Known as the Pearl of the Adriatic, the Croatian city of Dubrovnik – a UNESCO world heritage site was the port we were most looking forward to on our P&O Oceana Cruise.

Checking on the Dubrovnik Port website we could see 4 ships were due in that day, so we knew Dubrovnik itself would be busy.  If you want to do this before your visit you can find the schedule here http://www.portdubrovnik.hr/girica1.php – it can be slow to load but is very useful.

We were at Oceana’s reception at 8:30 am – 30 minutes before the ship docked in Dubrovnik to ensure we were on the first shuttle.  The P&O shuttles were only free to Select Fare passengers.

The Coach worked its way in to Dubrovnik slowly, it was already busy and crowded.  Stepping off the coach outside Pile Gate, we were wowed by the sight.  We couldn’t hang around, we could come back later as first we needed to get to the cable car!

 

Dubrovnik Cable Car

About 15 minutes walk from the coach was the cable car – this takes you up to a view point on Srd Hill.  On arrival there was a long line of tourists waiting, the sun was blisteringly hot so make sure you have water. 

It was interesting to see that organised tours were having to join the line too, not sure if that was normal or not.  After about 30 minutes we were on the cable car.  The Journey up was absolutely amazing as you can see from the video below:

At the top of Srd Hill we took some photos and found a little bar for a mid-morning drink – a beer for me and a nice glass of red wine for Luke (it may only be about 11am, but who cares…). 

It was beautiful up here, we took in the views and as the area was sheltered it was lovely and cool.

We could have easily spend an hour or two here, but as we wanted to explore Dubrovnik further, we took the cable car back down once we finished our drink – it was now time to explore the old town

The cost of a return journey was 150 kuna, for up to date information visit the official Dubrovnik Cable Car website: http://www.dubrovnikcablecar.com.

 

The City Walls

After walking back to Pile Gate, we decided to walk the city walls.  As you go through Pile Gate, to the right is a small ticket office, tickets cost 150 kuna per person (Euros not accepted but debit or credit card are). You purchase your tickets and join the walls to the left of Pile Gate (slightly confusing!).  After a steep climb, you are on the walls, everyone walks one way and there is room to move around people if needed.  Keep your ticket, as you can join and leave at multiple points along the wall, you will need to show your ticket each time.

The views from up here are spectacular – the walk takes about 1.5 hours and it well worth the effort.

Exploring Dubrovnik Old Town

After our walk we decided to take a wonder around the streets of Dubrovnik hunting out Game of Thrones locations.  You may be able to recognise some of them below:

By now the heat was getting the better of us so we decided to retreat to the ship.  There was a huge line, thankfully staff were handing out ice cold water.  We managed to get back on the ship about 4:30, so enough time to spare for some afternoon tea.

The sail out of Dubrovnik was beautiful and it cemented our original thoughts, that we would love to come back. 

Now that we have done the touristy bits we could spend more time in the old town relaxing or taking a visit to Locum Island. 

We hope you have enjoyed this brief overview of our day, you will find we also have one for Split and Venice and please make sure you check out our Youtube, Twitter and Instagram.