We wake up for our first full day in Dubrovnik and notice it rained last night because the walkways are wet. Dave goes down into the square, sits at a cafe table (where the locals are gathered) and orders a Veliki Makijato (coffee with milk). There is a small farmers market that sets up everyday - giving Dave something to watch - people watching is cheap entertainment. Monique is up and begins separating her dirty clothes - it’s laundry day! Dave returns and pretty soon we have two piles of clothes. The plan is for Dave to take the backpack full of laundry up the steps to the "Buza" gate where there is a self-serve laundry - we saw the sign when we first arrived.
Up the steps he goes - stopping half way to look in the Game of Thrones store to rest. Many scenes of the series were filmed right here in Old Town. Up the rest of the steps and he’s inside the laundromat where he discovers the machines are similar to others we have used in Europe. Put in the clothes, note the number on the machine, go to the kiosk, put in 50 Kuna, punch in the washer number and the lights on the machine starts flashing. Select the water temp and press start. Just so you know 66 Kuna equals 10 dollars so it is quite expensive per load - and we have two loads. This is the only laundromat - so do or do not. We need clothes. The dryers are not the best so it takes another 30 Kuna to "almost" dry everything. Dave completes the job and carries the refreshed clothes down the many stairs and returns to the apartment.
Monique completes her work and we are ready to go. First on the agenda is to walk the path on top of the walls that surround the Old City. We go toward the Pile gate and find the ticket office where we buy our city wall tickets (120 Kuna per person). An 85 stair walk up to the top is just the beginning - there are over 1000 steps you need to climb if you walk the entire perimeter of the city wall. We see great views of Old Town and parts of the city outside the walls as we work our way around - stopping for pictures along the way. Surprisingly, there are cafes on top and we stop at one for a cold beer. We sit next to a couple from Australia and strike up a conversation. He brews beer and she is a coffee barista. We have a great time talking about many topics when all at once the dark clouds gather and the wind gusts become intense, so the cafe employees are scrambling to close their umbrellas and the customers are rushing for cover. It really starts to pour. We duck in closer to the building. There are lighter clouds behind the rain so we decide to wait it out. More beers for all are in order. We meet another couple from Norway and enjoy their company too. They tell us about a show in Norway where people from the U.S. compete in an attempt to find their ancestors from Norway and the winner gets to go to Norway - all expenses paid and meet their long lost family members. Monique will be researching this one because she has basic information pointing to her family origins from the northern part of Norway. We tell them to watch for us on TV. We take their card because we may look them up when we are on the show or when we return to Norway which we plan to do.
The rain stops and everyone goes their own way. Monique and I continue around the wall. The light is not the best for pictures but we take them anyway. We complete the circuit and descend the steps we came up earlier in the day. We need food so we wander around looking for a restaurant we like. Nothing strikes our fancy. There is one right outside our apartment that we were told has good food, but review the menu and are not moved. The couple from Athens, who we met on Milos told us about a restaurant called Lady Pi Pi. It’s small, very popular and can be a long wait to get a table. It’s Monday night so we are hoping it isn’t too busy and we can get in on the first seating. We hike up the many steps to see if we can get in. Outside the restaurant there is a fountain of a woman with her legs spread and water, in the past, came out of her Peek-A-Choo. We know we are in the right place.
The iron gate in front is closed. We ask if they have room for two. The waitress says yes but, "you will need to share you table with someone else." We agree and are lead to a table that could seat six. To drink, we order a half liter of the house white wine and a liter of water. Monique orders beefsteak cooked medium rare with potatos and Dave orders the shrimp with vegetables and a salad. Everything is to be cooked on an outdoor grill that we can see is hot and ready to go. We wait and wait but nothing seems to be happening. No one is seated with us and yet there are people waiting outside which we find odd. Finally the grill master comes up from below and starts cooking. The food smells great and is delivered quickly - it is cooked to perfection - definitely one of the better meals we have eaten. When we leave we see there is a long line outside and realize we are not in the States because there was room at our table to seat more people. We exit and people in the line ask us if it is worth the wait. Yes, Madam Pi Pi delivered. We go down the many steps and head back to the apartment and go right to work. We want to catch up on our blog before we meet Dave and Tony in Munich for Octoberfest - our next stop.
The small farmers market that appears every morning in the square outside our apartment.
Dave’s mission for the morning - get that laundry done. Monique fashioned this backpack - making it a bit easier to carry the clothes up the many stairs.
This is the staircase that get’s you to the wall pathway - from there it’s one way - to the left. In the background you can see Minčeta Tower. The tower was completed in 1464 and became the symbol of the unconquerable city of Dubrovnik. Since Minčeta Tower is the highest point of the wall, it is considered to offer a seemingly "unforgettable" view on the city.
The view is really incredible. From here you can see the main street (Placa Stradun) and a cistern built in 1311 called Great Onofrio’s Fountain.
The cliffs along the Adriatic Sea helped with the cities’ defenses. They built the walls above the high rocks. These walls are 1.5 to 5 meters (5–16 feet) thick, depending on their location and its strategic importance.
If you watch Game of Thrones, you will recognize this as King’s Landing. Fort Bokar is on the right and Fort St. Lawrence is on the left.
The old port. The most prominent portion of the harbor are the three enormous arches (the fourth original arch was walled in) of a large arsenal built in the late 12th century and enlarged in the latter part 15th century. The harbor is also the oldest shipyard within the city and is still in use today.
We are on the opposite side of the town about 3/4 of the way around the wall. They must have some kind of building code here where you must use orange roof tiles, stone walls and green paint for your doors, iron work and shutters.
The fountain at Madame Pi Pi’s letting you know you are at the right place.
This is the view from our table at Madam Pi Pi. The skies are clearing up which is good for us. If it rains, this restaurant does not open.