November 2018
We were on Celebrity Eclipse cruise, and the ship stayed overnight in Dubrovnik. The cruise dock was in Port Gruz area northwest of the Old Town. We were waiting for the city bus right outside of the dock, and a cab driver approached us offering 2 Euros per person ride to Pile Gate, which was about the same as the bus ticket price.
The ride took about 10 minutes. Pile Gate was where we were supposed to meet with our free walking tour guide. A tourist information office was right there by the bus stop, and a free map and 20-minute free WiFi were provided. We could have gotten the bus ticket at the ticket counter next to this bus stop if we wanted.
The guide never showed up. We walked through the Pile Gate(sounds like pee-le) and proceeded to the city wall gate, bought the tickets (150 Kunas, no Euro accepted but credit cards were ok), walked up the stairs, and stepped onto the wall. A clear arrow pointed to the left with a sign, “One Way.”
The view of the blue ocean and the islands and the parade of red roofs was extremely photogenic. It took almost two hours to go around the wall with frequent photo stops. A couple of artisan stalls had high quality hand-crafted silver goods and accessories.
We were hoping for a nice seafood lunch at Lokanda Peskarija at the Old Port, but it was closed from November to March. Being in Dubrovnik during off season had certain advantage, but some restaurants and hotels were closed for the season.
After searching for a decent place to sit down and eat while using WiFi, we just sat down at an outdoor sitting area of a restaurant. We tried to order mussels and an apple strudel, and they had run out of both. We were too tired to move, thus, we just pointed at two things on their lunch special menu and waited. Wifi was sluggish – maybe too many people were trying to get online at the same time.
Finally the food came, and, surprise! The fresh tuna salad and the chicken dish we ordered were perfectly prepared and delicious! What is the name of this restaurant, we wondered: Tavulin. The final bill, with a bottle of local beer and a small bottle of water, was around $40. Not bad for Dubrovnik, which seemed to display the prices of Western European cities in most restaurants and shops.
We got back to the port using the city bus(#1A, 1B or 1C), and we found fast free WiFi onboaord. A bus ticket good for 60 minutes is 12 Kunas if bought at a ticket counter, 15 Kunas buying from the driver. A 24 hour pass is 30 Kunas & could be bought at a ticket counter.
The next morning we took the bus to the Pile Gate and followed the walking tour route marked on the city map we got from the tourist information office. An Asian fusion restaurant that we were interested in, Azur, was closed for the season, we discovered. One of the most famous bars in the world, Buza Bar, was almost empty but we decided to skip it due to the windy condition.
We wanted to try a different place for a light lunch and Wifi use, but most places seemed to be overpriced showing $9-10 price tag for a bottle of beer. We ended up going back to Tavulin: we knew they had good food & did not overcharge.
Getting there before noon, they had everything we wanted: steamed mussels, a pasta with Dalmatian ham, and an apple strudel. And WiFi worked very well. Excellent food. The strudel was better than what we had in Austria. The final bill came to be 300 Kunas (under $50) with a big bottle of dark beer, which tasted great, and a bottle of water.
If the weather had been sunnier and warmer, we could have taken the ferry to Lokrum island off the coast. Or we could have gone to a little town of Cavtat. Maybe next time.
Just by visiting Zadar and Dubrovnik, we felt Croatia was becoming too successful as tourist destinations causing congestion and price hikes. Maybe we need to visit more towns in Croatia to get the whole picture.
Small Wide World 