Amusing Bouches: May 2014

D'Vino wine bar, Dubrovnik, 15th May 2014

This was a really nice little place just off the main street in the Old Town. It serves a wide range of Croatian wines by the glass, but also offers the chance to try 3 small glasses of red or white wines. I tried 3 white whites, and although they were all very drinkable I then chose a large glass of the Crvik wine I'd found at a restaurant a couple of nights earlier.

To soak up a bit of the alcohol we also shared an platter of meats, cheese, bread and olives-perfect!

"Tasting" wines

Platter of yumminess

http://www.dvino.net/index.html

Restaurant Amfora, Dubrovnik, 14th May 2014

Restaurant Amfora is a little way out of the Old Town, and although we had to take a taxi to get there and back I'd say it was worth it. Inside was stylish as they didn't have the charms of the Old Town to entice a captive audience the fact that it was essentially full on a Wednesday evening must say something about their food.

I started with deep fried courgette flowers filled with cheese (obviously the healthy because they are part of the courgette plant). For my main course I had sea bream, with prawns and mussels. Recognising that we may have put a little weight on over the course of the holiday we decided to share a dessert of chocolate fondant that had a perfect gooey centre.

Deep fried courgette flowers

Sea bream, prawns and mussels

Chocolate fondant

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amfora-Mediterranean-Grill-Pasta/137977956245703

War Photo Limited, Dubrovnik, 14th May 2014

We'd been keeping a pretty close eye on the weather forecast and were trying to save a couple of museums that we wanted to visit for the "rainy day" that we knew inevitably would come.

I guess I'm glad it did rain, because if it hadn't we may never have visited War photo Limited and that would have been a shame. Although the museum has had exhibitions relating to the Yugoslav wars and still has a small collection of those photos currently the main exhibition is photographs by Narcisco Contreras from the war in Syria.

I think with 24 hour news on the TV to a certain extent we can become a little bit desnsitised to "graphic images". So I was a little bit surprised at how much of an affect some of these photos had. This could have been because we were in quiet rooms and forced to take in the pictures rather than them just being on the TV in the background, or maybe it was partly because of the skill of the photographer.

I was reminded of something the first world war poet Wilfred Owen said:
"Above all I am not concerned with Poetry.
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity."

There is certainly pity in these photos.

http://www.warphotoltd.com/?

Restaurant Kopun, Dubrovnik, 13th May 2014

A capon is a rooster that has been castrated, apparently the effect of castration is to make the meat more tender. As this was their speciality even though there were other things on the menu we decided to try a couple of different recipes, one served with an orange sauce the other with a mushroom sauce. They were both nice although I think I'd made the mistake of filling up too much with my starter which was a substantial (and very tasty) dish of vegetable risotto. We also made a mistake with dessert, we should have realised that the fact that the "Chocolate sauce with truffle" dessert was so high meant that it would contain real live (or previously live) truffles. Now I get that truffles are a delicacy, and I'm just about coming round to the fact that they can add something to savoury dishes but I really didn't feel that they added anything to what would otherwise have been a nice choclatey dessert!

There was one really nice touch early on in the evening: they didn’t have the wine we’d ordered, rather than just giving us the wine list again or bringing an alternative the waiter let us try 3 of the white wines they did have and said they’d even discount the most expensive one. We ended up going for a Crvik white wine which was the best wine I had all holiday. I think this really highlighted my feelings that you can have problems at any restaurant but the mark of a good restaurant (and one that you want to go back to) is how they deal with problems.

We were lucky that the rain stayed away and we were able to sit on the terrace in the very pleasant surroundings of a quiet square opposite the Jesuit church of St Ignatius, at the top of a set of Baroque steps that was modelled on the Spanish Steps.

Vegetable risotto with a bit of cheese

Capon with an orange sauce and gnocchi

My favourite wine

Chocolate sauce and truffle

Dubrovnik's "Spanish Steps"

http://www.restaurantkopun.com/index.html

Dubrovnik Cable Car, 12th May 2014

There are essentially two options to get to the top of Mount Srdj: walk or get the cable car. I liked the idea of walking but I also wanted to see what the cable car was all about so we decided to get the cable car up and walk down (which was definitely a good decision). We didn't have to queue for long to buy tickets or get on the cable car, but I can imagine that it might get quite busy during peak season.

The cable car gets you up there pretty quickly, probably a bit too quickly to be able to take any decent photos. Once you get to the top there are a number of viewing points, a restaurant and a museum about the war of independence situated in the fort.

If you can tear yourself away from the spectacular views of the Old Town and Adriatic Sea then the view of the other side of the mountain is impressive in a baron landscape kind of way.

We’d read that there was a walkway liked the idea of walking down and having more of an opportunity to take in the views. The only problem was we really struggled to find the path! After walking round the restaurant complex (peering over the edge trying to work out where the path we could see would start) and the museum building, we finally found the start of the path (to the left of the museum I think). The path wasn’t signposted but there was a sign that pretty much said it’s not our responsibility if you fall and die.

We began our descent and it definitely gave lots more chances for photos. I’d certainly recommend sensible footwear (ie trainers or walking boots) I was wearing what are usually very comfortable walking sandals but the path has been "built" out of stones that quite big and pointy.

View and the orange cable car, Lokrum in the top left corner

The other side of the mountain

Fort Imperial

Peering over the edge

View on the way down

http://www.dubrovnikcablecar.com

Restaurant Taj Mahal, Dubrovnik, 11th May 2014

We visited Taj Mahal based on a recommendation from the ever helpful B&B owner and because it had some good Tripadvisor reviews. Despite what the name might suggest it's actually a Bosnian restaurant.

