Travel article: Dubrovnik la perle de l'Adriatique- The pearl of Adriatic, Dubrovnik

The easiest (& Cheapest) way to go to Montenegro from France is to fly to Dubrovnik in Croatia. I’ve wanted for long to travel to Croatia so it was the perfect opportunity for me to have an introduction to this amazing country. I had one day to discover Dubrovnik and I made the most of it! Another Unesco World heritage site ticked this year :)

After being stuck in traffic for 2.5h at the border between Montenegro and Croatia (I always pick the slowest line!) we finally arrived to Dubrovnik in the afternoon. We headed straight to the Old town and started our discovery with the Walls at sunset.

What a beautiful view on the red roofs, churches and the Adriatic sea. Unfortunately we were not the only ones on the fortifications (and I’ve heard it is worst during the day) with 1.1m people visiting the Walls every year… And this is increasing with Game of Thrones fans now invading the town to do walking tours of the city ! Despite the many tourists I loved the experience and especially the view on the limestone buildings, red roofs,  seeing people diving from the cliffs into the Adriatic Sea, catching a glimpse of the inhabitants gardening, imagining what it was like to live there and trying desperately to protect the town from its invaders.

It’s hard to imagine that the city got bombarded (70% of the builds got damaged)  only 25 years ago as the atmosphere felt really authentic. Apparently most of the Ancient Walls resisted the assaults proving the resilience of the 12th to 17th Century constructions, well done guys! (better than modern constructions Cedric? ;) )

Being there during Summer we particularly enjoyed the long summer nights, getting lost in the Old Town and try some nice fresh fish on the Luza Square.

The next day we woke up early and took the first ferry to Lokrum Island- only a 15min ride from the Old Town. The island is pretty small but in the 3 hours we’ve spent there it never felt crowded. We’ve spent our morning wandering around followed by the many peacocks (and Nudists (!) who as usual get the privilege of having access to the most beautiful part of the island!), getting lost in the ruins of the monastery and in the botanical gardens, enjoying a quick swim before having to take our ferry back. The many pines reminded me of the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia and that it was time for me to go back to its neighbor- Australia- already unfortunately…

No wonder the Old town is one of the most visited destination in Europe, I felt like in a movie set every second. Perfect for a weekend and good to combine with Montenegro. Can’t wait to discover more of Croatia next year during our European Summer Tour :)

Some recommandations:

# The Walls visit is 2kms long and takes approximately 2 hours. Make sure you do it in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid the crowds

# Don’t go in August if you can avoid it as it’s packed with tourists

# We were quite happy to have our Airbnb 10min from the Old Town and to escape the hustle and bustle of the Old town for the night

# The buses and Uber are developed and ideal to reach the Old Town

# We only had time to visit Lokrum Island but I’ve read that some other islands a bit further are also ideal for a Day Trip