Friday 14 September 2018

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik was our reason for coming on this cruise and we planned to 'do our own thing', however this morning there was a message under our door saying our tour to Jesi in Italy tomorrow had been cancelled. We decided to exchange that for a Deluxe Dubrovnik tour.

We arrived at the Dubrovnik cruise port at 2 pm, having sailed past some very pretty landscape. Here we saw the amazing job the Captain does in getting the ship into its berth. He sailed into the mouth of the river, swung the ship around and backed into the port next to another cruise ship.





We left the ship at 2.45 pm and went by coach to the cable car station at the foot of Sjrd Mountain. Our tour guide was top class today. She gave us a great deal of information about Croatia and Dubrovnik, from ancient history to modern times. 









After cool drinks and time to take photos we descended in the cable car and began our walking tour of the Old Town. From above, the old town looks like a perfect Lego village with its intact defensive walls.



An earthquake in 1676 and the local war in the 1990s caused immense damage but the town has been rebuilt to its former appearance as it is an UNESCO World Heritage town.





The buildings and the streets are made from local limestone and have polished to a high sheen with wear. 




The main street, from gate to gate, is only 280 metres long so the old town of Dubrovnik is not large. There are a couple of smaller streets running parallel on either side.

The fortified walls around Dubrovnik are intact and are approximately two kilometres long. We walked about half the distance, the views into the town were wonderful and the landscape around spectacular.










Back down off the wall at the opposite end on the town we had free time. The Big Onofrio's Fountain is a cistern built about 1440 to hold water that ran from the mountains via aqueduct to the town. It is a sixteen sided structure with a cupola top which once had a dragon on it. Small Onofrio's Fountain is at the other end of town.



The town has three monasteries, several other churches and now a popular restaurant area. They also have an excellent gelati shop! There is no advertising, no graffiti, no rubbish, just a very pleasing town.



Dubrovnik was all I hoped it would be and more. The history of Croatia and the pride of the Croatians in their small country were well displayed by our excellent young guide. We had a special day, and joined with our day in Split, we have gained a better understanding and appreciation of the Dalmatian coast.



We sailed at 8.30 pm, the twinkling lights concluding our day in Dubrovnik.

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