7 - 11 October 2017

Dubrovnik is the place where I will spend most of my time these days. It's also known as Kingslanding, since a big part of the Game of Thrones series is filmed here for this city. Together with Daan I visit some of the filming locations.

But before I arrive in Dubrovnik I have to take a ferry from Split, very early in the morning. Apparently I started sort of on top of the engine, so that didn't feel good. When I moved to the front, I found a place, but apparently I was sitting on the seat of the father of the man that was sitting next to me. Oeps. So one more time I moved to the very front couch and that also helped to calm down my stomach. I rested and slept a bit and soon we arrived in the harbour of Dubrovnik. I cycled a bit to the supermarket and when I tried to reach the hostel, I found a lot of stairs. Still difficult with a bike... When I had finally reached the hostel, after a longer ride than I had expected, I relaxed more, searched for some couchsurfers for later on and took a nice shower.

Daan is almost here and when I wake up the next day, adrenaline is rushing through my body. I'm so excited! So, breakfast, packing up and hup, on my way to the bus station. I got some croissants from the bakery and waited a bit. And there he was! Super happy and a big hug! Very nice. We walked to the apartment, which we could already enter. Pretty big. Our own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. After we had installed ourselves, we walked to the city centre. Dubrovnik is a beautiful, old city. I can understand that some series and movies are filmed here. We strolled though the little streets and found some stairs we recognised from Game of Thrones. We drank something on a terras, with a piece of pie, but it actually started to get cold, as soon as the sun goes down. So we went to the fortress where parts of the Red Keep are filmed, what was pretty strange to see and walk around in. But also beautiful and fun. Around dinnertime we went to a pizzeria, where I finally ate a pizza hawaii (I hadn't done that since I had left) and Daan had a black risotto. That tasted very good! We got some beer and chips at the mini market and had and evening in front of the tv together. I miss that.

What a nice day to sleep in, especially because Daan was with me. I went to the bakery down the stairs for some breakfast and we enjoyed that together in bed. After that we put on our swimwear and went to one of the little beaches. The water was cold in the beginning, but fine after a bit. Very strange to swim in the sea in October. After we took a shower at the apartment, we went to Lapad, where we had a late lunch with a big meat dish. Delicious! Then we went into the park for a walk to the top of the hill, where we had a nice view over the sea and the city. We returned in the dark and went to the old town to eat some nachos at the Irish Pub.

On Tuesday the alarm went of a bit earlier, because we had to get out of the apartment again. Daan got a nice breakfast and after that we packed our stuff. We searched a bit for a hostel for me, because I will leave Dubrovnik tomorrow and didn't want to struggle with my bicycle through the city centre. We drank one last drink on a terrace at the old port and I brought Daan to the busstop. It was difficult to say goodbye again, but I will see him soon in the Netherlands. The rest of the day I didn't do that much and rested at the hostel, where I had my own room with seven beds ;p.

Wednesday was also a very relaxed day. After breakfast I cycled a bit, from where I walked up on an old path, to the top of the hill with a fortress. I had an amazing view from there over the city and its surroundings. But it was also very hot, so soon I walked back down. I got my tickets for the ferry in the port and searched for a restaurant for tonight. Back at the hostel I read my book and rested some more. After a last Croatian shower I cycled to the restaurant and enjoyed a risotto. After the passport check it didn't take me a long time to enter the ferry, where my bicycle was secured and I found some place on a couch in the restaurant, where I tried to get some sleep on my way to Italy.