Some Dubrovnik restaurants that we can recommend…..or not!

There are a lot of restaurants in Dubrovnik!  So no lack of choice! There is one street which seems to have tables from one end to the other. This street runs parallel to the Stradun, the main street.

We didn't try any there!

Our absolute favorite was Proto…..

First we tried their street tables …..  but noticed this sign for an upstairs terrace….so we returned..

We had to pay a cover charge to eat upstairs….. but it was in a much quieter location.

  Food was the same up or down…and was excellent!

The hot cold salad with shrimps was different…...

…. as was the sea bream with black olive pate….

One night we were going to a concert at the Rector's palace and needed to eat a little earlier and close by. We tried the Cafe Royal restaurant at the Pucic Palace hotel. We had to eat inside as their outside tables were not allowed because of the filming of Game of Thrones! This was no problem as it was definitely in a different style from the other restaurants we had visited…..

and the ravioli with truffles was also excellent!

Another restaurant we tried was the Sesame.

We identified, we thought, where it might be on google maps and wandered a lot of backstreets. it turned out to be on the corner of the main road leading from the Pile gate, just opposite the Hilton hotel! There was quite a bit of traffic noise…. and we did ask to have a table a little further in than the one originally offered!  Food was, however, excellent……

We wanted to eat in the old port so booked a table with a view at the Arsenal.  Location was excellent, food was OK…..

Then one evening we tried our local, the Orhan……

The setting here is absolutely fantastic and definitely worth going there just for that alone.

 However the meal was a little bit of a disaster! We ordered a fish soup to have first, followed by a fish dish. However the waiter forgot we ordered the soup and brought us  the fish first ……. we obviously were a little taken aback and he whipped away the fish……and returned 10mins later with the soup. No problem!
However our fish returned for the second time…. 30 mins from its first visit to the table……a little cold!!!
We did complain…….and they did remove it from the bill…..as we were not temped to eat it!
The wine we had there was excellent!!

We would go there again because of the location……

…but would probably not order a starter!!

Seeing the sights in Dubrovnik….

We did not spend quite all our time in Dubrovnik eating and going to concerts!

We did visit most of the  noteworthy sights….going at times of day when the least number of persons were there from the cruise ships!

First off….. the Franciscan Monastery just inside the Pile Gate.

This has a fantastic cloister area……..

and the oldest pharmacy in continuous use in Europe, from 1317…..

Locals can still go there even today to fill a prescription……

It did suffer some damage in the Serbian aggression in the early 90s.

Then on to the Dominican Monastery…  and another beautiful, peaceful cloister...

This had a beautiful museum which was very tastefully laid out…definitely worth a visit!  No photos allowed..but I did sneak this one…..

The church was quite stark except for this cross, which is from the 14th century, by Paolo Veneziano, who moved to Dubrovnik to escape the Black Plague in Venice…....

We felt in need of a rest before seeing any other sights so made our way to the Buza bar….. a rather different sight and a little difficult to find!  But well worth at the effort. Locals come to dive in, swim, fish…….

….. the cats also liked it there……presumably hoping that some fish might actually be caught!

Next was the Rector's Palace…. again definitely worth a visit!  No photos allowed within the rooms….which was pointed out to me, after I took 2 photos!  I had not noticed….

However exterior photos were OK…..

…...loved this handrail…..

and this is a reminder to forget private affairs and concentrate on public ones!

Last but not least we walked up to the Lovrijenac Fort.  This we saw every day from our apartment!

The way up had 200+ steps before one reached the actual fort….which had still more numerous steps inside.

From the entrance to the fort we had a fabulous view of the little cove we overlooked…..

But from the top we had fantastic views over all of Dubrovnik…

and also a view to our apartment… to the left of the small church.

The fort itself is very impressive…..

Many years ago I went to a performance of Hamlet in this fort…..fabulous! It is used for performances every summer during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival…. and is also now used in the TV series
 'Game of Thrones".

I actually did make it to the top…..if somewhat hesitantly……...