Day 31: Dubrovnik, Croatia
“we laid eyes on Dubrovnik, which is complete beyond the habit of real cities, complete as a city on a coin”
As well as being one of the most attractive cities in the world, Dubrovnik (formerly known as the more graceful ‘Ragusa’) is also a major transport hub for the Adriatic Coast. It was one of the few places that offered buses to Mostar in Bosnia as opposed to buses direct to Sarajevo and having been last year I knew it would be worth coming back to. A the most expensive part of relatively expensive Croatia (by former Yugoslavian standards - it is still cheaper than Italy), the budget would only stretch to one night, but this seemed enough to cover the basics.
View from the bus over Dubrovnik |
View from Dubrovnik walls |
Rektor’s Palace, Dubrovnik |
As with Kotor, the views are only half the story and we spent the rest of our afternoon getting lost in the maze of streets and squares, coming across the occasional square or fountain. The city is packed with tourists, particularly tour groups and Australian backpackers, but luckily there is enough room to find at least a couple of secluded spots. Dubrovnik was originally a Venetian port, but declared independence as a city state in the 14th century and remained a self governing republic until Napoleon arrived in 1806. The city’s motto is 'Libertas’ and the centre of government, the Rektor’s Palace is one of the most dramatic buildings. Last time we came we went into a photo exhibition that detailed the shelling of Dubrovnik by Yugoslav forces during the war, with the main assaults taking place around the days that I was born. There are several buildings that remain destroyed, but luckily weighty investment has resulted in major renovation work and those who don’t know about the shelling probably don’t even notice the difference. We looked in a few churches on the way out (now we are in Croatia we tend to be seeing Catholic rather than Orthadox churches) and then made our way back to the appartment. We had an early night as tomorrow morning we would be travelling to our last country - Bosnia Hercegovina.
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