In a country of beautiful cities like Croatia trying to pick out a favorite is incredibly tough.  I’ve had to resort to trying to think of which city provided one of the most unique experiences among them and I arrived back at Dubrovnik.  Dubrovnik is a city that gets a lot of publicity lately because of Game of Thrones and its generally pleasing, medieval aesthetic.   Walking the walls and laying on the beach are some of the most popular activities and they deserve to be but I want to walk you briefly through my guide to an amazing day in Dubrovnik at a very affordable price.

Step 1 – Purchase some on the go beers, but no food.  The no food part is critical later and will be apparent, if you need some food go with a small apple or something very light, trust me.  The small vending shops sell cheap beer and I say get as many as would take you to become slightly fearless.  This kind was my personal favorite.

Step 2 – You may have a bit of a walk, start drinking your beers now.  Your destination is Cafe/Bar Buza which is right along the edge of the city with cliffs overlooking the water.  You may see where this is going.  Anyway, finish what beer you can, and walk through the bar area itself(it is expensive, but free to walk through) to the viewing/cliff area.

Step 3 – Jump from the cliffs.  Now this step is the 2nd most difficult part of the itinerary.  When I did this I was surrounded by people constantly trying to either coax themselves to jump or justify their fear of not doing so.  I saw several even begin to run forward only to get scared at the last second and take a weird awkward tumble into the water anyway.  On the opposite side of he spectrum there will be people jumping from heights you assume would kill them.  Ignore all of these people, this is your day and you jump from whatever height you know will give you personal satisfaction.  Know the water is plenty deep, you will be fine, and the feeling you have after you jump is fantastic.

After you jump there will be people hanging out discussing their jumps and wondering why they were so scared in the first place.  Feel free to have more jumps and a victory swim/beer.

Step 4 – The Meat Challenge.  Now after a day that basically consisted of drinking and jumping off cliffs you likely worked up a viscous appetite.  This is good, as you are about to attempt the hardest part of the itinerary.  In the city center there is a restaurant the has the same logo as the Chicago Bulls basketball team.  It is called Mesnica T-Bone Steak and the prices are very affordable.

Here they serve what is called the “Meat Pladder” that is basically a challenge in gluttony.  The price was about $20 USD and it is worth it’s weight in deliciousness.

Now you can see why we emphasized not eating for the day…

This is an endurance test, the two of us managed to eat most of the meat but the giant plate of fries beneath the meat finished us off.  The chef said the best he has seen was likely a Swedish couple that finished about half the fries.  We came close, but not quite across the finish line.  I hope some of you dear readers can to better.

The sausage was my personal favorite part of the platter as were the vegetables though that could be the intense hunger speaking as well.  Other restaurants serve platters like this but this one was the clear favorite among the admittedly few we saw.

Step 5 – Reward yourself, probably by doing some jumping jacks, you fatty.  I’m sorry but if you managed to finish the meat platter then I’m proud of you and incredibly jealous.  Well played.  This may likely be the end of your day but if you find yourself still looking for more then have a casual stroll around the city to walk off the roughly 10,000 calories you just ate.

I hope you found my suggestions to a cheap and memorable day in Dubrovnik useful.  Now I’m very hungry.