A Walk in Dubrovnik's Old Walled City

 

 

A Walk in Dubrovnik’s Old Walled City

After a day at sea, we arrived at the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia.  I will admit, I had no idea what to expect, and I was truly overwhelmed by the history and beauty of the Old Walled City of Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik is one of the top tourist destinations in the Mediterranean and is actually situated in an enclave.  When sailing by it, as we were entering the port, it seemed like a very charming little seaside village.  I guess you could call this “new” Dubrovnik!

Our tour began by taking a drive to higher ground so that we could get a look at the Old Walled City where we’d be spending most of our time.  The history of this old city most likely dates back to the 7^th century, when it was known as Ragusa.  The image in the lower left (above) is of an area where a wall once stood but was destroyed in a battle and was just left as a view out to the sea.  If you are a Game of Thrones fan, this area is also what was known as Bokar Fortress in season 2 of that show.  Many scenes of that show were filmed in this Old City, but, as we never watched it, I can’t tell you if any other images are of something that was filmed for that show.  In the lower right corner, you see us docking (orange lifeboats are in the lower right corner of that image), and in the upper left, you see the start of a bridge.  It’s called the Peljesac Bridge and it connects Dubrovnik with the rest of the country.

Here are a few scenes from when we just entered the Old Walled City.  For some reason, I especially liked the small church shown on the left.  The center image is walking down what I’m guessing was main street, and the third image is another view of the tower while walking down one of the streets.

There was very different architecture to be seen as well. The image in the middle seems like a rather simple front face of a building (home?), while the two on either side show much more elaborate styling.  The one on the far right is a cathedral (see next image).

Here are a couple of views of some impressive buildings. The one on the left is the very front of a cathedral.  You can see the statue at the very top and behind it (out of view) is the traditional cathedral dome.  It is the Dubrovnik Cathedral, a Roman Catholic Church and the seat of the Diocese of Dubrovnik.  On the right is what used to be a palace, and in fact, is now known as the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace and is considered a luxury hotel.  No matter how old the outside looks, when I checked it out online, the inside is all up to date.  Rooms are about $350/night.

Here are some views (images above and below) of the Dubrovnik Dominican Monastery.  It was founded in 1315 and built by the government and many local and foreign craftsmen.  The images above are some from the cloisters (walkways) that encircle the center courtyard.  We did not have an opportunity to step inside the monastery, but these views were wonderful.  In the images below, you can see the “outside” of the cloisters as seen from the courtyard (left image) and, in the image on the right, the well.  In 1667, the entire city was almost destroyed by an earthquake, and this well was the only place people could obtain good, clean water to drink and cook with.  The image in the center is a water trough/bowl carved into the top of the railing surrounding the courtyard.  These were carved by soldiers who were using the monastery to stable their horses, and it allowed them to put both food and water in these small cut-outs to allow the horses to eat and drink.

At the end of our day here in Dubrovnik, I did manage to capture an image of a house situated on the hillside leading down to the port.  We then went up to the Crow’s Nest lounge to watch us leave the port.  The image on the left is of a small lighthouse and on the right is a tall ship harbored in the port.

And, once again, I’ll leave you with the view of the sunset over Croatia as we sailed out of port.  Next stop – Montenegro!