Dubrovnik, Croatia

We were on the road today, driving from Kotor to Dubrovnik via Trebinje.

Had breakfast in Kotor and packed up, and then pulled our suitcases around to the parking lot just outside town. We had booked our parking through the hotel, so it was cheaper, 10 EUR per day. (We also had in-and-out privileges, which I guess is useful if you’re exploring the surrounding area). There was a little box to drop off the parking card as we left the lot.

We drove north from Kotor, around the bay. It’s a beautiful drive. There’s small little villages along the shore, and the views of the water are amazing. We stopped at a couple viewpoints for pics of Ostrvo Sveti Dorde (the small island with a church).

Eventually we branched off inland for Trebinje. There were multiple checkpoints getting across the border. First we had a stop to pay a 3 EUR road toll. Next was a passport check at the border to Republika Srpska (one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). A few km later we had a customs and immigration check, where the guy asked to see our passports, car registration and green card (which allows us to take the car across borders). We got our passports stamped and were on our way! There was no line-up at any of the stops, in fact we hardly saw any other vehicles.

It really looked like another country after the last checkpoint. I don’t know if that’s due to geography (we were slightly inland) or economics. But it had a distinctly different feel, like stepping back in time a bit.

We arrived in Trebinje around noon. Found a public parking space, exchanged some Euro for marks; got a parking pass from the machine for an hour and then set out touristing.

It was very windy and cold today in Trebinje, about 3C. I think unusually windy, cause there were lots of small tree branches and twigs on the ground. One four-foot piece actually snapped off and fell on my head! I was okay though.

There was a traditional dance recital in the main pedestrian area. We watched them for a few minutes, per Heather they were very good.

Walked to see the old arch bridge, which is similar to the more famous bridge in Mostar. However the wind was causing whitecaps on the river (!), not very conducive to getting a full circle between the bridge and reflection. Oh well.

Walked through the old town. It’s in early stages of being restored, I can see Trebinje becoming a bigger tourist draw in the future.

Got back to our car and drove a few km to Stara Herzegovina, a restaurant recommended by our Airbnb host in Dubrovnik. It was excellent. We both had lamb ‘under the bell’. This is a cooking style in the region where the ingredients are placed under a terracotta lid and the lid covered with coals. It was delicious, some of the best lamb we’ve had outside of Turkmenistan :) Had a muddy coffee to finish, and then we were back on the road.

It’s under a 45 minute drive to Dubrovnik from Trebinje. The border crossing was straightforward with no line-ups entering Croatia (although lots of cars in the other direction, looked like could be an hour wait).

Google Maps has us enter the city from the north end which threw me off at first. I guess cause we were parking at Gruz Port it made more sense.

I had prepaid for parking at the port over the web, but couldn’t figure out how to use the permit, so just parked at the port and we’ll figure it out on the way out. It’s only 10 CAD / day.

Grabbed a taxi (metered) to Buza Gate, which was 80 kuna (about 8 CAD). I texted the Airbnb guy that we were at the door, he took about five minutes to arrive and let us in. He was rather talkative and took forever to describe the place and where to eat etc. Finally he left.

The sun was just setting so we rushed out to explore and take pics. Dubrovnik is an amazing place to see. Inside the walls, the town is bowl-shaped with all streets leading down to the middle. There was a band playing in the main square (part of their winter festival). It seemed like restaurants and cafes spilled out into every alley and street. Unlike Kotor, which had a very random layout, the streets here are laid out in a grid and it’s much easier to get around.

Anyways it was still very windy and cold, so we didn’t stay out much past sunset.

Later in the evening we went back out for dinner at Dalmatino, a restaurant recommended by the Airbnb. We didn’t much care for it.

Walked down to the main square for the live music. We really liked the band, Urban & 4, a popular Croatian rock musician. It was getting late (for us) so we called it a night.