TRAVEL: DUBROVNIK & KORCULA
Culture, history, crystal-clear waters and dragon memorabilia: Croatia’s coastline ticks all the boxes, whether you’re a Game of Thrones fan or not.
Features ed Liesl Robertson goes to magical Croatia
'It's going to be superhot in August,’
I said to my mom, Jean. We were planning a trip overseas, and after much deliberation (on my part; her contribution was, ‘You decide. I’m just tagging along’) we had settled on Croatia. (And later, Venice, but more on that next month.) I had been there once before, so I knew that it was beautiful, sunny and relatively affordable on the rand.
‘I don’t care,’ she said. ‘I want to swim in the Adriatic.’ She had me there. The last time I’d been was during May and the water was still on the nippy side. Not Llandudno nippy, but still flinch-as-you-go-in nippy. We settled on Dubrovnik, Croatia’s most picturesque city, and one of the South Dalmatian islands nearby. And we booked our flights for late August, despite website after website warning that August temperatures were stiflingly hot.
It was, in fact, boiling. But we managed, thanks to a routine of getting our sightseeing in early, regular swims, late dinners and copious amounts of gelato. We also spent quite a bit of time lying in our air-conditioned room around midday, sipping wine and eating Pringles. Which doesn’t exactly make us sound like cool, seasoned jetsetters, but there you have it.
The one thing I hadn’t taken into account were Dubrovnik’s stairs. Dear Lord, the stairs. Regardless of where you book your accommodation, you’ll be climbing some stairs. So travel light, because you’ll be lugging that suitcase up a flight or three at some point. By the time we arrived at our Airbnb on day one I was pink-cheeked and panting, having heaved ‘the coffin’ (as my mom dubbed it) up and down multiple flights in the summer heat. (Our host’s directions had been unclear, to say the least, which didn’t help.)
‘NERDVANA’
Dubrovnik is considered the pearl of the Adriatic, Croatia’s most popular tourist destination. It was also one of the main filming locations of Game of Thrones;
(you may recognise it as King’s Landing, the Westeros capital) and the souvenir shops are still cashing in on that big time; there are dedicated Game of Thrones shops around every corner, selling everything from dragon-adorned goblets and figurines to caps, mugs and T-shirts sporting quotes from the show. (‘I drink and I know things’; ‘You know nothing, Jon Snow’; and ‘Valar morghulis’ are the most popular.) I also saw a girl
with long icy blonde hair sporting a tee emblazoned with the words ‘WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS?’ on it. That level of dedication deserves a mention, right?
Superfans can even go on a GOT tour, where locals take you around the city and point out the spots where famous scenes were shot. It was also a film location for parts of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the most recent Robin Hood flick starring Jamie Foxx and Jamie Dornan, and the 25th James Bond film.
OLD TOWN
The medieval Old Town was devastated by an earthquake in 1667, so some of the newer buildings feature a baroque style. If you’re there in peak season, steer clear between 10am and 4pm; this is when the cruise ships dock nearby and thousands of day trippers flood the streets. The limestone paving of the main strip, the Stradun, is slippery-smooth, buffed by the tread of millions of pairs of feet.
Fortunately the shops and restaurants are open until late, and the Old Town comes alive at night with families strolling along the Stradun, gelato in hand; musicians entertaining the crowds and shopkeepers peddling their wares in little green-shuttered hole-in-the-wall shops. There is no signage on the walls – the names of the shops are displayed on lanterns overhead as they aren’t allowed to mar the historic walls with conspicuous signage. Find a seat at one of the cafés and watch the world go by (you may have to shoo one of the city’s many cats off your seat first), or pick out a pair of keepsake coral and filigree earrings at one of the jewellery shops.
Walking the walls is a must, as you get to see the orangeroofed tintswalo.com/lapalala/gamelodge Old Town from all angles, Twitter: @Tintswalolodges plus breathtaking sea views, Lokrum Island, the Revelin fortress and signs of people living everyday lives in such a historical setting. You can also see some of Dubrovnik’s battle scars from the Bosnian War in the early 1990s from up here: some of the roof tiles are a brighter orange than the rest, and here and there the varying shades of the facades of the buildings will tell you that some are made from freshly quarried stone.
Get there early to miss the crowds; the entrance is near the Pile Gate, and walking all the way around takes about an hour. For an even better view of the Old Town, you can also take the glistening orange cable car up Mount Srd.
SUN SEEKING
Judging by some of the coppery brown limbs of our fellow tourists, tanning is still very much a thing in Croatia (or is that just Europe in general?). As a gleamingly pale Saffer who has had the importance of sun safety drilled into me since birth, I dutifully slathered on my SPF50; no one else on the beach seemed to have even brought sunscreen. They all just lay spreadeagled on their loungers, sizzling away. (‘It’s like the ’70s,’ my mom said. ‘Everyone’s tanned and people still smoke in public.’)
