Dubrovnik, what a beautiful city. From the picturesque alleyways to the scenic views of the red clay roofs. When we arrived near our airbnb we were greeted with what seemed like an eternity of steps, particularly when you’re carrying your bags. Only to be told by a kind stranger that we had actually past our place, which he proceeded to help us find. Our airbnb had an lovely outdoor patio with grape vines growing, even picked a few to eat. The place was a studio and it had all of the basic necessities that we would need.
When we arrived we came at a strange time weather wise( 1st week of October). They were going through extreme winds and the temperature was already in the 50s, so it was feeling pretty cold. At that point we’re starting to think we may be severely underdressed, even with my hoodie and windbreaker. Aaron forgot to bring a jacket so I could understand why he would be cold. As all trips should start for us we ventured off to the local grocery store. It was significantly smaller than what we were used to even compared to some other countries we’ve been to. There were limited food items but they mostly had whatever we needed; I will say the vegetables were definitely lacking. For dinner that evening we went to a restaurant called kopun. We had to walk through old town which requires you to traverse numerous steps going down hill. It was at that moment I thought Aaron is not going to be a fan of this place. Aaron had a veal steak and I had pasticada which is a slow cooked beef in a plum sauce with dumplings. Both dishes were good, I knew my dish would be a sweet/savory dish but it was still slightly sweeter than anticipated
Saturday
We wanted to take it easy our first full day in the city especially considering we would probably be jet lagged. I don’t think I fully woke up until noon that day. Once we were dressed for the day we headed to Bistro Tavulin where we both got risotto. Dubrovnik is known for their black risotto which consist of cuttlefish fish and cuttlefish ink. In Dubrovnik they say the blacker the better. I enjoyed the the risotto and i think it actually got better with time. As it cooled down the flavors started to become more pronounced.
After lunch we went to get the Dubrovnik pass which gave us access to so much in the city from museums, bus rides, different tourist sites like the city gate and numerous local discounts. If you go to Dubrovnik I highly recommend getting it, regardless of how many days you are in the city, it is worth it. I didn’t even get to take advantage of everything it had to offer. Getting back on topic google maps is usually my preferred app for navigating around a city, but in regards to using the bus system is did not work in Dubrovnik. For Dubrovnik you need an app called “Moovit“, which is great for navigating on the buses, but you will have ads so be aware. We hopped on the bus and took a 10-15 min ride that dropped us off near the port area, which was really beautiful to just sit and stare at the water. But we couldn’t do that because we were on a mission. We finally found what I believe was a mall, and found a clothing store. They actually had excellent prices; Aaron found a nice quality jacket for 20 euros and I got a hat. We actually ended up returning on our last day so I could get a puffer jacket for 15 euros. On the way back we tried hopping on what we thought was the bus to take us back but were denied access, but I couldn’t understand why. Turns out with the Dubrovnik pass you only have access to buses 1-9. We ultimately had to wait a little longer so we could catch the right bus back to our place. That evening Aaron prepared some chicken thighs with sautéed onions and tomatoes to go with some rice, and sautéed zucchini with feta. We were very happy with our meal, particularly with our limited spices.