Dubrovnik - the Pearl of the Adriatic

After Korcula, we took a ferry to Dubrovnik, a beautiful old walled town, which is known as the Pearl of the Adriatic.  Unfortunately, we had less than 24 hours there, and John's energy was still not up to full speed, so we didn't have a chance to do much.  This is a much larger town than Korcula, and had been wealthy for many centuries, having trading power in the area second only to Venice.  It has been partially destroyed several times, including an earthquake in the 1660's, and bombings during the Croatian war for independence in 1991. 

One of the most impressive things about the city is the walls, which you can walk around the top of.  I've been to several walled cities, and the walls of this one are more impressively fortified than the others.  They are tall and thick on the land side.  On the water side, much of the wall sits atop a very large cliff, and attacking by that route would be like trying to scale the Cliffs of Insanity. 

Probably a combination of how well fortified the city is and the fact that hundreds of years ago, they could afford to pay off any other powers to keep their independence, the only time the city walls were actually used to defend the city was during the war in 1991.  Crazy that such ancient defenses were of use in modern times! 

The city was beautiful, with tiny streets that were often quite steep, with restaurants and shops everywhere.  There is a great little bar that is perched on little terraces in the rocks outside the wall on that steep seaward side, which was a wonderful place to sit and have an evening drink.  With the city behind us, the rocks below us, the sea all around us, and Sinatra music bathing it all, it was quite romantic!  Dubrovnik is a great city, that definitely deserves more than the 18 hours we had for it.