We want to swim in the ocean and explore the old city today, but we are so relaxed knowing we have a whole week to take advantage of what Dubrovnik has to offer, instead of only a couple days like the past few destinations.

Breakfast is nice sitting around our kitchen table. Like the last place, there’s a bench along two sides of the table, and it’s cozy.

Our host told us of a small beach very near to the apartment, so we figure that’s the best place to start the day. We leave the house all set to go swimming. We turn where we think he said it was and end up at a beautiful garden on top of a hill. The kids are very unhappy, but this place is nice.

We go back to the main street and take the next turn we can. This puts us on another little bay by an old fort that is beyond the beach. We’ve gone too far! This is a spot where people rent kayaks. It’s cool, but not where we want to be. 

The kids are pretty cranky this morning, and the detours are not making them happier. But while we’re here, we should go see inside this fort. It’s a lot of stairs up to the fort. At the top we pay our 30 kroner ($4) to go inside.

It’s an old fort at the top of this hill, that is a narrow peninsula. It’s empty and feels like we should understand more about this place. Then we start seeing the tour groups. All of them with guides holding up photos from scenes of Game of Thrones. This is a major filming site. It’s easy to see how that’s possible. It’s a beautiful fort, still intact and far enough from the city to provide a real feeling of seclusion.

Despite Oly’s constant complaining to be held, we walk throughout the fort and take some amazing pictures. We can see so much of the sea and the old walled city of Dubrovnik from here!

From the fort we can see the small beach we’ve been trying to reach. We walk down another set of steps, through a couple narrow streets with homes to a gateway to the beach.

It’s an amazing spot! There are two little beach bars, cut into the cliff, overlooking the crystal blue water and a small pebble beach. The kids are so excited, but once we get there they don’t know what to do. They don’t appreciate the pebbles as much as sand. And Lillian is being weird about getting in the water. Stefan and I take turns swimming out and back. The water is perfect—refreshing and clean. I sit on the beach with Lillian for a bit until Oly demands shade. Its a fair demand given the sun is super hot.

We walk up to one of the bars and grab a table under the thatched roof. The view from here is unbelievable. I think Croatia would be a fun place for honeymooners because it’s so cheap and you can do a lot or very little. We get some sandwiches and juice and relax.

Our little swim outing turned into a bigger adventure, and it’s now 2pm. We go home to shower and prepare for more city time.

At 4pm we set out for the old city. Walking the city wall is an essential part of any trip to Dubrovnik, and we’ve heard it gets super crowded and hot during the day. Fellow travelers recommended going right before it closes at 7. So today we will try to go around 6 today. Until then, we just walk around and try to understand the allure of Dubrovnik. Yes, it’s a beautiful old walled city. But we’ve actually seen many of these on our trip. The streets have nothing but touristy restaurants and shops. Nothing feels authentic here. And we don’t quite know what we’re supposed to experience (except the wall of course). So we walk around, dragging cranky Oly with us. We walk up stairs to the northern wall. We walk down to the southern wall and find all the tour boats. We walk into a small church that is just okay. We walk down the busy main street again. We’ve seen Dubrovnik. 

And Oly is asleep. We aren’t seeing the wall tonight.

We find a great little spot on a side street for dinner. They don’t open for another 15 minutes, at 7pm, but they serve us drinks while we wait.

We order delicious pork and chicken with sides of salad and ratatouille. So so good. It’s not cheap, but nothing is in Dubrovnik.

We stop for some Pirate’s Booty (candy!) and essentials at the grocery store, then we walk the treacherous path home. Great first day in Dubrovnik.