Zupa Dubrovacka: Visit Dubrovnik at half the expense by staying in it

Zupa Dubrovacka is a great place to stay if you don’t want to spend a little fortune but still want to sit in the Iron Throne. Or take a stroll on the walls of the capital of seven kingdoms.

Zupa Dubrovacka
Zupa Dubrovacka

I remember when my wife came up with an idea to visit an actual, live Game of Thrones set. I was like, “Shit honey, I ain’t gonna max out on my cards just to see a bunch of weird-looking, costumed people screaming and fighting each other with all those cameras and artificial lights around them. It’s gonna ruin the show for me.”

However, she was relentless, as women sometimes tend to be. So I figured, OK, we’ll go there but ain’t no way in hell that Imma spend a grand a night just for the bedding. There has to be an alternative option.

So I did some research (and remember, that was before I joined this motley crew here and started really exploring all the things this beautiful country has to offer) and I found out that, if I drive for like fifteen more minutes further to the south, I could lease the apartment for as little as €50 per night. Any village in the valley would do.

Zupa Dubrovacka is, in fact, a name of the valley with a little over 8000 residents spread across a couple of small settlements and the best thing is that the valley itself is just west of Dubrovnik.

City of Dubrovnik
City of Dubrovnik

Now, I didn’t want to come up like a jackass and put my wife in some shithole with the view on the hills just to save a few dimes. Instead, I picked this lovely apartment in the village called Cibace Donje (orig.- Čibače Donje) that had a great view on the Adriatic and get this, on Dubrovnik itself. So money in the pocket without too much damage on the entire Dubrovnik experience if you’re catching my drift.
Here’s the kicker.

We visited the set and actually saw a few familiar faces among the crowd. They were preparing for that, now-famous, Cersei’s walk of atonement, a.k.a. walk of shame. There were more than a few quite popular local music stars all dressed up in peasant costumes acting an angry crowd. And I have to admit that it was fun to witness the shooting of such a great scene (full disclosure: I saw Rebecca Van Cleave walking nude among that entire crowd and I was honestly impressed by the whole thing). By the way, in case you’re confused, here’s a little spoiler: Rebecca is doubling Lena Headey in the scene.

Zupa Dubrovacka
Zupa Dubrovacka

But as soon as we grew tired of standing in one spot because, as you can imagine, it takes time to shoot such a scene, we – and listen to this – didn’t take a stroll on the walls as you’d expect. Instead, we went back to the valley and just drive through all those cute villages, absorbing the entirely different, somewhat, more laid back atmosphere than just an hour ago. For days, we were going from one restaurant to another feasting only on local delis. So instead of wasting €35+ on a single pizza on Stradun (the central street in the Old Town Dubrovnik), we had an entire meal and then some for that same amount and we were enjoying dishes you can’t find in the city.

Pizza on Stradun

So, if you are on the budget but wanna take the walk of shame just to see how the whole thing looks in real, I suggest you give us a call and we’ll arrange everything for ya. We are talking money, time, and nerve saving. In other words, smart planning.

Your CTC Team, I.K.

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