Early to rise.... it's just wise...and I'll do anything for Game of Thrones-related things

Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik. *head shaking, and clasping forehead in hand*

You can't go on like this, Dubrovnik. 

It is currently "off-season" in Dubrovnik, the seat of much interesting history I didn't much bother with learning and the site of numerous Game of Thrones filming locations...my real motivation for visiting; me and MANY MANY others, I presume.

I stayed in a lovely little guest house just outside of the old city that afforded me some respite with its terrace covered by a kiwi vine-dressed arbour:

My Dubrovnik respite

Besides being one of the loveliest airport shuttle-bus rides I have ever experienced, traveling along the Adriatic coast:

View from the shuttle bus en route to the city from the airport

The old city of Dubrovnik becomes absolutely intolerable after 10 am or after 35 years old. The streets become jam-packed...I mean JAM PACKED by 10 am...with blue-haired cruise ship tourists and large Asian bus tour groups making the old city a paragon of tourism intolerability. But here's the key... just get up early, people! Many of you are probably aware of my ridiculous lifestyle of a 5am wake up. It keeps me from fading into a couch potato oblivion each day. I'm proud of it and I talk about it ALOT (sorry, my friends). What makes it wonderful when touristing is that most people and most tour groups are not interested in this kind of hour of the day and instead wait until at least 9am. Basically, I bank on the majority of the world's laziness to achieve my touristing goals. So on the first day I enjoyed an early morning walk to the old city from my airbnb, along the cliffs of the city:

Cliffs of Dubrovnik

Cliffs of Dubrovnik

A peaceful early morning walk along the city wall, the site of a number of King's Landing and some Volantis shots:

Walking atop the city's wall

Including the Minceta tower, the House of the Undying where the warlord's take Danaery's dragons in Qarth:

Minceta tower a.k.a the house of the undying

Minceta tower

I sat for a bit atop the wall with King's Landing in my view:

Then noticed it was indeed starting to get busier and so I hustled my way down to the streets of the old city to see some of the GoT filming locations done there, still fairly unlittered by people at this time of morning:

The Rector's palace, the site of the scene in Qarth where Danaery's finds out her dragons are missing

Ploce gate, the end of Cersei's walk of shame

Jesuit stairs, the location of the beginning of Cersei's walk of shame

Dominca street, in the old city

After a quick cappuccino so I could use a free bathroom in a bistro, I headed to the second big-deal GoT filming location here, Fort Lovrinjenac, the cliff-hanging fort onto which the Red Keep was CGI-ed:

Fort Lovrinjenac a.k.a the Red keep

And inside are sites of filming things like Joffrey's name day or when Cersei is requested by the High Sparrow to go to the Sept and the mountain rips that little sparrow's head off:

Inside Fort Lovrinjenac

Inside Fort Lovrinjenac

But also, lining the shores of the fort, is Pile Bay, where Sanza and Shae spent time discussing little fingers' plans to help Sanza escape and where Cersei watched Myrcella sail away to Dorne:

Pile bay

 And from the Fort, you can also catch a glimpse of the hotel where all the GoT people stayed and word on the street, or as I caught an earful from one of the many GoT tour groups, is that the actress who played Marjorie was THE WORST; she yelled at staff, extras, refused to leave the hotel and consort with the locals, etc.

The official hotel of GoT

Another pro to waking up early is finding the sunrises where, surprisingly, other tourists aren't at but then also turn out to be yet another GoT filming site--where Joffrey's wedding was filmed--like the sunrise viewed from Gradac park:

Sunrise from Gradac park

Gradac park, where Joffrey and Marjorie's wedding was held..I mean filmed

The next day I forsook all and headed out to Lokrum Otok, the forest conservation island that permeates the panaroma of views from the wall of the old city, seen in one of the photos up above. Here, I just did this all day:

And because I didn't read all the tourist info online, I totally missed a GoT filming site on this island buuuuuuut I didn't lose too much sleep over it.

This island used to be a fave summer holiday spot of the Hapsburgs and one of the legacies of this time is that the island is now full of peacocks just kickin' it and livin' the sweet life that is a nature-conserve. Some places have dogs and cats that beg for food, some have monkeys, some have seagulls or pigeons, some have coati's... Lokrum island has peacocks, the pathos of such a noble bird reduced to such vulgarities:

This day ended, wonderfully, back in the old city watching the sunset at Buza Beach Bar where I realised that now, at my age, the people I most often meet traveling are usually middle-aged and retired ladies. Whatever. They're waaaaay more interesting than 25 year old Australians anyways who also probably find me super weird:

Buza beach bar, GET THERE EARLY for good seats!

A slightly tipsy post-sunset saunter took me to a seafood restaurant for oysters and a tuna steak, a welcome offer of a romantic wine-rendezvous after work from the waiter which I kindly and regretfully refused, and bill for basically a 100$ meal which came as a TOTAL surprise to me when I thought about it the next day.

The next morning, I was off on the bus in the direction of Zadar for a one night stopover. I visited Zadar earlier this year with my parents and, after a bit of a sadistic bus ride from Dubrovnik, arriving in Zadar was like a breath of fresh air. This is the zen version of Dubrovnik. But I've only been here in shoulder seasons so don't take my word for it. 

One thing I missed in Zadar last time I was here was watching the sunset over the sea organ and because I was staying directly in the 3000 year-old part of the city in which the sea organ lives, I took an early evening promenade along the sea wall, had a pint and watched the sunset:

Zadar sunset at the old city's sea organ

And after my 8 hours bus ride from Dubrovnik, I felt I deserved another expensive dinner of octopus carpaccio and lamb confit, likely also compensating for the fact that I'm just a solo lady looking for a nice table on a terrace overlooking the water in a tourist town...so I BEST be bringing it with a bill that would be equal too or more than bills of couples having dinner there. I have been refused a seat on a terrace for being one person before so I tend to feel the need to look fancy..this is but ONE economic disadvantage single people have. My life is soooo hard sometimes...waaaahhhh....but the octupus and lamb were delicious.

Awaking early in Zadar, before the sunrise, I took a run through the old city, before any other tourists are out messing up the joint. I ran along the sea wall, through the narrow 3000 year old streets, through the sites of Roman ruins and medieval cathedrals, to the deserted steps of the sea organ just as the sun began to rise. Magic.

Yesterday, I hopped on a ferry and arrived at what felt like the edge of the earth: Dugi Otok, an island about one and a half hours off the coast of Zadar. Finally, the real week of holiday-ing begins:

My final Croatian destination