Ever since we arrived here, our intention was to walk along the city walls. It is the #1 thing to do in Dubrovnik according to Trip Advisor. Each morning, however, was cloudy and we wanted it to be clear and, by the afternoon when the sun was out, the wall was too crowded or we thought it would be too hot. Sunday, our last full day here, we woke up to a perfect day - clear skies and not too hot.
So, by around 10:00, we climbed up the many stairs to get to the wall. Apparently, there are 1080 of them if you do the entire walk. We only did about half which took us from the entrance at the Pile Gate, along the sea to the harbour south. There seems to be some "crowd control" up there as you are required to walk it counter-clockwise. There were a couple of cafés along the way and we stopped at one for some juice. The views out to the sea and across the rooftops were stunning. Also, though, you can see houses that needed to be reconstructed after the 1991 war and, as well, we passed quite a few that remain in ruins.
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| Looking down on Buza Bar |
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| One of the damaged houses |
On our way around the wall, we spotted the other bar that is in the rocks. This one is called Bard and is a little more upscale that Buza but the prices were about the same. We treated ourselves to a drink there after we finished our wall walk - figuring we had earned it having already had our daily exercise and it was only just past 11!
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| Bard Bar from the wall |
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| Another "Rose by the Sea" moment |
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| The Entrance to Bard Bar - you would never know it was there unless you ventured though the door |
After sitting there for over an hour, we set off the find a place to have lunch. I have to say the food here, aside from the very upscale restaurants, has been quite mediocre. The exception was Linda's gluten-free pasta at Bona Fide the other day which she said was good. Instead of trying the restaurants on the west side of Stradun, this time we went looking for something on the street that runs parallel to it on the hillier side. Linda had good luck there when I was in Kotor. We came upon Restaurant Wanda (the reason I am mentioning it is if you are ever in this city, you have to eat here). For lunch, I ordered dish that was sliced eggplant that had been rolled around mozzarella and then smothered with a very tasty tomato sauce. I had something similar in New England over 20 years ago and loved it so I wanted to see if it compared. It did - and it only cost about 45HRK or about $9. Yummy!
After lunch, we found a small museum we wanted to see. Unfortunately, it wasn't part of our Dubrovnik Card. However, we went anyway, It was called War Photo Limited and contained a collection of very graphic photos of both the Palestinian conflicts around 2015 and the war here from 1991 to 1995. We both felt sapped when we left. So much human suffering!
Later, we wandered over to Bona Fide for happy hour (more about that later). We had a great time there and one comment I have to make is that the service industry here is fantastic. Everyone has been very friendly and helpful. Most speak very good English and many have "gone the extra mile" to make sure customers are satisfied. For example, at Bona Fide the couple next to us had waited quite a while for their pizza. It turned out there had been a mix-up in the kitchen and the waiter dealt with it by removing the charge for it from the bill.
For dinner on our last evening here, we went to Restaurant 360'. This is the top restaurant in Dubrovnik and has a perfect setting on the lower city wall. We had a wonderful table overlooking the water. The food and service were both amazing. I'll describe it in more detail in another blog. Suffice it to say, for me, it was THE most expensive meal I have had anywhere - London, New York, Berlin, Vancouver, anywhere!! However, that was due more to my curiosity about some of the wines the sommelier told me about. I didn't drink a lot (4 glasses over 2 1/2 hours) but, man oh man, did I drink well!! The first photo below is from the restaurant's website.
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| Our table at 360' |
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