📍 Dubrovnik
The One With… the campervan moth, passport control chaos, and dinner cooked over glowing coals.
Summary
Travel days are rarely glamorous, and this one certainly wasn’t. After a night in my campervan with very little sleep, an early flight, lengthy passport queues and plenty of waiting around, it would have been easy to feel exhausted.
But as always, Croatia had a way of making it all worthwhile. An afternoon by the pool gave everyone a chance to unwind before a memorable evening high above Dubrovnik, enjoying traditional Croatian food, a sunset walk to the top of Mount Srđ and a magical cable car ride back down as the city sparkled beneath us.
The Long-Winded Version
🚐 Last night I drove down to Cobham Services in Sid, my campervan. I’d paid £10 to stay overnight, with unlimited Starbucks coffee just a stone’s throw away.
We needed to be at Gatwick Airport for 4am, which was only about thirty minutes from the services. It seemed a far better plan (in my head) than paying well over £100 for a hotel room that I’d only use for a few hours.
Reality, however, had other ideas.
🦋 It was surprisingly noisy, and to make matters worse, a determined moth had decided that my head was the perfect place to land every few minutes.
Every time I drifted off… flutter… there it was again.
I eventually managed to persuade it outside, but by then I’d clocked up around two hours of sleep.
😴 At 3am my alarm sounded. My eyes felt sore and scratchy, and I knew it was going to be a very long day. Still, I wasn’t too worried because I’d catch up with sleep on the flight…
🤷 Instead of sleeping, for reasons I still can’t explain, I watched the Rolf Harris documentary. Probably not the uplifting holiday entertainment I should have chosen! What on earth was I thinking?
✈️ Thankfully, the mood lifted as we approached Dubrovnik. I never get tired of flying into this part of Croatia. The coastline, tiny islands and dramatic limestone mountains make it one of my favourite landings anywhere in Europe.
Then the real fun began.
🇭🇷 The new Entry/Exit System certainly wasn’t having its finest hour. Passport control was organised chaos.
Some people were directed towards the electronic machines, which didn’t seem to work. Others were redirected into different queues before finally ending up somewhere else entirely.
It took well over an hour for everyone to clear passport control.
Meanwhile, our drivers waited patiently in arrivals, along with Stephanie, Paula, Carol and Sandie, who had travelled on an earlier flight.
What a palaver!
🚕 By 11.30am we finally arrived at our hotel.
🏊♀️ We couldn’t check into our rooms until 2pm, but we’d expected that. It actually turned out to be rather nice.
I found Debby and Claire cooling off in the swimming pool while everyone else had scattered between the bar and the poolside, enjoying a well-earned drink and ordering lunch.
Almost instantly, life slowed down.
The stress of the last twelve hours quietly melted away in the Croatian sunshine.
💤 By 2pm I realised that if I wanted to survive the evening, I needed some sleep.
First I made sure everyone had checked in successfully — and, importantly, that all the twin rooms really were twins rather than doubles! I sorted the taxi arrangements for the evening, updated the group, then headed upstairs for what I thought would be a quick nap.
Two hours later I woke up.
Annette and Sue had posted that they were in the bar, so after a shower I wandered downstairs feeling considerably more human and joined them for a catch-up.
🚕 At 6.45pm our taxis arrived.
Our driver, Jarko, immediately had us laughing. His English was perfect, his local knowledge brilliant, and before long we were winding our way through tiny mountain villages towards Mount Srđ.
🥘 Dinner tonight was at Konoba Dubrava, a traditional Croatian restaurant tucked away in the hills. It’s one of those places you probably wouldn’t stumble across on your own, which makes it feel even more special.
The smiling waiters welcomed us like old friends before proudly taking us into the open kitchen to show us the huge wood-fired grills and glowing charcoal ovens where our meals had been slowly cooking for hours.
We’d pre-ordered everything earlier, allowing the meat to cook low and slow over the embers in true Croatian style.
The food was absolutely delicious. Most of us had peka, but we also tried some little dumpling-type things filled with cream cheese.
Then there was salad, bread, slow-cooked meat and potatoes.
It was all a bit much for me.
I was stuffed!
After dinner I gave everyone a choice.
Taxi back to the hotel…
…or a 1.1-mile sunset walk up to the summit of Mount Srđ before taking the cable car back down.
🚶♀️ I suspect everyone secretly fancied walking off dinner!
🌅 This has become one of my favourite little walks in Dubrovnik.
As you climb, the city slowly begins to glow beneath you. The terracotta rooftops catch the last of the evening light, the ancient city walls become beautifully defined, and beyond them the deep blue Adriatic stretches towards the horizon.
🌳 Looking down, we could clearly see Lokrum Island, wrapped in its blanket of pine trees.
According to local legend, King Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked there in the 12th century after returning from the Crusades. Today it’s a peaceful nature reserve.
By the time we reached the summit, we’d all worked up quite a sweat, but that sunset was worth it!
🚠 The cable car back down is always a highlight, but at night it feels even more magical.
Floating silently above Dubrovnik as thousands of lights twinkle below never gets old. You can clearly trace the famous medieval city walls, which have protected Dubrovnik for centuries and helped earn it the nickname The Pearl of the Adriatic.
🚕 Back at the bottom, I called my new best friend, Jarko, and true to form he appeared within ten minutes to whisk us back to the hotel.
By 10.30pm the tiredness hit once again.
I sorted tomorrow morning’s taxis, made sure everyone knew the plan for the day ahead, wished everyone a good night’s sleep and finally called it a day myself.
Tomorrow the adventure really begins, with sea kayaking around Dubrovnik’s famous city walls and a walk around one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe.
For now though, it’s definitely time for bed.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
