Dubrovnik - seaching for Game of Thrones locations

A side benefit to being in Dubrovnik is looking for filming sites of the Game of Thrones TV series on HBO.  You can certainly do some Google searching to find exact places, but I wanted to share two photo comparisons so you get a flavor of where I was/what I saw:

The Dock:

Fort Bokar (source: moviemaps)

My Picture!

King's Landing:

King's Landing (source: moviemaps)

My picture!

Dubrovnik Day 2 - the Fort

More time out and about today in Dubrovnik!  I must admit though that I did a little bit of sleeping in this morning, which was not entirely planned but felt good nonetheless.  After getting going and out the door, lunch was first on the docket – and to mix it up, a new place was on tap: Oliva Pizzeria.  I’ve found it curious that there are so many pizza joints in the Old Town.  Word from the locals is that Italian and pizza are very popular, especially in the summertime.  Oliva was excellent – a mixed ham and sauce pizza was just right (and thin crust too) for an excellent price.  Would definitely stop there again!

One major item still on the list to see was Fort Lovrijenac.  It’s a free-standing fort outside of the city walls that also is used extensively in Game of Thrones for the King’s Landing location shoots.  The entrance is not obvious when you walk outside the walls – just a small staircase takes you down and around to the bottom near the water and then up a massive flight of stairs.  I’ve definitely been able to get a workout on this trip – so many stairs to climb and all worth it. 

After spending a bunch of time at the Fort, it was back to the Old Town for some shopping and wine tasting!  D’Vino Wine Bar is highly recommended and the white and red selections were excellent.  They have many local varieties of Croatian wine that pair well with bread and tapenade. 

Dinner was a hard decision – so many great places to choose from.  The winner: Bistro San Francesco.  All I have to say is the Salmon Fettuccine is amazing.  The owner was very kind and even added in some small treats free of charge.  Can’t recommend this place enough if you’re looking for an authentic dining experience.  

Time to wind the day down – off to Zurich tomorrow!

Dubrovnik Day 1

-->

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was really excited about walking the old town today and happy that the rain held off for the entire day.  It’s been threatening to do that in the forecast for the whole trip but so far so good. 

The first stop of the day: the City Walls (cue the Game of Thrones music).  Side note: I realized after booking this trip that primary filming of the King’s Landing scenes in Game of Thrones is done here in Dubrovnik on the walls.   How cool is that?!?

Just before walking the walls, though, a quick pickup was required – there is an option to acquire what is called the “Dubrovnik Card” for all major attractions at one reasonable price.  By ordering online in the US you can then pick up near the Pile Gate when you arrive.  This was extremely easy to do and having the access to many major museums and the walls is a bargain. 

And as you can see from these pictures, the walls do not disappoint:

All told, it took almost three hours to walk but was worth every minute (and included a stop at the Maritime Museum housed in one section of the walls).  The views of the Adriatic combined with the city are just beautiful. 

After finishing the wall walk, it was time to eat.  Where to go for lunch?  How about a place called Presa.  Down a side street and off the beaten path, this place is highly recommended and I now know why.  All the food is prepared fresh and while it can take a bit to deliver, is well worth the wait.  I don’t think I’ve ever had such a good tasting burger!

The rest of the afternoon comprised of visits to several of the primary museums in the city, including the Rector’s Palace and the Art History Museum.  Needing a quick break, I also thought it was fun to walk and find a hidden gem in the city called Café Buza.  This place hangs off the cliff and is a great place to sit and enjoy a libation while taking in the Adriatic. 

Following that I thought dinner might be a good option – I just didn’t realize how hard it was going to be.  I had scouted out several places, including Restaurant Dubrovnik and Barba as top places I wanted to visit.  Unfortunately many of the top places close in the offseason (note to these establishments, please update your websites so that visitors know about these things ahead of time!).  After some searching, the current top-ranked place on Tripadvisor was still open – the Dionysus Wine Bar.  I’m happy to confirm that it is a special place – the food was excellent and wine-tasting included in the experience!  All told a great decision and I’m happy to recommend them as a top place to visit for Croatian wine and specialized food. 

Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings!

Arrival to Croatia

-->

I must say that it’s been quite a while since I’ve had such smooth flights and connections while transiting Europe.  Considering that three connections were part of this first jaunt, I wondered if I was asking for trouble.  But other than two small-ish delays of 10 and 20 minutes everything went very well.  To recap, I transited Munich and Zagreb onroute to Dubrovnik HR via Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines.  Touchdown for the final segment was around 4pm local time.

Arriving to Dubrovnik via Zagreb is super easy.  Immigration/Customs checks occurred at Zagreb so there was no need to stop once the flight landed.  In fact, the customs booths were empty and baggage claim within a few hundred feet of the gate area.  The airport itself is very small and only has a few flights a day, so they are able to time things out well when you arrive.  The airport bus was waiting for the final luggage to be given out before departing – that allowed enough time to also nab tickets.  I highly recommend doing this option right when you arrive – they accept either Kuna or Euros. 

(Speaking of the Zagreb transition via Munich, you’ll want to note that you will have to ‘exit’ immigration/customs and then re-enter once you deplane.  Zagreb’s airport is also not very large, so this transition time only took about 20 minutes between deplaning and rechecking through security.  Security, mind you, was much more thorough than at any airport along the way – I ended up having to take out everything in my backpack compared to Munich and the US where I took out nothing.)

Once on the airport bus it’s a relatively quick ride into Dubrovnik.  Since it was later evening already the sun was down, but the lights of the city were spectacular coming down the mountain.  The bus drops off right at the Pile Gate and it was a very fast walk into the Old Town to get to my chosen stay for this trip, Andio.  As you no doubt can guess from the following pictures, it truly is walking back in time to some degree to be in the Old Town - I was speechless.   

Arrival to Andio had its moments, since they didn’t have a room designated when I got there.  But after a quick phone call, that was figured out and it was time to walk around a bit before sleep.  The first restaurant of choice was the Café Festival just a few blocks down from Andio.  I think I had the best lasagna broccoli that I’ve ever had, including homemade cheesecake that was amazing.  Not a bad way to start the visit!

Breakfast in Munich

Greetings from Munich!

Vacation has commenced...I'll be updating things as I can again this Thanksgiving trip, but so far all is well. The flight to Munich arrived 42 minutes early which gives me time to relax and get some German breakfast in the Lufthansa Star Alliance Lounge. Probably won't take a shower this morning...seems busy.

My connecting flight departs in about two hours...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad