May 15, 2022
This morning we hiked down the hill to the old walled city. We walked through the city first, getting lost several times in the maze of narrow alleyways that sometimes dead end but almost never lead to a staircase up to the walkway around the perimeter wall. In fact, there are only two places to access the perimeter wall, and the ticket is 250 kuna per person (thankfully I didn’t do the conversion math before I paid for the tickets, or I likely would not have bought them).
The walk around the top of the old city walls is about 1.2 miles long and it snakes in and out and up and down several times. It offers some great views of both the city and the shoreline.
Looking down into the Old City from atop the wall.
This legend on the wall of town shows the damage from the shelling that occurred when Dubrovnik was attacked in 1991-1992 by the Yugoslav Army, Serbs, and Montenegrins. The black dots are direct hits to the pavement; the black triangles are hits to roofs; and the red blocks are buildings that burned. Nearly all of the damage was repaired by 1996.
Looking across at Lovrijenac, or St. Lawrence Fortress.
There are a few places outside the wall where there are now cafes, and you can also walk down stone steps from those points and swim in the sea.
There are quite a few churches within the walls, as well as a Franciscan Friary. This is St Ignatius Church.
This place (Dubrovnik) is Tourist Central, so down most alleys are sidewalk cafes.
The humor apparently translates just fine in Croatia.
I know nothing about Game of Thrones, but I understand these steps are fairly famous in Kings Landing. The cat doesn’t seem too impressed. By the way, I’d love to house-sit here, but not many people actually have cats; the cats choose who to have. Most cats are free-roaming.
By the way, beer, wine, and even mixed drinks are cheaper than bottled water or Coca-Cola here. I had a half liter beer at a cafe on the wall for $2.08. Diana had a half liter sparkling water for $2.63.
We’ll spend another night having grocery-store dinner on our terrace, before heading north again. This will be our farthest point south for now.
Of all your travels over the years this is the best segment yet. Overjoyed with the photos. I can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend.
Thanks. There may be a lot of bends before we top that one, but we’ll keep trying. We were kind of sad to leave that awesome little apartment overlooking the city. It’s just far enough away from the tourist hustle and bustle to be relaxing.
The Amazing Race had activities there. I remember the staircase from Game of Thrones too. Beware of dragons!
You wont be going to Greece?
Headed to Greece next Spring on the way to Turkey and beyond. This Schengen thing is making a mess of our travels this year.
Schengen Thing: You should be here. Not. You made a good choice to leave.