After walking past a few pretty empty restaurants trying hard to get custom we managed to find Taj Mahal. It was busy (a good sign) but they said they’d have a table if we came back in 15 minutes. We came back after a walk round the block and were sat outside.

I started off with a vegetable soup and some flat bread. Then I had turkey kebabs served with a jacket potato, and because I love courgettes so much I ordered a side dish. To finish I experienced Bosnian coffee, luckily I think I was so tired from the previous 24 hours and had such a comfortable bed to sleep on (at Fresh* Sheets Kathedral B&B) that despite the coffee I actually slept very well!

Soup

Turkey kebabs and courgettes

Bosnian coffee

Game of Thrones walking tour and boat trip to Lokrum, Dubrovnik, May 2014

I can remember being very jealous and wanting to go to Dubrovnik after seeing some of my mom and dad’s holiday snaps a few years ago. Finding out that it was being used as the set for King’s Landing in Game of thrones had made it a must see.

We arrived in Dubrovnik to a pretty amazing welcome at the amazing B&B we were staying in and had our appetite for Game of Thrones related adventures whetted with a few stories about what happens when they film in Dubrovnik. Then we headed out and wandered around the Old Town and along the city walls on our own. It was lovely to just soak up the views, enjoy this beautiful city at our own pace and have the chance to take some nice photos whilst the weather was at it's best.

Having become slightly obsessed with Game of Thrones we also booked a "Game of Thrones" walking tour for the next day to try and make sure we got as much out of the experience as possible. There was a nice sized group (about 10 in total) and it the presence of people who were clearly even more into Game of Thrones than me was reassuring.

We started off getting away from the busy streets of the Old Town and following our guide up a relatively steep path/steps to Fort Lovrijenac. This was the setting for quite a few scenes in season 2 including a fight involving the Hound that ends in a bloody mess during Joffrey's name day celebrations (on the balcony) and dissuasions between Cersei and Lord Baelish under the arches. It also offers great views of the Old Town and of Parc Gradac where the Purple Wedding was filmed in season 4.

Whispers in the corridors of power

Imagine Joffrey standing on the balcony overseeing proceedings

Parc Gradac, setting of the Purple Wedding

Fort Lovrijenac from Blackwater Bay

We headed down from Fort Lovrijenac and on our way back to the Old Town stopped in "Blackwater Bay". Blackwater Bay crops up as the main port for King's Landing, it's where the Lannisters wave off Myrcella when she is shipped off to Dorne. The pier is also somewhere Sansa is seen talking to Lord Baelish. The only boats on the sea whilst we were there were Kayaks (unfortunately it looked a bit too choppy for us to try some kayaking) but Blackwater Bay is also where the Battle of Blackwater took place in season 2.

Fort Lovrijenac and "Balckwater Bay"

"Blackwater Bay"

The rocks at "Blackwater Bay", used during the "slaughter of the innocents" season 2 episode 1

The pier

We were guided up the back of the bay to find ourselves at Pile Gate one of the entrance gates to the Old Town. The guide took us round a few of the backstreets in the Old Town mentioning a few interesting facts about Dubrovnik that weren't Game of Thrones related! She timed this to arrive at the Market Square at midday when the mass feeding of the city's pigeons takes place.

Just around the corner we were shown a glimpse of the Rector's Palace. You can see into the courtyard without actually paying to go in (although we did go in properly a few days later). In season 2 episode 6 this is where Daenerys visits the Spice King. On our way to the city walls the guide pointed out a street close to Ploce Gate down which Tyrion and Bronn walked and talked.

Finally we headed up onto the City Walls walking and taking some of the best photos of the Old Town until we reached Minceta Fort. From inside the fort you get a view of the Old Town that was used as a backdrop in the scene where they are looking for Gendry at the Blaksmiths. The outside of the fort was the exterior of the House of the Undying that Daenyrys mysteriously enters in Qarth.

King's Landing

View from the Blacksmiths

Minceta tower, aka House of the Undying

Finally the guide left us to walk the rest of the walls on our own. We certainly enjoyed the tour and it must have been good because I didn't notice that we'd spent 3 hours walking! There were lots of places that were pointed out that I’m sure we’d never have noticed if we were just walking round. It was also interesting to be shown pictures from the show and to be able to see where things had been added by CGI etc.

The only slight issue was that it was quite expensive, although the price did include entry to the city walls and Fort Lovrinjenac. Also, although there are certainly lots of walking tours around Dubrovnik, at the moment this seems to be pretty much that only Game of Thrones themed tour, so I guess a bit of competition might affect the price. Having said all of that I doubt the price will put off Game of Thrones fans and if you're not a Game of Thrones fan then start watching!

Lokrum

A few days later (when the seas were calm enough) we took a boat from the Old Town harbour to Lokrum which doubled as the city of Qarth in season 2. Lokrum is only about 600m from the Old Town-you can see it in quite a lot of photos of the old town. As long as the weather's ok the boats run every day on the hour. Sitting at the back on the right hand side of the boat probably gives you the best views as it sails away from the Old Town and after about 15 mins we had arrived to be immediately greeted by a peacock. Apart from numerous peacocks (brought over from the Canary Islands about 150 hers ago), the island has a few other things to see. We had some fun climbing over rocks on the north-west coast then headed inland and walking up the Path of Paradise that takes you to the fort. Here got some good views of the Old Town before walking back to the port.