The Balkans: Day 8 – The Old Town of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Today was the day we’ve all been waiting for. We were spending the day in the Old Town of Dubrovnik.

Game of Thrones fans would know that the Kings Landing scenes were shot here. 

I read all of the GOT novels, but only watched the first series… (and the last couple of episodes of the whole show to see why people were upset.)

The Kings Landing scenes were enough to spark my interest into coming here.

Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th Century.

Napoleon conquered the city after hundreds of years of aristocratic independence. The walls around the city, as well as diplomacy, served Dubrovnik well until The French turned up.

Napoleon built a fortress overlooking the Old Town which is still there today. A chair lift goes up to it, but we didn’t visit it. We stuck to the Old Town and the old fort.

St Blaise is the city’s patron saint, and he’s found all over the place here. He’s always pictured with a model of the city in his hand, protecting it.

In 1667 there was a massive earthquake here, and parts of the city were destroyed.

The church survived the earthquake, but a fire decimated it. The only thing that survived was a silver statue of St Blaise. Of course, it was proclaimed as a miracle.

Today, the statue is coated in gold. It’s on display, but you have to pay money to see it, and it’s not included in the Dubrovnik Day Pass, so we didn’t see it.

Incidentally, if you ever come here, get a Dubrovnik Day Pass. It costs 40 euros, but it costs 40 euros just to walk the wall. When you factor in admission to the fort, the monastery, and all of the other things you can see, it’s definitely great value.

Here’s the first view of the town. Main st was first established in the 10th century. We were directed to look at the strange little stone down by the roadside.

The legend is that if you’re able to jump on top of this and stay there for a few seconds, you’ll be lucky in love forever.

Before you ask, I didn’t try my luck. I love it when people find love, but I don’t want a partner for myself. I think, after 29 years of being single, that I would be very hard work for any guy unfortunate enough to try his luck. 🤣

The fountain was built in the 15th century. The water is still drinkable and is free to anyone everywhere. Later in the day, we filled up our water bottles and the water was chilled and delicious.

I also like how there’s a dog statue on the top. It makes a change from all of the cat worship in the cities we’ve seen so far!

This is the Rector ‘s palace. They chose a new rector every month, to avoid corruption.

The city keys were given to him every night for safekeeping.

When the weather was bad, no work was done here, in case decisions were made that were badly affected by how they felt. When the sun came out again, the council would reconvene.

There was a huge earthquake in 1667.

This street wasn’t affected. See the stones on the street? They’re limestone and they are very smooth, due to the millions of footsteps they’ve had walking on them over the centuries.
I’m glad it wasn’t raining today! I imagine they might get a little slippery.

This isn’t just a tourist spot, though. People live here, usually in the second and third floors above the shops. Look at the line of washing fluttering above the street.

Apparently, Fortunate Frogdancer struck again and we had a beautiful day in Dubrovnik. The rain is going to hit tomorrow…

Jesuit steps: this is the scene of the walk of shame that Cersei took in Game of Thrones.

Most gardens are simply in pots.

Ugh. Yuck. Bananas. The Devil’s food.

Little cafés and shops are scattered throughout the town.

There’s also little hits of whimsy as well.

If I lived here, I’d SO have this sculpture on my balcony!

After our guided tour was over, we had 6 hours here. The first thing we did was leave the town and go over to the fort.
This was a 15th century build, but fortifications have been here for around a thousand years. Humans are a peaceful species, aren’t we?

“Freedom is not on sale for all the gold and treasure in the world.”

This is inscribed on the fort, which is a measure of the hundreds of years this city was independent.

A view of the city from the top of the fort.

Some of the walls were a bit tall…

Some of the people from our group didn’t go across to the fort, which was a shame. The sea was sparkling clear and the views of the walled city and the islands were spectacular.

The monastery – free with our day pass. It was a bit of a haven from the heat and crowds outside.

In the museum there, a reminder of the war.

Marin Držić, Dubrovnik’s Shakespeare. Guess which part of him brings luck when you touch it?

Handrails in the Rector’s Palace. I guess a good Dad joke is timeless.

Then 2pm arrived, which was the time Jake recommended that we walk the wall.
More bloody steps upwards…

Here was the view as we began.

The fort from the walled city. Just look at the colour of the sea.

It’s amazing how narrow the streets are.

I had a choice… do I keep going, or do I climb the tower?

Of course I climbed the tower! The view was incredible.

Look! A veggie garden! The only one I saw all day.

And zoom in to the middle of the picture. You’ll see a restaurant on top of a building. Imagine how lovely it must be to have a meal, surrounded on all sides by the terracotta rooftops.

This is Blogless Sandy and I clinking some bubbles after our 90 minute walk along the wall. A well-earned treat.

After a wonderful day, we drove across the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dad joke of the day: