Croatia's Coastline, Part 3 of 3

     Old Town Dubrovnik is out of this world amazing! It's a world heritage medieval site that was bombed for seven months in 1991 by the Yugoslav People's Army. It suffered significant damage but that hasn't diminished its popularity among over one million tourists annually. Old Town Dubrovnik's most remarkable feature is its walls. You can see the distinctly walled-in Old Town in this satellite image.

Our apartment while in Dubrovnik for four nights is shown (above photo) with the red arrow, just a couple blocks away from the main entrance to this walled-in wonderment.

One day, my sister Vicki and I spent several hours walking all around the top of this wall. You can see the wall distinctly in photo below. Got this shot from nearby Fort Lovrijena.

The wall is 1.2 miles around, from 13 to 20 feet thick. Here's another shot while walking on top of the wall. The wall winds around at different elevations (highest point is upper left of photo).

Just in case you think those are trees on top of the wall, here's a close-up of same photo.

Here's another shot from the opposite side. See the corner turret?

Close-up view of that turret (above photo). The walls of Dubrovnik were a popular filming location for the fictional city of King's Landing in the television series, Game of Thrones. 

Outside view of a turret.

Another outside wall view.

It was fun walking all around these walls.

The views were spectacular.

That's Lokrum Island in the top center of photo below. We took a boat there; will explain more about that island in a bit. Below photo is inside the walls; a sea of red-tiled roofs.

This is a view of nearby Fort Lovrijenac built on a crag, from the top of the walls of Old Town Dubrovnik. 

We spent four nights at a Croatian's large home; his private quarters were upstairs and there were three bedrooms on the first floor with a shared bathroom. Finding his front door was an hour's adventure! The alley to this door is pedestrian only, up many steps just to get to this door.

Once inside the door, several steps up to the home.

A patio and garden at the top of the steps; wonderful views while eating at this table. There were bakeries, a grocery store, and restaurants nearby.

Plus a friendly cat that liked to rub on my sneaker.

Inside the walls of Old Town Dubrovnik is pedestrian traffic only.

Every ten feet there is something fascinating. 

And many many many steps!

In fact, inside the walls there was a "first aid room" staffed by two people who could help people who weren't in good shape to manage all the steps.

Onofrio's fountain (above), made by Italian builder Onofrio della Cava in the 15th century.

More ruins and walls (below photo) on steep hillsides.

Lokrum Island is another amazing medieval site.

My sister Vicki and I spent a day exploring Lokrum Island and its many ruins.

This little pool of sea water on the island is sheltered and is fed sea water from under the rocks (caves and fractures), which is why they call it the "dead sea".

 There was a Benedictine Monastery on this island during medieval times.

 

     The Archduke Maximilian Ferdinand of Habsburg had a mansion built on the island in 1859 and brought a flock of peacocks to the island. Those peacocks are still there.

The days at Old Town Dubrovnik were exhausting from walking up and down about five miles each day, but so worth it!

Can't remember what this was . . . 

. . . but I think it was inside this cathedral.

Hundreds of places to eat; it was hard to decide which one to choose.

So many charming places to eat . . . see the tunnel and stairways?

I was really loving those crunchy grilled sardines, bones and all.

     Vicki and I were amazed at how GOOOOD!!! the fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice was. For the next several weeks, we stopped frequently at street-side shops for this wonderful juice, always preferring to wait while they cut the fruit and squeezed the juice in our view.

The "main drag" inside the walls (photo below); at the far end is the Bell Tower built in 1444.

     At the top of the Bell Tower are two green patina life-size men (replicas of the original) which move in a quarter-circular manner to faithfully strike the bell every hour. Below are the originals housed at the Sponza Palace nearby. 

We managed to stay awake one night pass 8 PM just to get this full moon shot of the "main drag" and the Bell Tower. It's called the Stradun and it's paved with limestone.

You can click hear to get the full affects of those green men striking the hour.

     Twas a wonderful Old Town visit. Visiting Croatia without spending a few days at Dubrovnik would be major mistake, in my opinion :) But be forewarned, Croatia was the only country so far on our European travels where border-checks were long, aggravating, and under-staffed. And also, it was the only country where the bus drivers personally demand and pocket cash for luggage when boarding an inter-city bus. Vicki and I called it "the Croatian Mafia".