10 days in Croatia - part 1: Dubrovnik and Mljet

On my three weeks mini tour of Europe, Croatia was my main country of interest. I'm not really sure what made me decide to go there in the first place. It wasn't really a country I'd been dreaming to go to for years; in truth, it's a country I hardly knew anything about. But I somehow got this great picture in my head of Croatia and it's turquoise waters and Mediterranean architecture so I booked a flight to Dubrovnik and outlined a route along the coast. I ended up visiting seven different places including two national parks and one island.

First stop: Dubrovnik

I landed in Dubrovnik on Tuesday afternoon. Arriving in the Old Town, I started to find my way to the hostel. Dubrovnik is made up of lots of small alleyways that are often quite steep, so I was happy I had a backpack and not a big suitcase to carry up all those steps. It's also a good place to get lost in, so after the first night I threw away my check list of must-sees and decided to just wander around and see where I ended up. You still always end up at Stradun, the main street of the old town.

Dubrovnik was also where I learned immediately that low season certainly hadn't started yet in the first week of September. I was amazed by how crowded Dubrovnik was. The Old Town has recently become very popular because the TV series Game Of Thrones is filmed here. I'm personally not a fan of that show, so I skipped the tours, but the place definitely has that old medieval kind of vibe that is pretty cool. The Old Town is surrounded by big city walls, which you enter through the big Pile Gate, which back in the day did have an enormous entrance door that was hoisted open and close every day. The city walls are the main attraction and it's definitely worth taking some time to walk on top of them; they offer amazing views over the town.









Other things I did included visiting the Franciscan Monastery which also houses Europe's third oldest pharmacy which is still being used today. Close to that is the War Photo Museum which I found incredibly fascinating. I visited the local green market, and also took the ferry over to the small island called Lokrum that's only about a 20 minute boat ride but offers great nature and places to swim - and wild peacocks!

Day trip to Mljet Island

Dubrovnik has a big harbour from which you can take several ferries to Croatia's many islands. I opted for Mljet, one of the closest islands which is said to be the best for nature lovers. I had about five hours to explore the island before I had to catch my ferry back which I thought would be plenty to check out the lakes and the national park. I set myself a goal to loop all the way around the big lake by foot (many visitors of the island hire bicycles, but I prefer walking) but that proved too ambitious, so a few hours in I turned around, found a nice place by the water to lay my towel down and soaked up some sun.




^This is where I took a dip into the water. Swimming in such a deserted place (in such clear water) is amazing.

^The route I walked. As you can see I didn't make it even halfway around the big lake.

Mljet is lovely if you're into nature and it's definitely worth taking a day trip there. The water is so clear and has such a lush colour, even though it was pretty cloudy when I was there. Dubrovnik is great to visit for a couple days and get the feel of the old town, but be warned that it's probably Croatia's most expensive holiday spot.

Coming up in my next Croatia update: Split and the waterfalls at Krka National Park!