Croatia: Part 5 - Day 4: Drive from Dubrovnik to Makarska

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 4

4/8 Day 4: Drive from Dubrovnik to Makarska. Started 12pm and arrived at 4.30pm.

Cost

(1) Car rent (including full insurance) 8 days from Uni Rent - Shared EUR721 for 3 persons. Price includes insurance super collision damage waiver EUR90, tire and glass coverage EUR45, additional driver EUR28. Per person EUR240,33

(2) Stuff from the roadside - a 1,5 liter orange juice EUR7, a 500ml orange marmelade with chilli EUR6

Accommodation
(1) Apartment in Makarska, 3 nights (from Booking.com) - Shared room EUR351 for 3 persons, EUR117 per person

Food
(1) Fruit from Gruz market - 3 peaches and a cluster of grapes EUR2

(2) Breakfast at Caffe Pizzeria Amici - Dalmation breakfast set EUR9,70, coffee latte EUR3,80, Pago orange juice EUR4,80

(3) Snacks and water from Studenac store - Water 1.5 liter EUR1,05, shared nuts EUR5,50

(4) Lunch at Feral, Brijesta - Fish soup EUR5, Pago orange juice EUR3,10, cappucino EUR2,50, dessert a slice of Ston cake EUR6

(5) Radler 500ml from grocery store by the beach, Makarska - EUR3

(6) Dinner at Hotel Mileni, Makarska - Black risotto EUR16, Romerquelle carbonated water 330ml EUR3,30

The Story

04082025: Today, we will pick up our rented car from Uni Rent. I researched and found that this place has a reasonable price. The company has good reviews and I can contribute to a good review too. No regrets about renting the car from them! All went smooth. Pick-up and return, as well as us reporting on a scratch on a tyre. We took full insurance so we need not worry about the cost. 

We checked out and walked to our car rental which is located in Lapad. This is how our accommodation looked like. Ours is on the second floor of the house. 

Goodbye, never-ending stairs. We hope to not see more stairs after Dubrovnik. 

Along the way, we bought fruits from Gruz market (a local morning market), stopped for breakfast and withdrew money from Kent Bank. The only bank that does not have withdrawal fees, as of writing time! The morning was still manageable and we walked as much as we could under the shade. 

Gruz market opposite the road.

Found a spot at Amici Cafe with locals having their coffee here. Not many of them were having breakfast. The locals tend to just enjoy their coffee with their company or by themselves. Reminds me of the elderly locals in my country that just meet to drink coffee (or kopi, as we call it, or teh tarik - pulled tea). My breakfast set is an omelette with ham, cheese and bacon with the sad portion of salad. Drinks are not part of the set. Probably that could be a reason the locals are not having breakfast here. 

After breakfast, we continued our walk to the car rental. We stopped by Kent Bank along the way. I researched from a TripAdvisor forum that this is the only bank that has no withdrawal fees. The car rental office is located on the same street as the beach we were at yesterday at Lapad. We took the bus yesterday but we walked today. It got cloudy so the walk was manageable and shortly after, it drizzled and became heavy. We stopped at a grocery store to get water and mixed nut. We reached the car rental office by 11.40am, much later than our booked time at 11am. Thankfully, the staff did not comment anything on that. 

The signboard is really small under the giant sign of Hotel Vis. The car rental office is in the hotel, opposite the reception. 

The road trip starts now - destination Makarska! We stopped at Feral restaurant for lunch at Brijesta. I did not know that it was a well-known seafood restaurant. My stomach was queasy from the road trip so I had a simple fish soup for lunch. It was appetiser and there was hardly any fish meat in the soup. The soup had rice and was tasteless. All the diners had some form of seafood dish on their table. My Pago orange juice is cheaper than my Pago peach I had in Heritage of Dubrovnik at EUR6!

Croatia: Part 4 - Day 3: Dubrovnik City Walls

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 3

3/8 Day 3: Walked Dubrovnik City Walls. Visited Francisca Monastery and the Lovrjenac Fortress. Did Walking Tour in the evening.

