Dubrovnik City Walls

Today, we had to change accommodation to somewhere a little closer to Dubrovnik's Old Town and, therefore, closer to all the action. Europe was getting seriously hot by this point, and carrying our bags through the streets of Dubrovnik absolutely drained us. The city is littered with hundreds of steep, seemingly endless sets of stairs that you have to tackle to get almost anywhere. Our new accommodation was right at the top of one of the hills, but eventually, we made it.

We barely had time to recover before rushing off to our kayaking tour, which was conveniently going to give us a chance to cool down in the water. We had booked a kayaking and snorkelling tour around Dubrovnik so we could see the city from the sea. We reached our first snorkelling location, a small hidden beach inside a cove that can only be accessed by kayak. Despite being relatively secluded, there were still plenty of other tour groups.

There wasn't a huge amount to see underwater, apart from one very impressive duck. It was diving probably 10 metres underwater between the rocks to hunt for fish and could stay submerged for around 30 seconds at a time. I watched it repeatedly and managed to see it catch fish several times. Other than that, the marine life wasn't particularly spectacular, so Jack and I found a rock jump of around seven metres and took turns jumping off it until it was time to leave.

To help out a father and daughter who were struggling with the kayaks, Jack and I swapped from our double kayak into the individual ones. It made the journey significantly harder, but we were much more capable of handling them, so we were happy to oblige. Plus, once you got the technique right it wasn’t so bad. We then paddled around the island of Lokrum while our tour guide explained the history of Dubrovnik and the island itself. Apparently, Lokrum is cursed, and he told us several stories about the people who had owned the island and their mysterious deaths. One story in particular caught my attention. The last owner of the island was apparently Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in 1914 triggered the chain of events that led to the First World War, which eventually contributed to the circumstances surrounding the Second World War. If the stories are to be believed, that might be one of the deadliest curses ever placed on an island. The history of Lokrum was fascinating, and I was keen to explore the island myself, but unfortunately, we ran out of time. After spending around two hours paddling around it, we eventually made our way back to the beach and finished the tour.

Later that day, I wanted to walk the city walls of Dubrovnik, but the price was fairly steep, so Jack decided against it. Luckily, our hotel host recommended getting the Dubrovnik Pass, which cost roughly the same as the walls but included access to several other attractions as well. The Canadians we'd met in Hvar were also in Dubrovnik at the same time, so one of the girls joined me for the afternoon. This ended up being one of the highlights of my entire trip. We went in the afternoon when the temperature had dropped a little, making the walk much more enjoyable. The views over the Old Town were incredible. The entire circuit is around two kilometres long, with bars along the way where you can stop for a drink and take in the scenery. Every few minutes, there seemed to be another incredible viewpoint over the Old Town, the wider city of Dubrovnik, the ocean and the surrounding islands. It was easily the highlight of my time in Dubrovnik.

That night was supposed to be one of my last with Jack before he headed to Spain, so we decided we had to make the most of it and hit the town. He was still pretty sick, but I managed to convince him to come out for at least a few drinks. We looked around for somewhere decent to have a few drinks, but after overpaying at a couple of different bars, we figured we may as well find a club. After wandering through a few pretty average and almost empty clubs, we decided to text our hotel host for a recommendation. He suggested Revelin.

We arrived before midnight and managed to get free entry, and the place was absolutely going off. It was easily one of the biggest and coolest nightclubs I'd ever been to. The club was built inside what looked like an old underground fortress or subway tunnel, which gave the whole place a really unique atmosphere. There was heaps of space to dance, and the place was packed. Then, by pure coincidence, the Canadian girl I'd spent part of the day with was also there. Either Dubrovnik is incredibly small, or I had a stalker.

We spent some more of the night with the Canadians before Jack eventually called it a night and headed home. He was still pretty sick, and clubbing isn't really his thing anyway, but I was glad I managed to drag him out for a little while. Not long after Jack left, the rest of us decided it was probably time to head home and try to get a reasonable night's sleep. It was a pretty perfect way to finish our time in Dubrovnik. Between kayaking around the coastline, walking the city walls and experiencing the nightlife, it ended up being one of my favourite days of the trip.Read more