3D Trip 2022 Day 4 - Walled Off Perfection
It’s been a long time since we’ve done a multi-stop trip like this. Waking up this morning a little before 4 AM and dragging our bags and our tired eyes downstairs to checkout wasn’t nearly as fun as I remember it. Luckily after a lengthy wait to find an Uber we got in the back of a Prius and made our way to the Dublin airport where we waited in long lines to eventually make it to our terminal to board our plane early. Unfortunately, as I said “this may be the first on-time flight I’ve been on this year” we were told that there was crowding in the airways over France and Croatia and we had to sit on the runway for 45-minutes. Luckily we had gotten Starbucks before boarding or I would have been even more grumpy.
A little over three hours later we landed at our next destination Dubrovnik. We sprinted through customs, grabbed our bags, and were off to get into the Mercedes van that came to pick us up from our hotel, The Hotel Excelsior. The drive from the airport was a little under 30-minutes and upon arrival were told our room would be ready in an hour so we went downstairs and sat at the corner table overlooking the beautiful walled-off city of Dubrovnik with our cocktail, wine, and burger to split.
We lost track of time and were so captivated by Dubrovnik that we ended up staying on the beautiful patio for far longer than we expected. We eventually came back to reality and checked into our beautiful ocean view room with views of Dubrovnik and the Adriatic sea. After recording a room tour and taking some photos we unpacked and put on our bathing suits to go down to the beach.
Average temperatures in Dubrovnik in August are close to 90 degrees, we lucked out today and it was in the low 80s with partly cloudy skies that made laying under the sun actually quite pleasant. I tried to get Jenn to go in the ocean with me but after she dipped her toe in she thought it was too cold and instead went into the indoor pool which was heated. Jenn read her book (It Ends With Us) and I listened to mine (Behold the Dreamers). It was the perfect start to our four days in Dubrovnik.
We made our way into Dubrovnik for the first time in exactly a decade and onto our dinner for the evening at Nautika. It’s a Michelin guide restaurant known for its seafood and views. They had reached out this morning to confirm our table, and I made sure to ask for the best table they had, and they didn’t disappoint. We arrived a little after 6:30 PM and for the next 2.5 hours, we watched the sunset on the walls of Dubrovnik. That alone will be something I never forget. Fortunately, the food and drinks were just as good.
Jenn started off with a beautiful honey French 75 and I had a glass of Croatian champagne. We both opted for the five-course seafood menu while substituting the fish soup for a bisque. The meal started with a palette cleanser and some bread with Croatian olive oil. From there we had two starters, tuna tartare and shrimp bisque. I preferred the tartare but both were quite nice. The next two were our main courses which started with a shrimp and gnocchi dish and finished with a white fish filet. By this point, Jenn had moved on to white wine and I had a gin martini with a twist. We wrapped up the meal with a stunning chocolate dish that rounded out the lengthy meal quite well.
We left the restaurant a little after 9 PM with a man playing the piano inside the restaurant and the city abuzz. Like walking the streets of Venice there’s something magical about being in Dubrovnik, especially with the sun setting, no matter where you turn it’s beautiful. We closed out the night watching an episode of Trying before falling asleep looking forward to our next three days in Dubrovnik.
