Our final stop in Croatia was Dubrovnik, also known as the “Pearl of the Adriatic”. Situated on the Dalmatian Coast, its best known for its ancient city walls where some scenes from the popular Game of Thrones were shot.
We stayed at a small studio in the heart of old town, which made it very convenient as we spent most of our time inside the city walls. There were no shortage of excellent restaurants, and more importantly, gelato shops. In fact, Bridgette found what is now her very favorite gelato shop in the world, right in Dubrovnik!
We hired a local guide to give us a thorough history lesson, walking around the spectacular city walls that encircle its historic core. I definitely recommend it because there’s so much history to this city that needs to be learned. Even if you don’t hire a local guide, you should pay the small fee to walk the city walls because you’ll get remarkable views!
It’s like a maze inside old town, with narrow alleyways and steep staircases that lead you into more labyrinth of passages. You never quite know where you’re going, but that was the fun part! One night after dinner, when we wanted to hit our daily 10k steps, we decided we’d part ways with one another and then navigate through old town to see if there’s any chance of running back into each other. It’s very safe inside the city walls because there are cameras in every corner, and plenty of tourists milling around. I went up and down those steep staircases, took too many wrong turns that brought me to dead ends, but after about 30 minutes, I miraculously ran right into Bridgette again! She was very sad to see me as her goal was to hide from me for as long as possible, lol.
There are so many great restaurants that we ate at, all inside old town, but our favorite was one we went back to twice, call the Taj Mahal which served Bosnian cuisine. There was another one that we loved, Gradska Kavana Arsenal Restaurant & Bar, which served the best fish soup I’ve ever had. While eating there on our first night, we even got to see a beautiful rainbow over the sea!
One of my favorite activities from this trip was visiting an oyster farm at the bay of Mali Ston. The bay is located on Pelješac peninsula and has a unique mix of freshwater and seawater, which is precisely what makes their oysters so unique. We were picked up by our guide and driven to Mali Ston, where we boarded a small rickety boat that took us to the bay. There, we learned a great deal about the entire process of oyster farming, including its history which dates back all the way to when the Roman Empire ruled in the area.
The best way to serve oysters is directly from the sea, with a splash of lemon and eaten by hand. And that was exactly what we did. Our guide pulled oysters right from the sea, shucked them open in front of us, and allowed us to enjoy the freshest oysters we’ve ever had! Seriously, I’ve never had tastier oysters, and I probably could’ve eaten several dozens myself had I not wanted to save room for the other delicacy from Mali Ston Bay– mussels.
We ended our day with some free time to stroll around the town of Ston, before sitting down for a delicious meal of cooked mussels. For anyone planning a trip to Dubrovnik, this activity is a must-do if you love oysters, because I promise you won’t find fresher ones anywhere else!
And that pretty much concludes our trip to Croatia! Here are some additional photos to show how marvelous the food, views, and architecture were…
