Versão em português aqui.
It’s been a while since I started to heard about Croatia and Dubrovnik in particular. So I started to watch Game of Thrones and I figured it out that “Kings Landing” was not less than the beautiful Dubrovnik itself, which made me even more anxious about going to this historical city.
We arrived in a golden afternoon. The sun was setting behind the walled city. Our hotel was settled in front of the beach with that enygmatic sea. Sometimes green, sometimes blue. The Hotel Excelsior is a fabulous recently renowed 5* hotel with a wonderful location, about 500 meters from the wall’s entrance and in front of a private beach
Right after checking in a room that I completely fell in love, we walked to the city center to have dinner. Since the moment we step inside the walls, we were enchanted by the beauty of the village. Pure charm and history. Inside the walls there are lots of boutiques, bars, coffee shops, bistrôs and celebrated restaurants.
We decided to have dinner in a place recommended by our travel agency and it surprised us a lot. I will share with you every Hiddem Gems of Dubrovnik.
On the other day, in the afternoon, we did a walking tour inside the walls. We got in through the South door, just next to the Old Port, that still remain in use by smaller boats. This region houses charming restaurants and lively atmosphere during the night.
Worth it mentioning that Dubrovnik is a very ancient city. It was not created for Game of Thrones, as some north americans ask, our guide mentioned with disgust. It has already been used as background for many films and series, that’s true. For an example, the new Star Wars movie has paid about 6 millions euros to rent the main street for a whole week. It’s one of the trendiest cities in Europe.
Dubrovnik is much more than a movie background. The small 45-thousand-inhabitants village is considered the Pearl of the Adriatic for its amazing beauty and relevance since the Middle Age. Beauty that was seriously harmed in a recent war. In 1991, right after the end of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro surrounded Dubrovnik for more than 6 months and made intense shellings. Everyone talks about that. It’s something you can see all over the place, there are lots of war traces in every building.
What really impressed us is their strenght and how they turned this page so fast. It’s something that happened so recently, it’s so alive in everyone’s memory and we still find much more joy and gratefulness there than in many other places. Dubrovnik is more alive than ever. It’s a place to go back a million times.
