First Stop in Europe: Dubrovnik, Croatia
My experiences traveling to Europe and in one of Croatia's most well-known cities.
November 9th-11th, 2022
Thankfully, my journey from Chicago to Croatia was relatively smooth. The one bump in the road was when my carry-on bag didn’t fit in the overhead compartment on the rickety flight from Zagreb, Croatia to Dubrovnik, Croatia. After my seat neighbor and I exchanged a few words in Croatian and English–neither of us understanding the other, but reaching a joint conclusion that it wouldn’t fit no matter what we tried– I had to make my way back to the front of the plane to ask the flight attendant to put it with the other baggage. Luckily, they didn’t make me pay to check it instead.
My two-day travel finally ended when I stepped off the bus from the airport by the Old Town in Dubrovnik, Croatia. For anyone who doesn’t know (which included me up until this point), there are many “Old Towns” in Europe, and, yes, they are exactly what they sound like. They are literally the old, original town in a relatively preserved state.
With extreme excitement to be reunited with my friend Caroline, whom I hadn’t seen in almost 7 months and had been traveling across Europe since June, I bounded my way toward where we were staying. In Dubrovnik, the Old Town is safely enclosed by towering stone walls 10 meters thick. It felt like I was stepping straight into an era centuries long gone.
Apparently, Old Towns tend to be more expensive to stay in unless you’re traveling in the off-season like we are. Fortunately, we were able to stay in a bed-and-breakfast-style hostel for less than 15 euros per person per night. Aside from the cheaper accommodation price, the bed and breakfast (without the breakfast… don’t ask me how that works) was completely empty except for us. We had our own private room that I later learned would feel quite luxurious compared to some other hostels.
Laid out in a grid form, the narrow pedestrian streets (almost like alley-ways) were easy to navigate and we were able to learn our way around the town pretty easily for the most part. As one of the more touristy and wealthy cities, the Old Town of Dubrovnik is in pristine condition. In some ways, it almost felt like a replica city in a museum because of how well it has been maintained. I learned from Caroline (and later saw for myself) that this is not typical of Old Towns.
Despite it being off-season and that there were significantly fewer crowds than there ordinarily would be in Dubrovnik, the prices were just as lofty as would be expected during peak season. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to stop us from paying the local bakeries multiple visits a day. Totally worth it though! I had to try all the traditional baked goods…for research purposes, of course.
Dubrovnik’s Old Town walls constructed in the 13th century are still mostly intact, meaning that we were able to completely circle the city while walking on top of the walls and through the towers. These walls were seemingly well-equipped to protect the city-state of Dubrovnik from potential attacks from neighboring empires. Fortunately for Dubrovnik, they were a valuable seaport and trade city and remained on (mostly) good terms with their neighbors, so they never had to find out.
One of the most highly recommended activities in Dubrovnik is walking on top of these walls which offers an incredible view of the city and ocean from above. If you’re going to Dubrovnik and can only visit one attraction, this should be the one. However, if you get the Dubrovnik Pass for 33 euros, you can enter pretty much all of the Old Town’s main attraction sites. Visiting just the wall itself will already cost you almost as much as the whole pass will, so it's a no-brainer to get this pass if you are going to Dubrovnik.
Using this pass, we were also able to see the Rector’s Palace, one of the two monasteries (the other one was not included on the pass and costs a little bit extra), and the fortress, Fort Lovrijenac, right outside the city walls. All of these were historically interesting and had aesthetic appeal, but honestly aren’t worth delving deeper into here.
We were able to catch the sunset on a cliff-side restaurant called Buža Bar, located within the city walls (as in, built into part of the city wall and extending beyond) and faces the ocean. Down below, we watched a man swimming offshore in what I assumed was not suitable swimming weather– but I respected the perseverance. He is maybe the only person in the whole city who had a better view of the sunset than the rest of us at the bar.
On the morning of our second day in Dubrovnik, we hiked up Mount Srđ, which is the mountain that protects Dubrovnik from the north winds and used to serve as a barrier from potential enemies. At the top sits Fort Imperial, which was a fortress constructed in 1812 during Napoleon’s occupation of the city. You can actually take a cable car to the top but we decided to save the 26 euros and get some exercise instead by hiking to the top. The trek was somewhat steep but still easy enough to accomplish first thing in the morning. I would highly recommend this route if you are physically able.
Later that day, I learned more than I had through visiting all the previously mentioned attractions combined during the free walking tour led by Free Spirit. If I could do it again, I would recommend signing up to take this tour as soon as you can after arriving in Dubrovnik so that you have a better understanding of the city’s history and how to make the most of your time there.
Because of its tourist appeal, Dubrovnik can be quite an expensive city to visit. We did our best to find some relatively cheaper food options, but it all adds up pretty quickly when you don’t have enough time in one place to spend time shopping for groceries and cooking for yourself. That being said, we limited our time spent here to just two days. It was plenty of time to see all that we wanted while attempting to keep our budgets intact. For reference, I am budgeting to spend about $50 a day but I overspent every day that I was there.
Overall, Dubrovnik is a very beautiful city and the Old Town has an extremely polished feel to it. Not to mention, Dubrovnik’s Old Town was also used as a film site for HBO’s Game of Thrones and the city shops certainly don’t miss out on profiting off that hype. Combined with the prices and perceived lack of locals living in the area, being in the Old Town feels like a tourist attraction in and of itself. Take that as you will, but I think it is still worth the visit if you’re in the area. For me, it was a great first stop in Europe so I can’t really complain!
Some fun facts I learned:
When Dubrovnik was a city-state, a Rector (a figurehead official with limited power in the government) would rule for only 1 month at a time. Over 5,000 Rectors had taken office in Dubrovnik by the time this style of governance ended.
Dubrovnik’s strategy for appearing non-threatening and gaining the sympathy of their more powerful allies was to act extremely impoverished when visiting these lands. For example, when paying their taxes to the Ottoman Empire, they sent messengers dressed in tattered clothes and instructed them to throw themselves to the ground with tears in their eyes and beg for leniency in paying their dues. They even went as far as to keep most of their money in Rome so this facade couldn’t be exposed.
Dubrovnik was a top exporter of salt and paid many workers with salt because it was so valuable. This is actually where the word “salary” is derived from.