We are firmly in Dubrovnik now. On our own. Nobody to hold our hands, nobody to guide us, nobody to tell us what to do or where to go. We wandered around like little lost lambs for a couple of hours before we gathered ourselves and found a direction. It ended up being a very full and busy day for us – more than 20000 steps!

We began by dropping off our dirty laundry – yeah, we were starting to get pretty funky. We walked through Old Town, had a coffee, fought the cruise ship crowds, visited the Jesuit Church, made reservations at a cocktail bar for sunset, visited the food festival, saw the quarantine city, fought some more crowds, had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (hey – don’t judge, we were craving nachos!), took a gondola up to a fortress, visited the war museum in it, enjoyed the incredible view, checked into our hotel (we have a room that fits us and our suitcases!!!) and then…and then…what we had been looking forward to…

A Game of Thrones Tour. How can you pass up an opportunity to see some of the major scene locations around town? Our group was pretty small, but it consisted of some pretty hardcore enthusiasts. If I am to be honest, watching them get excited over what we were seeing and then having them have side conversations about the plot lines and the characters was as entertaining as what the guide was telling us. LOL.

Our guide was amazing – very cool, knowledgeable and easy going. Not only did we get some insight on the set locations and behind the scenes tidbits, he was also very open about how the show has improved the quality of life of the Croatians. The year after the documentary about the filming of GoT came out, tourism increased 40%. Fans were coming to Dubrovnik in hordes. Many of them not having any clue at all about the city or the country. In fact, many of them believed that the Old Town was built specifically for the filming of GoT. Imagine their surprise to find out that Old Town wasn’t actually built in the last 15 years. The fans got to learn all about real life in the 14th Century.

Jason and I got exactly what we wanted to out of this tour. It was entertaining, it was easy, and it didn’t take up a whole lot of brain space. We have been learning so much about Croatian history that our brains are a little bit overwhelmed.

After the tour, you’d think our day would be finished, but nope. We met up with friends for a farewell sunset drink, walked the “Shame!” steps, scouted out the food festival again, walked through a war victim memorial, found some dinner and then made it back to our hotel for a well deserved glass of wine.

What a day. And when you get to witness sunsets like this one, it doesn’t matter how many steps you’ve done or how tired you might feel, the whole journey is even more amazing.