Dubrovnik – the walled city of the Adriatic

Dubrovnik has certainly had an exciting life! Although there is evidence of a pre-Christian settlement, the city itself developed in the 7th century. It was originally known as Ragusa and became wealthy on the back of the maritime trade through the Adriatic. The entire city was virtually destroyed in an earthquake in 1667 but was rebuilt as differing countries claimed ownership through the years – France, Italy, Austria and finally it was absorbed into Yugoslavia when that country was formed after the First World War. After severe shelling in 1991 during the Croatian war of independence, it was rebuilt over the next decade and is now a very popular tourist destination in the Adriatic.

But I have jumped ahead of myself here – unlike Kotor where we “parked” right by the town walls, the port of Dubrovnik is a few miles away and the ship docked there among other cruise ships, and we were taken by coach to the city itself.

The first picture above, of Dubrovnik through the trees was taken from an overlook we visited on our way into the city. Viking offered shuttle coaches back to the ship and so you could pretty much spend as much time as you wanted exploring the city.

The city has a few gated entrances and the one we used had this lovely small castle and bay adjacent with kayakers making their way through the clear water:

The city itself is built with the lovely warm stone with brilliant orange and red tiles on the roofs. Everywhere you look there are interesting little statues and carvings:

In 1436, the city decreed that a fresh water supply was critical to their future and an aqueduct was constructed over 7 miles from the top of a mountain to being water to the city and this building above is known as Big Onofrio’s cistern and was the larger of two locations where residents could collect fresh water. I’m not sure why the dog is sitting there! This next image is at the bottom of a drainpipe or waterspout system I think, to take water away from the roof:

Now did I mention that Dubrovnik is a popular tourist destination?

This was pre-Covid, of course, and you can see there are people everywhere. We were still on our guided tour at this point and keeping up with your guide was challenging at times! I do understand that the city now limits the number of cruise ships to two at a time rather than the four or five allowed in pre-Covid days!

After the historic tour was over, we started exploring on our own, trying to seek out quieter locations. This Franciscan monastery had a delightful courtyard and cloisters with oranges bursting from the trees grown there.

I thought the oranges and leaves of the trees provided a lovely contrast with the blue sky in this next image:

Dubrovnik is built partway up the mountain and so there are narrow streets and steep steps lead up to homes perched on the hillside. I can’t imagine having new furniture delivered!

After we had wandered the streets and had some lunch, I continued my adventures by walking further up the coast in search of different views of the city. This image shows Fort Lawrence and the city walls of the old town.

And stepping even further back, I saw this great panorama of the city and the Adriatic Sea on this gorgeous day.

But of course, I’m always watching the clock to make sure I don’t miss the last bus back to the ship! I did, and later that afternoon we started our sail towards our next destination of Zadar, also in Croatia.

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