Day 3 of our trip was an extremely long and tiring day, but full of fun and interesting things to do. We took a tour of Old Town Dubrovnik, had some free time in town, visited the town of Cavtat, had a wine tasting, had a rakija tasting at an old mill, and had dinner at an eco restaurant.
Old Town Dubrovnik
Our morning started in Old Town Dubrovnik where we met up with a local guide for a walking tour. The city of Dubrovnik is a UNESCO protected world heritage site in the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The oldest part of the city lies within the stone walls built in the 11-13th centuries and was once ruled as a free state. Dubrovnik has long been a popular tourist town because of its position on the Adriatic Sea and has grown even more popular in recent years since it was a major filming site for Game of Thrones. You can enter Old Town through one of two gates- Pile Gate or Ploče Gate- on either end of Stradun. Stradun is the main pedestrian street through town and was built in the 13th century. This is where you’ll find many of the museums and historic buildings of Dubrovnik. Our tour started with entering through Ploče Gate, before winding through Old Town. Game of Thrones fans might recognize some of these views, since Dubrovnik was used for King’s Landing.
After the group walking tour, we all had some free time in Old Town. We started off with finding the duck store with Grandma so she could buy a duck for my mom (who collects rubber ducks). Apparently this is just a popular touristy thing, because there are actually two duck stores in Dubrvonik. Then we all got a cold drink before splitting up. Josh and I got our first gelatos of the trip- lemon cake for me and some kind of chocolate for him. We also stopped in the fancy looking candy store we had passed, but it was pricey!
During our free time we also popped into two churches. First, Church of St. Ignatius, which is the Jesuit church. It’s at the top of the Jesuit stairs, which are very popular for tourists because it’s the site of the Walk of Shame in Game of Thrones. We also popped into the Church of the Holy Annunciation, the Orthodox church. Both churches were ones we just happened to see open, some others had signs that they were not open to tourists.
We ended up near Pile Gate at one point and saw some people go through a small door in the side of the wall, so decided to check that out too. It turned out to be Pile Park, a small park that runs under the gate. It gave us a great view of Fort Lovrijenac.
We also had to find this maskeron with its weird gargoyle head since I had seen it on Atlas Obscura before. It’s actual purpose is to divert rain water from the roof.
Franciscan Monastery
The main thing Josh and I decided to do with our free time in Dubrovnik was visit the Franciscan Monastery museum. The Franciscan monastery was built in the 14th century and the biggest claim to fame is that it has the oldest working pharmacy in Europe. Right inside the entrance is the modern pharmacy, and then the rest of the monastery is a museum that includes historical pharmacy items, lots of religious objects, and artwork. It’s supposed to cost € 6 to enter, but the guy only charged us € 5 each. It’s not a huge museum, but was definitely worth the visit.
Inside the halls of the monastery
Town of Cavtat
Our afternoon/evening adventures started with a quick visit to the town of Cavtat. Cavtat is a small medieval town on the Adriatic coast. We didn’t have time to see much, but we had a short walk along the water, bought a souvenir, and had some gelato.
Wine Tasting at Crvik Vineyards
Our next stop after Cavtat was a Crvik Vineyards, a fourth generation family owned vineyard. We gathered in the tasting room of the vineyard and tried a variety of their wines. Overall, we really liked them! One red was a little too dry for me, but otherwise I enjoyed them all. The only downside to Crvik was that when some people wanted to buy bottles afterwards, they found out that it was cash only and the cost of some of the bottles meant people didn’t have enough cash on them.
Rakija Tasting at Đivanović Mills
After wine tasting we headed over to the historic Đivanović Mills where we were greeted with traditional rakijas and sweets. We saw a demonstration of the grain mill, which is actually powered by the water under the mill instead of a wheel at the side like we are used to here. We walked along the river to see another mill, which instead of grinding grains is used to pound cloth after weaving.
Wait, what’s rakija?
Rakija is a term that includes a variety of traditional fruit brandies. Known for its high alcohol content, rakija is very popular and served at all kinds of functions. Beyond its role as a drink, rakija is also medicinally and can solve just about any problem.
Dinner at Konavoski Dvori
Our final activity of the evening was walking from the mills to dinner at Konavoski Dvori restaurant. We ate outside right next to the river and it was perfect weather for it. We had a plated dinner that featured lamb and veal that was grilled on a pit just feet away from where we were eating. Oh, and of course there were toad shenanigans on the way back to the bus (it peed on William).
Croatia Trip Overview
Croatia Trip Days 1 & 2: Planes, Busses, and Sleep Deprivation
Croatia Trip Day 3: Old Town Dubrovnik, Cavtat, Wine Tasting, Mills, and More!
Croatia Trip Day 4: Lokrum Island
Croatia Trip Day 5: A Long Bus Ride, a Visit to Split, and History was Made
Croatia Trip Day 6: Krka Falls, Zadar, and our First Concert
Croatia Trip Days 7 & 8: Pools, Wine, Salt, and Football
Croatia Trip Days 9 & 10: Pula, Rovinj, and Zagreb
Croatia Trip Day 11: Zagreb Botanical Garden
Croatia Trip Days 12 & 13: Tamburica Festival & Nikola Tesla Technical Museum
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