A Quick Dip in Dubrovnik

An adventure to the sea: that was what we were after. And when we decided to take the plunge last weekend and head down to the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia, fifteen hours on a night bus (two night buses, accounting for the transfer) seemed like a tiny obstacle.

We boarded the bus on Friday night in high spirits- the first leg to Zagreb was empty and we all took two seats each and played hearts in the aisle. At the midnight transfer, the coastal bus was another story.

First bus good vibes!

Second bus... sad vibes...

We rode all night and tried to doze in the crowded bus, our knees pushed up against the seats in front of us. At 3 am the lights flared on and we groggily handed over our passports at an absurd border crossing into Bosnia because for some reason there's a mile long chunk of Bosnian land that bisects the Croat coastline. But it wasn't all bad. Poets with wavy hair like to say the night is darkest before the dawn- in this case, we woke up to see the sun rise along the Adriatic.

And a mere few hours later, the views of the sea only becoming more breathtaking, we arrived to our destination:

Dubrovnik- a UNESCO world heritage site and home of some of the most beautiful sets from certain fantasy dramas on HBO, is a walled city perched on indigo seas and adorned with terra-cotta roofs. It's a city from a dream, to be slightly dramatic about things.

We spent all of Saturday and Sunday in Dubrovnik, and some higher power must've been smiling down at us because in terms of excursion choices, lodging, and food our experiences were pretty darn spectacular. Not to mention, the forecast was for rain all weekend and the weather turned out to be perfect. Anyway, some advice:

1. Go in April.

Obvious advice, but it was crowded in Old Town even in very not-peak season. I shudder to think of how many more people will be visiting in June/July/August. The weather may be nicer but is it really worth it if you're fighting for elbow room? At that time of year, I think I'd rather stop in one of the many villages along the Dalmatian coast architecturally similar to Dubrovnik and hopefully a little less hectic.

2. Do the stuff you came to see, but be quick about it...

Even if it's expensive and hot and crowded, ya gotta walk around the city walls and ya gotta explore Old Town. We spent the first few hours in the city doing exactly that- the walls are one of the best places to get any kind of view of the city and surrounding ocean.

But don't spend all your time doing the generic things because...

3. Go swimming!

Not going to lie, it was probably too cold to swim (in the high sixties). But the sun was beating down on us and we were hankering to get inside the beautiful turquoise water. We headed to Bellevue Beach, which was absolutely empty save for a few sunbathing locals. The more adventurous of us scoped out a cliff-diving spot, and eventually every one of us crazy twenty-something-year-olds could say that we've jumped off a cliff in Croatia. To show Avicii we were cool, I guess.

4. Bring your own food (and NEVER go in a restaurant with hecklers stationed outside)

We brought a grand total of five loaves of bread (and other accoutrements) which combined with occasional gelato splurges lasted us four meals. We ate out twice, both at fast casual places. Barba was a seafood place with great salads and fried anchovies. But I'd recommend Preša for the budget traveler. Portion sizes were great, food was hearty and tasty, and price was stellar for the area. I remain deeply suspicious of the street-side cafes with aggressive hecklers. Seem like textbook tourist traps.

5. See the sunset.

This I can't recommend enough. We scoped out a little rocky peninsula (which jutted out of a park outside of Old Town) that had a good westward facing view and watched the sun set over the ocean. I'm not sure how touristy this place gets in peak season, but we ran into our Airbnb host who seemed surprised (and kind of proud) that we had "discovered" the spot.

6. Wake up early.

I wasn't a fan of the hard water from the taps in the Airbnb (which, if I haven't mentioned, is twenty feet from the gates of Old Town for $10 a night per person!) so early on Sunday morning I trekked into Old Town to hit up a grocery store (warning: most of the big grocery stores outside of Old Town are closed on Sundays). The inner city was deserted. I was absolutely alone walking through the narrow alleys and cobblestones, and after I had gotten my water I sat by the sea, utterly secluded with only the chittering of the ubiquitous swallows and the dull roar of the waves to distract me... romantic stuff. The takeaway here is that I guess most tourists are not super early morning people (also the tour buses take some time to get there from the cruise ships) so if you have it in you to set your alarm a few hours early, it'll be well worth it.

Early morning on the water. This little bay (Kolorina) is right outside of the Old Town gates, with views of the city and the fortress.

7. Go to Lokrum Island (on a government ferry) and hike as much as possible.

Lokrum has some vague historical buildings (a fort, a ruined castle/gardens, etc.), but these all paled in comparison to the island's natural beauty. By far the most beautiful things to see were the Dead Sea (not sure why they call it that- all those annoying peacocks strutting around trying to steal our food were alive enough) and the views along the southern edge of the island.

The Dead Sea. It's a calm, secluded bay in the island that turns turquoise in the sunlight. Probably among the calmest waters you'll see in Dubrovnik, home of rocky rugged beaches and coasts.

These peacocks got really aggressive. We concluded that they've gotten fat and lazy from the lack of natural predators and the omnipresence of tourists with food to feed them.

Pro tip: if you hike due east from the Dead Sea for about half and hour and brave unmarked paths and rough white rocks and scratchy pines (it won't be too bad, the foaming indigo vistas will be worth it) you'll stumble upon Pigeon Cave and will get to walk around the perimeter of the sheer cliffs there. It was breathtaking.

The rocks may be rough and the path may be nonexistent... but soldier on! There's a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Pigeon cave, the absolute enormity and awe-inspiring-ness I was positively unable to capture with my wee iPhone.

Believe it or not, the water down there was actually this color.

8. Make sure to have a 3-hour-layover in Zagreb at the most inconvenient possible hour.

Our trip winding to an end, we took the night bus from Dubrovnik once again on Sunday night. Right before we got on the bus, we realized that our layover in Zagreb this time was about three and a half hours instead of an immediate transfer. So when we awoke at 3 am in Zagreb (starving, too, I might add) we trekked into the city to find something, anything open with food.

Luckily for us what seemed to be the only 24-hour joint in the city was only a 30 minute walk away, and turned out to be a pleasant pizzeria in the heart of town. I cannot tell you how delicious the four-cheese and mushroom pizzas were at four in the morning steaming between my fingers. Five stars to the owners for making fresh pizza for us at such an ungodly hour.

Okay, so this is a bad picture. But it was 4 am and all I wanted to do was eat this pizza.

Afterwards, we decided to walk around the city a little bit as it shook itself awake. We were dead on our feet (except I guess for Kevin and Daniel, who had reserves of energy from I-Know-Not-Where) but gosh darn it, we saw the capital of Croatia.

Here we are, waiting for Zagreb to wake up and posing next to a giant egg which had the word "Zagreb" on it to prove to ourselves later that we have, indeed, seen the city.

At 7:30 am we stumbled back to the bus station and took the last leg of the journey back to Budapest: when we arrived at Kelenföld, the afternoon sun was shining and we were positively dripping with what I like to call "bus grease." So with the remains of salt from the Adriatic sea still clinging to our hair and faces, we parted ways to head home, shower, and get some much-deserved sleep!