aerial view of the old town enclosed by the winding city wall. There is a viewing platform at the top, but the view isn’t so good from the designated area — We joined the crew that climbed down onto the rocks and hung out there for awhile, munching on cashews as the sun began to set. Dinner that evening was at Dubravka 1836, where I was accidentally presented with the wrong meal (what I hoped was sun-dried tomato turned out to be ham) and thus earned us free wine and a 10 percent discount on our bill. We returned to the city walls the next morning to explore the nearby fort –also featured on Game of Thrones, apparently — and grabbed some ice cream before packing into our little Ford Fiesta for our next stop on the adventure: Split! Stay tuned.