The Kingdom of Dubrovnik

Fans of “Game of Thrones” might recognize Dubrovnik as King’s Landing, a stronghold of the Lannisters. However there are many, many reasons for someone who has never seen “Game of Thrones” to love Dubrovnik. Founded as Ragusa in the 7^th century by Greeks, what eventually became Dubrovnik was under Byzantine rule, Venetian rule, and Austrian Hapsburg rule (as part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia) before Croatia became part of Yugoslavia.

Somewhere in there, it was briefly the Kingdom of Dubrovnik. In addition to its own city walls, it also built what was the second longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China as a territorial wall out in the country. I managed a photo of that wall as we left Dubrovnik after spending a couple of days in that beautiful, old city.

We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our hotel a short distance from the walled old town. After touring the larger city of 42,000 that comprises Dubrovnik now, we went on an optional dinner to a farm up in the mountains. Everything that was served to us was grown on the farm, including the brandy and wine. They had what was known as a “black kitchen” which was separate from the other buildings and had an open fire in the middle. The smoke would go up through the thatched roof. We ate our dinner in a 200 year old stone cellar.

Our walking tour of the old town, the next morning, began at the Pile Gate. Parts of the walls surrounding the old town date as far back as the 8^th century. In the 9^th century, the city survived a 15 month siege by the Saracens, which showed how well fortified they were.

The Pile Gate is really a series of gates with twists and turns. The idea is to make it not entirely easy to just walk into the city. We encountered Big Onofrio’s Fountain just inside the final part of the gate. It was built in the 15^th century as an outlet for the water from the aqueduct. From there, we visited the Franciscan Monastery Museum, which included one of the oldest apothecaries in the world (in use since the 13^th century). They had some pills on display that made the giant pills that we have now look almost miniscule. I didn’t see how anyone could have swallowed them.

The monastery was on the Placa, which was one of the main streets. We took a side street (called Od Puca) to see Saint Blaise Church, built in the 18^th century. Next was Gundulic’s Square with a smaller version of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

The Rector’s Palace was built in the Venetian style in the 13^th century as the offices and residence of the Rector, who was the ruler of Dubrovnik. We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside of the palace, but I managed a photo of nearby Assumption Cathedral through an open window and one of the courtyard of the palace from the walkway above. We finished up our tour with the 15^th century Bell Tower, the 15^th century Orlando’s Column, and the Old Port before having about three hours of free time.

It was a very hot day and most of the group immediately headed for food and drink. I wanted to make sure that I did a boat ride and the wall walk. So, since we were at the Old Port, just steps from the ticket office, I bought a ticket for a boat ride for a panoramic tour of the Old Town and a nearby island. Then I bought a gelato to cool me down until we could get on the boat (which had another group on it and would be back in about five minutes).

There was a nude beach on the far side of the island. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a single decent body in the group. They definitely weren’t there to show off, unless they had seriously flawed images of themselves. When I got back to the port, I didn’t see any of the group around, so I picked a place in the harbor that had seafood and settled in for a light lunch that had been caught in the vicinity of Dubrovnik.

It turned out that, due to the heat, most of the group had opted to return to the square with the replica of the Spanish Steps and had spent most of their time having a long meal and drinks while not moving around much. There were a few others who did the wall walk for a short distance, mostly downhill, and only one couple that did a boat ride. I was determined to do the wall walk, so I just bought some extra bottles of water and paced myself. I also started with the part that went uphill so I would get the worst part over first.

There was no shade on the wall either. Fortunately I had my archeologist hat, long-sleeved, gauze shirt and tan-colored jeans. I also slathered extra sunblock on any part of my body that might see the sun – such as my face, neck, ears, and the backs of my hands and fingers. Didn’t want to take the chance on getting any nasty sunburns.

I mounted the steps up to the wall at the Old Port, paid the fee and was on my way. All the way to the round Minceta Tower was uphill. The views were amazing, however, so every time I stopped to catch my breath, drink some water, etcetera, I also took some photos and marveled at the beauty of the city. The tower was built in the 15^th century at the height of the Turkish threat. The interior provided some much needed shade (even though it meant I had to climb even more stairs to get inside), so I lingered there for a while, eating a couple pieces of melting chocolate and drinking a few swigs of water before making my way back downhill toward the Pile Gate.

I went about three quarters of the way around the circumference of the walls. The trip was about half way uphill and half downhill. I was really glad I went uphill first. I checked my watch periodically to make sure that I wasn’t running late and could continue to pace myself in the heat. I had allowed plenty of time, taking in to account the need to stop every once in a while to take in the gorgeous views and take photos in addition to keep from passing out in the heat.

After descending at the Pile Gate and leaving the old town of Dubrovnik, I stopped off at a place that served fresh-squeezed orange juice. I was actually about fifteen minutes early for our rendezvous with the tour coach, so I sat down at a picnic table in the shade and had a chat with a local whose dog highly resembled my Miniature Schnauzer/Miniature Poodle mix at home. The human knew English quite well. The dog acted as if he did too, but was likely just reacting to my tone of voice. He was quite open to being petted by a stranger speaking a different language who was a little homesick for her own dog.

Once we reached the hotel, I stopped off at the mini market next door to buy some food for dinner. Then I took a long bubble bath (without wine as alcohol and heat don’t work that well together when a person is already on the edge of dehydration). Then I watched a movie and had dinner before turning in for the night.

Next time – we venture in to Bosnia & Herzegovina, which still had lots of war damage.