After waking up, we set out through the Pile gate into the old city of Dubrovnik. Our first stop today would be breakfast. We looked at a few places, but when we arrived, the menus didn’t seem all that appealing to us. We eventually stumbled upon a small restaurant that had a pretty standard english breakfast that we decided to have.
While it wasn’t the best breakfast I’d ever had, it was good enough to fuel us for the morning.
Dubrovnik Old City
Our plan was to walk around old town for the morning and that’s what we did. The area of old town is actually rather small, so spending the better part of the morning exploring it wasn’t unheard of. We wandered through some of the beautiful narrow streets, up and down different alleys and along the inside of the city walls. Overall it was a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend the morning. You get a good sense for the size of the city, but also for how beautifully laid out it is!
Cogito Coffee
As we explored through the city, we passed by Cogito Coffee. This was a place that Vino had on her list of places to try. So since we were here we all decided to get a coffee. I picked up a cold brew coffee and it was pretty good!
Outside the Walls
From coffee, we passed through one of the gates and walked along the water outside of the wall. From here you get to walk around part of the harbour alongside the walls. We also walked out towards a light house where we were treated to some amazing views of the Adriatic sea and if you looked back, a great view of the Old City or if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, King’s Landing.
It was along the rocks beneath the walls here that there were several people taking the opportunity to go for a swim, or sun bathe. So it was kind of cool that even with the high walls, there were places you could get pretty close/into the water.
Dubrovnik Cable Car
Since we were outside of the walls, we walked up the hill a little to the Dubrovnik Cable Car Station. The cable car would take you up Srd Hill which is a small mountain overlooking the old city of Dubrovnik. It gave amazing views of the area and of the Adriatic sea.
We spent about an hour at the top, taking some pictures and simply having a moment to take it all in. Its a beautiful scene and on a bright sunny day (which we had) its hard to beat.
Pizzeria Mirakul
Our plan after the cable car was to grab a quick lunch before spending the afternoon walking around the walls of Dubrovnik. We weren’t super hungry given we had a fairly hearty breakfast and found a pizza place called Pizzeria Mirakul. We ended up sharing a pepperoni and Mushroom pizza between the three of us.
I did say we weren’t super hungry, but somehow ended up ordering too much food anyways.
Walls of Dubrovnik
After lunch we headed back to the Pile Gate. There was a ticket office there to gain entrance into the Walls of Dubrovnik. We allotted a few hours to walk the wall. The wall itself, completely surrounds the old city of Dubrovnik. As we walked along, you get some great views of the skyline of Dubrovnik inside the walls.
And amazing views of the Adriatic on the outside. Depending on where you were on the wall, there were some sections where you could look over the edge and see the steep drop straight into the ocean. While others were large wide open walk ways likely where armies could muster to defend the city. Along the way were defensive towers you could explore and gain a strong appreciation of how defensible this city truly was.
It took us a few hours to walk the entire wall. While 2 kilometers isn’t a whole lot, I think the constant up and down stairs along the different sections definitely made it feel like more. It was convenient that we start and stopped at the Pile Gate, because after we were done, it was a very short trip back to our AirBnb where we had the chance to clean up and rest a little before dinner.
Dinner at 360
Because Gimpy, Vino and I are foodies at heart, we’d made it a point to find at least one nice restaurant on this trip to eat at. In doing our research, there were only a few Michelin Star restaurants in Croatia. The only one we would be near was 360. Prior to our trip, we made reservations and we were all excited that we finally get to try it tonight.
The restaurant is situated in/on the city walls. Most of the seating is outdoors on top of the wall. So you get this beautiful outdoor view of the harbor and of the higher walls in the background. Even before sampling the food, the venue itself was already pretty stellar.
We had the choice of either ordering A La Carte or trying one of the two tasting menus. We all chose the Retrospective Tasting Menu which included:
RED PRAWNS
MACKEREL
OCTOPUS
SEABASS
COFFEE
Along with our tasting menu were a few extras including an assortment of bread, an amuse-bouche and one or two extra desert items.
There’s not really a lot to say, other than it was AWESOME. The food was put together very creatively, and was extremely tasty as well. From the presentation and taste of the food, the excellent wine pairing choices, to the beautiful location and environment, 360 is very deserving of its high praise. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to anyone who finds themselves in Dubrovnik in the future.
Dubrovnik at Night
From 360 we were riding a culinary high, and so we decided to stroll through the harbor and town a little longer before retiring back to our AirBnb. In restrospect, I am a little regretful we didn’t allot more time for Dubrovnik. While we packed in quite a few items today, I think a slower pace would have allowed us to enjoy it just a little more.
While it was nice to stroll through the city in the morning, I also quite enjoyed walking through it in the evening as well. There’s actually a lot going on within the city walls at night.
At one point, we got to stop and enjoy a live jazz band serenading some people enjoying their wine. Things like this would have been pretty cool if we had a bit more time in this city.
Unfortunately, we would be leaving tomorrow, driving to Split and onward to Hvar. So this was the only evening we had.
Soon, we eventually made our way back to our AirBnB where we packed and got ready to pick up our rental car which would be our transportation for the remainder of our time in Croatia.