THE SUN SHINES OVER DUBROVNIK, CROATIA!

DUBROVNIK
Aboard Regal Princess
Stateroom C512
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Sunny, 78F

 TK and I met our tour mates this morning at 7:15 a.m. Jill Reilly, the master organizer of our Cruise Critic Roll Call, organized our Game of Thrones Tour today. We disembarked to meet Tom Matana, our guide who was an extra on HBO’s Game of Thrones, a series based on American George R.R. Martin’s The Song of Ice and Fire. It is possible many of you have not seen this show, but I think you will enjoy the beauty of Dubrovnik!

Tom (42 years old) was certainly ready to give our group of eight a workout!  Two vans carried us high above the city on narrow and windy roads for a spectacular view without guiderails. I can assure you I did not get too close to the edge.

Walled city of Dubrovnik

 Near this viewpoint were the ruins of Napoleon’s Army’s stables—Napoleon attacked Dubrovnik in 1808/09, but his rule did not last long.

 

Stables used by Napoleon's army

Looking down at the city of Dubrovnik from the heights, it seemed almost impenetrable because of the fortress and the double thick limestone block walls.  However, the city was prone to attacks by pirates who ruled the seas for about 3 centuries, until the 1400s.  More recently on December 6, 1991, the Serbian army launched an all-out attack on Dubrovnik heavy artillery, air strikes, and naval support that badly damaged more than 60% of the buildings in “Old Town,” a UNESCO World Heritage site.   

As we visited these last two ports (Montenegro and Croatia) I was reminded of my beautiful high school student from Bosnia, A.V., who spoke and wrote about the Serbian attack of her city, the death of her friends turned soldiers, and the heartbreaking aftermath. She had a scar from a gunshot wound on her arm as a forever reminder. I will never forget her. Her essay was printed in the Erie newspaper when I encouraged her to submit it.

Our next stop was the Trsteno Gardens. The villa on the Trsteno estate was built around 1500 and restored after an earthquake in 1667. The arboretum and estate were created by the local noble family, Gucetic-Gozze, who requested that ship captains bring back seeds and plants from their travels. Now the gardens are owned by the government (I think) and have been managed, protected, and restored since 1948. The grounds are outstanding, and many areas were used for scenes in Game of Thrones.  I liked the way trees and other botanical plants are marked in with their botanical name in Latin as well as their name in about 4 different languages. We saw olive trees, orange and lemon trees, oaks, an aqueduct, fountains, and more. Since there were no other visitors, the gardens were very peaceful.

Entrance to Trsteno, the gardens 

Trsteno

Lemon and orange trees full of fruit

Olive tree

Close up of olives--do not eat!! Olives are not good off the tree!

Aqueduct at the gardens, built in 1492

Fountain

Neptune in the center, his wife/consort Amphitrite, 

and son Triton 

Comparison of a scene from Game of Thrones 

After the gardens, we were dropped off outside the walled city, where many scenes from Game of Thrones were set.  As soon as I saw the VERY steep stairs to the city, I knew this was going to be a challenge.  I was probably the oldest in the group and do consider myself in shape. The others seemed capable too. Thankfully, I have sort of recovered from our trek down the stone spiral stairs at La Sagrada Familia.

 The group opted for an easier route, the inner wall. HA!!  We chalked up 28 flights of stairs and about 15,000 steps each today. "Drill Sergeant" Tom kept saying things like, “Just a few more steps, let’s go this way” and “This route doesn’t have many steps.”  I guess one does not know what one can do until she does it.  Admittedly, I did slow down a bit at the end.

Walls here, steps there, arches, the Lovrijenac Fortress (built in the 11^th century), the North Gate, the Pile Gate with drawbridge, Blackwater Bay, so many places were used for Game of Thrones—and Tom had the still photos to show us the scenes as we were at the site.  Dubrovnik portrays King’s Landing in the show and that is where a lot of major activity happened in this fictional story. 

So, what did we see in this walled city?

First stop was the Game of Thrones’ Iron Throne for a photo op. I would not miss that!  TK decided to join in the fun, too.

 Just a short walk down----------to the shop

Steps to the GOT shop which was about half way down.  

Then we walked back up for the easier route after our photo ops!

TK on the Iron Throne

Janie on the Iron Throne

Aside to Friend Julie, I should have brought my tiara!

This was the more strenuous tour route around the exterior wall

This was the much easier route...

Our group opted for that

Minceta Fortress started in 1319,

finally completed at the end of the 15th century

TK and Janie 

    New friends Jill and Mike

Jill arranged this tour, organized our Cruise Critic

Group, and Mike created the Excel program!

Special people!

New friends Honey and MaryElena (sp?) 

Troopers! We are Can Do! people!

Inside the fortress/tower. 

We saw the turrets for arrows, then cannon

The foundry, built in the 15th century built for the production 

of gunpowder, bells, weapons, including cannons

There is an archeological dig going on here

An area where GOT villain Joffrey Baratheon was shamed

TK snapped this photo of this sign,

"Slippery when wet" we think

Steps where Cersei Lannister's "Walk of Shame"

occurred--we only walked down half of these steps

More steps lead to more steps, up and down, up and down!

Walkway

The streets are relatively smooth, worn down from centuries of use

Street sign

Plaza area

Croatian dancers prepare to perform

We saw lots of cats!

Finally, it was time to sit down!  

Tom took us to a restaurant called Rozario. 

Janie opted for ice cream, which was very delicious.

It was hard to know what menu items would work--

When the food was brought out, ordered by others, 

it looked very good!

Vegetable soup with peas and carrots--I could  have eaten that!

A very nice salad and Jill loved the oil and vinegar dressing

TK had chocolate cake.  Mike said the gnocchi was good too.

Wish I could be more daring!

The oldest pharmacy

From the Internet, The Old Pharmacy in the Franciscan Monastery in Dubrovnik is among the oldest in Europe. It was founded in 1317 as an in-house pharmacy for Franciscan friars which was later introduced to the public—for the town and even beyond the town’s walls.

 

Tom and TK "recreating" a scene from GOT

This is a photo of the limestone rock and the fortress and built onto it

 

Just outside the walled city

We returned to the ship about 3 p.m. The tour with Tom was great and our group was very special.  The history and culture of Dubrovnik is fascinating. 

TK and I are still walking without pain. I appreciate Jill's initiative to set this tour up. I cannot access DropBox and Tom's photos. He was thoughtful enough to send all of his still photos to us. I would love to insert some of them. Another time!

Tomorrow is Corfu, Greece and the good news is that we have to set the clock ahead one hour. So, when we get up at 7 a.m. tomorrow, it really is 6 a.m. I don’t need to tell you that, but I need to tell my brain and legs that news!

TK’s Takes: He found osage oranges lying on the ground, having fallen from the tree. We love looking for osage oranges back home, but we couldn’t take any of these!  He also saw a Monarch butterfly.

More cats!

TK: 15,000 steps

Janie: 15,500 steps/28 flights of stairs