During a cooling dip at Banje Beach, a cramped little shingle bay just outside Old Town, I eavesdropped on some Americans making a similar observation. ‘I tried to buy sunscreen at the supermarket,’ drawled the tall blonde bobbing nearby. But all they had was SPF6.’ ‘What’s the point of that?,’ her friend replied, wide-eyed. ‘That’s just tanning oil!’
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also join one of the many sea-kayaking expeditions to nearby Lokrum, an uninhabited island just across the ocean from Banje. Here you can check out the 11th-century monastery, splash around in the
This is what we came for: the crystal-clear Adriatic. The salinity is higher than average, so you can float easily and the temperature is cool enough to be refreshing, but warm enough to stay a while.
saltwater lake or sun all your bits at the naturist beach on the far side of the island. And if all that paddling to get there seems like too much work, there’s a ferry from the Old Town harbour as well.
ISLAND BOUND
After five days in Dubrovnik, it was time to set off for our second destination: the island of Korcula. Pronounced ‘Kor-choo-lah’, it is also known as the Emerald Isle, or ‘Little Dubrovnik’ for its medieval walls and historic centre.
There are more than 1200 islands in the Adriatic, although more than 80% of them are uninhabited. The ones we considered were Hvar (the most cosmopolitan of the Dalmatian islands; known for its nightlife and lavender fields); Vis, which is close to the famous Blue Cave and has more sandy beaches than most of the other islands; lush Mljet, which has two crystal-clear salted lakes right in the centre; and Brac, home of the famous Zlatni Rat beach.
To be honest, we chose Korcula fairly at random (I liked the sound of ‘the Emerald Isle’ and it seemed obscure enough not to be overrun with tourists) but we also figured that if we got bored we could hop on a ferry to one of the other islands.
It never came to that. Although we had planned to take the local bus to the sandy beach at Lumbarda, Korcula Town is dotted with little swimming spots. If you walk along the edge of the town, you’ll find staircases running down to the rocks every few metres. From the rocks, there are metal ladders and gangplanks that deposit you right into the ocean. Here you can bob along peacefully; every once in a while a speedboat zooms past, creating a tiny makeshift wave in its wake. To borrow a phrase from Rihanna, this is what we came for: the crystal-clear Adriatic. The salinity is higher than average, so you can float easily and the temperature is cool enough to be refreshing, but warm enough to stay a while.
Korcula’s other dubious claim to fame is that it’s Marco Polo’s birthplace (the Venetians deny this vehemently) so there are a few nods to the famed explorer around Korcula Town, including little shops dedicated to him where you can buy old-timey trinkets like spyglasses and compasses, and the house where he was supposedly born, which is now an unimpressive little museum.
For a bird’s-eye view of the town, climb up the cathedral’s bell tower just before sunset. It’s not for the faint of heart though; the stairs are very narrow in parts and the lookout point acrophobiainducingly high. My mom went up, then shakily took a few pics before standing frozen in the corner, taking deep breaths.
If we had had more time we would have done a wine tour; buses leave for the inland wineries from the port and Korcula is famed for its white wines. For a taste of the local culture, attend one of the weekly live sword dancing performances in the open-air amphitheatre.
COSTS & CURRENCY
The local currency is the kuna; at the time of going to print 1kn was equivalent to R2,23. Our Airbnb in Dubrovnik was about R1400 a night, and in Korcula we stayed in a little flatlet right in the centre of the Town for R900 a night. Getting around is relatively affordable; the local bus is 15kn for a ticket that’s valid for 59 minutes, and the ferry from Dubrovnik to Korcula is 130kn per person.
EATING & DRINKING
Let’s start with the important bits: 27kn buys you two scoops of gelato in Dubrovnik; in Korcula it was about 20kn. Eating out at night can start adding up, though, unless you stick to something simple, like pizza. Or, buy your food and drinks from the supermarkets; you can buy a beer for less than 10kn in the local Konzum or Studenac.
Since you’ve come all this way, you have to try some local specialities though: calamari and squid ink risotto are firm favourites, and Croatian oysters are said to have a more intense taste than the ones we have here at home. We also tried the local white wines (Posip, Krk and Grk) and some pastries from local patisserie Cukarin in Korcula: the lemon and orange-flavoured pastry it was named for; a raisin, walnut and chocolate-filled klasun, and a Marko Polo bombica. To be honest, I can only really recommend the chocolate bomb bombica out of the three, but I never did dip the cukarin in prosek (sweet wine) as instructed.