Croatia
We arrived in the evening and took our forty minute transfer to our hotel, which was located in the Lapad, Babin Kuk area of the city. The Royal Princess was situation on the beautiful peninsula, a 5km walk or bus ride into the old town. The hotel, built on the cliffs was lovely, we booked a deluxe sea view suite, it was fabulous with amazing views over the Adriatic.
On our first day we set off to walk along the cliff top path, it runs into a pedestrianised area where there are many restaurants and some shops. On leaving that area we took the road towards the old town. It takes about an hour or so. When you arrive you are immediately taken back in time, inside the city walls. Make sure you do the walk around the city walls, it costs about £14 per person and takes roughly a two hour stroll, stopping to take lots of photos. Wander around the rest of the old town when you come down off the wall, there are lots of narrow streets and steps, not for the unfit! You will find an abundance of shops, bars and restaurants. We did find it pretty expensive in this part of the city.
We did lots of walking to explore the surrounding areas, we headed down to the main port, where all the cruise ships moor up and the inter island ferries run from.
For the next three days we hired a car to explore beyond Dubrovnik itself. So pleased we did, there is so much more to see. On the first day we drove south along the coast, our destination was Kotor in Montenegro, a picturesque drive all the way. Make sure you take your passports with you for the border controls, queues can be lengthy too!! We even got a stamp in our passports going into Montenegro. Take stops along the route for photographs. The town of Kotor is very pretty, there is an old part, on a smaller scale to Dubrovnik but very quaint. I would recommend taking the trek up the walled walk, although we did not have time on this visit. You might even be lucky to see a cruise ship meandering up the channels towards the town from the sea. On the way back you can cut the journey down, but heading towards Tivat and catching the small car ferry across the water.
Our second day in the car took us north of Dubrovnik, another fabulous drive around the mountain roads, passing through seaside villages, we stopped in yet another quaint town called Ston. It is located on peninsular, another place to do a walled walk to another small village. Unfortunately, I did not have the right footwear for this one, such a shame. We continued to drive along the peninsular for a few more miles. On our return, we spotted a lovely cliff top restaurant with stunning views over an azure blue bay, with not a sole on the beach. We enjoyed a special anniversary lunch there, before heading back.
Our last day with the car, and off south again to another tourist resort called Cavtat, (pronounced Savtat). We had good walk around the headlands of the resort and stopping for lunch looking out at one of the two harbours in the town. There are local buses into the old town if you are staying here and do not want to drive. It takes about half and hour. The buses are very cheap, about £2.50 for a one way journey. There was also free parking in Cavtat.
Our last couple of days we spent doing more walks and trying out different restaurants for dinner. Be aware that, we found Dubrovnik quite expensive overall, I would probably recommend going for half board and not bed & breakfast as we had done. This is certainly an area I would visit again, perhaps starting at Split further north, catching ferries and staying on some of the islands and hiring a car for longer. For any motorcyclists reading this, the roads are amazing, my husband was wishing he was on his!! We did see lots of riders out there, touring around.
