Today we arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia, what a beautiful city!
Old City of Dubrovnik
First things first, Dubrovnik has some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen! Now on to the history and tour details!
Our tour this morning was “Dubrovnik by Land and Sea” which had us sailing by clipper boat from the “new city” to the “old city”, a trip of about 30 minutes.
A striking feature of Dubrovnik is its walls that run 1.5 miles around the city. The walls run from four to six meters thick on the landward side but are much thinner on the seaward side. The system of turrets and towers were intended to protect the vulnerable city but now make one of the most picturesque sights in the Adriatic.
Dubrovnik Old City Wall
The Old city is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and UNESCO has helped with the rebuilding of the old city, to its original form, after a devastating civil war, in 1991-1994 between the newly formed Republic of Croatia (the reason for the war) and the Serbian-Montenegrin People’s Army (JNA) who argued that Dubrovnik was historically part of Montenegro.
On October 1, 1991 Dubrovnik was attacked by JNA with a siege of Dubrovnik that lasted for seven months. Heaviest artillery attack happened on December 6 with 19 people killed and 60 wounded. Total casualties in the conflict according to Croatian Red Cross were 114 killed civilians.
Something unique to the city was that when UNESCO declared it a world heritage site, they offered financial assistance to Croatia to help rebuild the Old city of Dubrovnik. The Croatians agreed, on one condition, the roofs of the buildings where painted in there countries official colours, orange, and as you can see from the photo, this was done! This was done to remember the war and the lives that where lost. Many buildings still bare there original non orange roofs and bullet holes!
The main (and pretty much only) trade of Dubrovnik is tourism. They have a very busy tourist season during there summer, starting just after Easter and ending at the end of October, with sometimes up to 6 cruise ships in the port at the same time, causing chaos in the Old City, which is not the largest of places.
After we finished in the Old City, we climbed back about the clipper, and sailed to the island of Lokrum, which sits in the bay. Lokrum had a huge monastery on the island, the Benedicts, who where chased away (along with all the other monasteries) by Napoleon, who requested from Dubrovnik to stay one night, and they foolishly accepted, Napoleon left 9 years later… Other monasteries returned after Napoleon left, however the Benedicts never returned.
There is a story that the Island of Lokrum has been cursed by the monks of Benedict, by sailing around the island 3 times with upside down candles, cursing that anybody who PRIVATLY purchases the island, would die. The island is now owned by the City of Dubrovnik, and the only people allowed to stay on this island at night, is the fire department, due to the fact that they are extremely scared of the island burning and it is in the entrance of the old city, which would ruin its appearance.
After we got back, we went back to the Old City, where we walked the 1.5 mile wall that surrounds the entire old city. In 1462, the Dubrovnik government was under threat of war, and pronounced a decree, that required any visitor to the city, to bring a stone, to help build the wall to protect the city.
An interesting fact about Dubrovnik is that they have the world’s oldest continual pharmacy; it was started in 1317 and is still open to this day (except on Sundays). Dubrovnik is a very beautiful (and not just the women) city, with some interesting and violent history. Worth another visit someday!
Tomorrow morning we will be arriving in Venice, Italy at around 12:00pm, this should be beautiful, full details, tomorrow!
Goodbye for now! Chat Soon!
Carnival Freedom
