Dubrovnik City Walls |
Click on any photo to get a better image |
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Dubrovnik is surrounded by two kilometers of thick stone walls. That's a lot of walking and we lost count of the number of up-and-down stairs, but the views are spectacular. The walls include forts, towers and detached forts. The main wall on the landside is 4 to 6 meters thick, but only 1 to 3 meters thick on the sea side. The walls have been augmented over the years, but even in the 9th century they were strong enough to resist a 15-month siege by the Saracens. |
The walls face onto a steep cliff on one side and the sea on the other. |
We made it to the top! |
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Ron took this from our hotel balcony on our first night in Dubrovnik. |
Toastmasters magazine wanted members to send in pictures of themselves reading the magazine in remote places. Regina was happy to give them the publicity. |
Note the large cruise ship in the background. The natives don't like them much - during the peak season they disgorge up to 10,000 passengers a day (Dubrovnik's normal population is about 47,000). They were everywhere. We were happy to be in a hotel and not just on a one-day visit. |
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Not much we can say -- beautiful views
from every side! Napoleon's engineers are said to have built the long road zigzagging up the hill on the right.
We crossed it in a taxi on our way back to the airport. The driver didn't
seem to notice that the road is narrow, the curves are sharp, or that he
didn't really have to hurry so much. |
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One of the streets in the city below the wall. |
 Dubrovnik was badly shelled during a long siege in 1989-1990 by the Serbians and the Montenegrins. We don't know if these ruins are from the war or pre-date it. At any rate, the building is within the city walls and getting construction equipment in would be difficult. |
Fort Lovrenjac, which we visited later in the day. |
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 Regina scans the horizon for Saracens. |
Close-up of the walls, with reinforcement bars. |
One of the impromptu beaches. Many people dive off the cliffs from scary heights. The blue-green water is just beautiful. |
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