Costs
(1) Dubrovnik Daily Pass EUR40
(2) Walking tour tips - Shared EUR25

(3) Uber from town to accommodation - Shared EUR15,30

Food
(1) Breakfast at Konoba Rhea Silvia cafe - Continental breakfast with coffee, orange and lemon juice EUR18
(2) Burek from Konzum grocery store EUR1,84

(3) Radler 500ml from Konzum grocery store EUR1,85

(4) Soft drink can from Konzum grocery store EUR1,19

(5) Lunch at Pantarul restaurant EUR44 - Grilled fish EUR34, juice EUR5, shared bread EUR4, tips shared EUR8

(6) Gelato from Aroma Gelato - 1 scoop almonds with pistachio EUR3,90

(7) Iced coffee from Beer Therapy - EUR4,50

(8) Radler 500ml from Konzum grocery store EUR1,85

(9) Dinner at Pjatanaca EUR52 - Shared lamb 1 kg, calf 1 kg EUR120, shared cheese in oil EUR9, shared Greek salad EUR12, drink bitter lemon 250ml EUR5

The Story

03082025: The plan for today is walk on Dubrovnik City Walls. I got the daily pass instead of the ticket only to the city wall as both costs the same at EUR40. My heart was weeping as I bought the daily pass. The daily pass includes a 24-hour bus ride and several other attractions in town. Going up on the city wall is a must-do activity in Dubrovnik. Yes, the town sure knows how to milk the most out of a tourist. I chose this day to the city wall and not the day before, as there is only one cruise that arrives in Dubrovnik on this day whereas the day before will have passengers from two cruise ships. Dubrovnik is a famous cruise stop and the Old Town will be crowded with so many cruise passengers. One can check for the arrival of cruise ships from Dubrovnik Port Authority website. For our chosen day today, a cruise shop will arrive at 10am so we took an early morning bus to have breakfast and start our walk on the city walls by 9am. The city wall opens at 8am.

We activated our daily pass on the bus No. 3 and got our 24-hour bus ticket from the bus driver which we used 3 times. Each time would have cost us EUR2,50. We took the 7.20am bus and was in Old Town about 15 minutes later.

First thing - fill up our water bags from the fountain that was opposite of one of the entrances into the city wall. It was not a recommended entrance as many tourists will use that entrance. There were already a short queue forming at the entrance as the city walls open at 8am. We chose to have our breakfast first otherwise, we will be hungry and unable to enjoy the walk.  

We walked around town to look for breakfast and only a few places were opened by 8am. Our aim is to get on the city wall by 9am. We were happy when we found a cafe next to the Konzum grocery store. Menu states that breakfast is from 7am but that is untrue. We received our breakfast 20 minutes after 8am. I was worried that we will be caught in the rush hour for the city wall.

I was very happy with my breakfast plate. The waiter asked if we would like to tip and I said, no thanks. Honestly, I find it very weird to tip when the staff is performing basic services of taking food order, serving the food and taking the payment. I thought it was part of the job description. Thankfully, tipping is not compulsory in Croatia. Tipping is not common in Malaysia either. 

Croatia: Part 3 - Day 2 Second Half: Mount Srd

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2

2/8 Day 2 Second half: Hiked up Mount Srd to see the sunset.

Costs
(1) Uber back to accommodation from town - Shared EUR9,90

The Story

02082025: After our early dinner at Heritage of Dubrovnik, we started our slow walk towards Mount Srd.Earlier in the day, we took the boat to Lokrum island and got back by 3pm. Dinner was at 4pm and finished by 5pm. We were tired from the heat but we kept to our plan. Along the way, we filled our water bottles with the water from Onofrio's Fountain that was in the center of Old Town.

A bit of history of the fountain. Source from Expedia.

The fountain was constructed in 1438 to bring water from the River Dubrovačka, located 7 miles (12 kilometres) away. It was designed by architect Onofrio Giordano della Cava and was part of one of the first aqueducts to be built in the region.

I stood outside the wall and could see the peak of Mount Srd. It looked easy but it was not when we did the walk due to the heat. It is not a high mountain. It got me curious on what differentiates a mountain from a hill. So, there is a definition that a mountain is higher than 600 meters but it can differ by countries. I would have considered this a hill. 

The mountain, part of the Dinaric Alps, has a height of 412 metres (1,352 ft). At its top is a large white stone cross and Fort Imperial, a defensive structure built by the French in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. Srđ was once forested with oak trees which locals called dubrava (from the old Slavic word dub, "oak tree"), after which the city of Dubrovnik was named. The southern slope was once rich with pine forests, but in the second half of the 20th century and during the 1991–95 Croatian War of Independence, the forest was almost completely gutted through numerous fires. Source from Wikipedia.

When we told our AirBnb hostess that we were going to hike up Mount Srd, she commented that it was better to take the cable car rather than go up 1000 steps. She was not joking when she said 1000 steps. Because it could be more than 1000 steps. The steps just never end as we kept walking up and up. Oh my legs..

Soon, we saw a sign that showed Mount Srd. I did not realise that the sign shows the direction to the mountain until I saw them along the route and I connected the dots. I am not sure what the arrow in the sign is supposed to represent. Google Map directed us well to the base of the mountain.

20 minutes later, we exited the town, crossed the road and entered nature.