We were excited for our day in Croatia just because after we booked the cruise, we did some research and heard such incredible things about the country and Dubrovnik. Well, I had been iffy about what I wanted to do there. I wanted to walk the walls and I also wanted to do sea kayaking in the Adriatic. We chose to do the sea-kayaking. I booked it through Viator--and this was good and bad. I got a decent price because they usually have a 5% off coupon you can find online. But I ended up kind of regretting this. We docked and got off the boat and it was extremely confusing about what port we actually docked out. I read the directions on my information and got on the shuttle and this was a mistake. We should have walked to this tourist area right outside the boat. So we came back from the shuttle and walked to where we needed to be and then they said the directions off of Viator are wrong, we needed to go to Old Town. I was mad because we were just there! They said they have told Viator but they still haven't changed it....so frustrated.
Well we knew two other people there who were doing the same thing and so we took a taxi to Old Town with them which was actually cheaper than the shuttle anyways--so I recommend doing this into town compared to shuttle due to it being cheaper and doing the same on the way back. If you have four people..worth it.
We find the tour company easily and we walk down this pathway to the area where they have us wait a bit. We find out they are sold out for many tours this day and even though we were pre-booked, we think this plays into the excursion later on. The water is absolutely breathtaking and we were ready for some water adventure on such a hot day. Here are some photos of the gorgeousness and clear water.
We begin our tour pretty quickly and easily, we waited maybe around 20 minutes for this, which wasn't bad. They brought sandwiches for our break and gave us a water bottle. They have a closed bucket at the back that you can put things in to keep drive. I had a camera inside a waterproof case so I could take pictures! So at first, we all are just trying to get used to kayaking and my husband and I are very active people. Although we had not kayaked together ever, we soon get the speed of it and are doing fine. We make it all the way across to Lokrum Island which is neat. You can go swimming here and do other fun things and explore, but you can take a ferry here. We had friends do this. We took a break in this cave and the break was NEEDED! Our arms were getting sore.
After the break, we kayaked across the area to this cave. This would be our cave swim time. Well....it was only 30 minutes. I thought we may be here a lot longer, like at least an hour. We ate our sandwiches quickly and then swam out into the water. Now be careful--the rocks hurt before you get in the water! We get to the swimming in this gorgeous blue water and it is nice! There is some cliff jumping---some pretty high jumping (20 feet?). My husband decides he will do it, he jumps off, and two minutes later we discovered his wedding band had come off in the jump! So if anyone sees a silver ring at the bottom of the Adriatic...pick it up and let us know!!! I wasn't that upset....after all, it is a good story and we can always go back and try to find it (wink wink) :)
So we begin to kayak back and there are a lot of boats going by---so we had to watch carefully for that. We get back and it is much shorter trip back to the area compared to going all the way around Lokrum. However, total tour time was only 2 hour and 15 minutes and was supposed to be 4 hours. We thought they kind of rushed us due to how many tours they had that day and how booked they were. We wanted more time at the cave beach and therefore, were disappointed with the tour. It also wasn't a tour, you could barely hear the tour guide. So would I do it again----hmmm...I may just take a ferry to Lokrum or go to one of the bar/restaurants from the city walls that you can swim from (there are a couple of these). We really enjoyed the water part for sure and were pretty good at the kayaking, however, wanted way more time in the water! Here a couple of pictures from the kayak of the wall.
Since we got done so early, we decided we could definitely do more in Dubrovnik, which we were happy about! We chose to not walk the walls due to the fact, we were outside the walls and saw the view we felt already! So instead, we walked around the middle part of the town which was just absolutely neat! We also stopped at this restaurant and sat outside and food and service was good! We really liked how the restaurants were in the alleyways, it was really pretty. Here are some pictures of the town and the cool city streets and our restaurant.
We loved Dubrovnik and would gladly go back. I would say it was my second favorite city of the trip. It was nice to swim in the beautiful water and it also had the old city which was just as beautiful. We took the shuttle back and we never wanted to be late to the ship, so we were probably always at least an hour back early if not earlier!
Tomorrow: Venice! I had been to Venice before and loved it then, so I was excited to go back!
Well we knew two other people there who were doing the same thing and so we took a taxi to Old Town with them which was actually cheaper than the shuttle anyways--so I recommend doing this into town compared to shuttle due to it being cheaper and doing the same on the way back. If you have four people..worth it.
We find the tour company easily and we walk down this pathway to the area where they have us wait a bit. We find out they are sold out for many tours this day and even though we were pre-booked, we think this plays into the excursion later on. The water is absolutely breathtaking and we were ready for some water adventure on such a hot day. Here are some photos of the gorgeousness and clear water.
Tomorrow: Venice! I had been to Venice before and loved it then, so I was excited to go back!
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