A Birthday, Game of Thrones Tour, and Exploring the City Walls of Dubrovnik

Monday came quickly after our relaxing weekend at Le Meridien, but we were excited to head to Dubrovnik to meet up with friends.  Mat and Jordan got married the previous week and were spending two weeks in Croatia on their honeymoon. We figured we should let them enjoy the first week of their honeymoon without us, but couldn't resist the opportunity to meet up with them for a few days in Dubrovnik towards the end. We took the bus from Split to Dubrovnik on Monday, which ended up being a little bit longer than planned, but we were able to check in to our bed and breakfast before dinner time. We also found out that our friends Matt, Katy and Beau welcomed a sweet little girl, Adaline Hope, into their family that morning! I love watching our friends become parents.  It's one of the most endearing things ever, especially watching all of these tough guys fall in love with these little babes.  Apparently, Addie already has Matt wrapped around her (very small) finger. 

Happy birthday sweet Adaline! Sending lots of love from the other side of the world!

Over the next few days, we did lots of fun things with the Heberts, one of which was the Game of Thrones Tour.  Neither Jordan nor I watch the show, but Mike and Mat are BIG fans and loved every minute of it.  Since a lot of GoT is filmed in Dubrovnik (and Croatia as a whole), most Croatians have seen the show, but our tour guide was a huge fan.  He's seen every episode at least four times and the newest episode that was only two days old twice.  He had pictures from the show to help you picture what scene and episode each location was from.  Jordan and I enjoyed the tour despite our lack of GoT knowledge.  Learning about the filming process, as well as some general Dubrovnik history was fascinating.   Most of the pictures below mean nothing to me, but you GoT fans will probably get a kick out of them...

Knocking on a brothel door?

Mike and Mat enjoyed yelling "Shame!" on these stairs.  I don't get it, but couldn't help but get into the spirit and shamed a few people myself.  Apparently, there's an app that does it for you.

The tour guide was really good at incorporating general info about Dubrovnik throughout the tour.  We also got to see a lot of the old town, which was great because none of us had done too much exploration.

The honeymooners

And to end the tour, the boys got to sit in the Throne.

After the tour, we hung out at a swimming hole.

We also walked the walls of the old town.  Thank goodness we went later in the day because it was h o t.   Definitely worth it for the views though!

We ended the day with dinner, although I think we'd all agree that Split wins the prize for the best food. We found a cute little wine bar that let us do wine flights! Hooray!  The waitress was so kind and her dad is the one who owns the vineyards, so she was able to tell us all sorts of fun facts about the wine.  Such a great way to end the day!