Dubrovnik, Croatia - Day 5

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Although Ed and I stopped here on a cruise 6 years ago, I found our tour of this medieval city to feel new. It's really a place you could spend several days.

We stopped on our one-hour ride from the hotel to catch an overview of the city. Wind seems to be a constant along the coast.

We entered the city through Pile Gate and were greeted by our guide Lidija. Our first stop was the Franciscan monastery, which has survived earthquakes and bombings. On the left is the stairway to walk the old wall - more on that later.  

The Monastery has the third oldest functioning pharmacy (since 1391) in Europe with a garden in the cloister where they once grew medicinals.  We walked by the Sponza Palace, St. Blaise's Church with Orlando's Column in front (with a bride), and visited the Rector's Palace (1441). It is recently restored with furnished rooms, baroque paintings and historical exhibits. This was the seat of the Rector of the Republic from the 14th century until 1808 when Napoleon took over. The rector was elected for a one month term by the other noblemen and he could not leave without permission of the senate. 

This photo shows the city hall and Rector's Palace on left, the Cathedral at the end of the street and St. Blaise on the right.

After our walk we had lunch at Restaurant Rosario and then a lecture by our guide. She walked us through a long history - too long for here - but became very emotional when talking about the Balkan War in the 90's. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1990, Dubrovnik was besieged by Serb-Montenegro forces in October 1991 and heavily damaged by shelling for over 7 months, resulting in more than half of the buildings within the city walls being damaged. Lidija was 16 at the time and lived right on the Main Street with her father. She said they had no electricity, no running water, and very little food during that time. School was closed and they just concentrated on staying alive. The war, as I have heard from others, took many people by surprise. Although the population of Dubrovnik is about 50,000, the old town went from 4,000 then to 1,000 today. This photo shows the roof tiles of different colors - it was not possible to match the clay for the repairs.

We had 2 hours of free time, so of course, I walked the wall.  Admission is 150 kuna, or about $20, but well worth it.  Built in the 13th century and reinforced with towers and bastions by the 15th century, it has remained relatively intact throughout the ages. The walls are up to 80 feet high and 10-20 feet thick. The views from the rim were spectacular. Here is a great view of the Placa (Main Street) with the clock tower at the end.

This is probably the most photographed site of a small harbor where kayakers often launch.  As you can see, it is a very windy day - so no water sports.

The walk around is about 1.2 miles, with lots of up and down steps. Surprisingly, there were 3 restaurants along the way, so I stopped for some gelato. Continued to see lots of great views.

Around the back is a great shot of the old harbor.

And another spectacular shot of the old town with the Adriatic Sea in the background.

I finished off with a photo of Minceta Tower, built in 1319, which is now featured in the "Game of Thrones" TV series as the "House of the Undying." Apparently, Dubrovnik is one of the show's main filming locations since 2011 and tours of the sites are quite popular.

It took me 2 hours to make it around, with stops for photos and snacks, so no time for anything else. We met at the bus at 5:15 and made it back to the hotel by 7 for dinner. Tonight it was time to clean up and pack up and to prepare for a long day's ride up the coast to Split and a new hotel.