Beautiful Dubrovnik

 

 Day 12 – Dubrovnik, Croatia   Friday, November 14

Dubrovnik Walking Tour

Dubrovnik, one of the world’s most beautifully preserved medieval walled cities.


We were in Dubrovnik in 2005 and arrived at the sea gate, since then they have built a cruise port away from the old walled city, so this time we took a bus from the cruise port to The Pile' gate. 


Inside the gate there is a large fountain, once the primary place where people got water.


There are many alley ways within the city, along them are restaurants, businesses and homes.


During the time when the former Yugoslavic republic was breaking up many of the homes and businesses were bombed and hit by missiles launched by the Serbs. most of the structures were made from limestone which remained, but the wooden interiors were burned out.

The streets look tike polished marble.  They are limestone that has become polished from the foot traffic.  Vehicles are not allowed inside the walled city except for emergency vehicles and this time of year, construction vehicles carrying supplies for reconstruction.



The outer alleyways lead to stairs going up to homes.  A group of students counted the stairs to prove that Dubrovnik had the most stairs in Croatia.  They determined that there were 5824 steps.




The City's Administrative Buildings


The central Plaza and Clock Tower


The Cathedral of St. Blaise (the Saint associated with healing afflictions of the Throat)


The 15th-century Onofrio’s Fountain at the side of the central plaza, a group of students stopped to get a drink fron the fountain


The main Cathedral in the city, walking by we saw the Bishop walking down the street. Young for a Bishop.

There are three Monistaries within the city walls, the largest is a Dominican Monastery, where you can view a fine collection of Renaissance paintings. A Franciscan Monistary which has operated a Pharmacy sonce the 1300's and a Jesuit Monistary. We visited the Dominican Monestary.



Courtyard inside the monestary


From the courtyard you can see the clocktower in the central plaza.  The following are some of the artworks and treasures found in the Monastary Museum.








Collection of Gold and Silver Chalices


We finished off our visit to Dubrovnik with a stop at an Irish Pub we found when we were here 20 years ago. Karaka Irish Pub.




Cheers !



Comments

  1. Debbie T.November 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM

    Now THAT's what I'm talking about.....photos of YOU!! I think there's an IRISH Pub almost everywhere in the world....especially in the places you least expect them!! Slainte!! :-) When I saw those stairs, I just shook my head (5,824 of them!!). How in the world do they make that work if they're taking groceries, etc. back home??!!! Crazy! I didn't know that St. Blaise is the patron saint of Dubrovnik. Love the outside photos of the monastery gardens. It looks SO peaceful there. Can't wait to see what's coming next!! Love you guys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Colin ArchibaldNovember 15, 2025 at 11:44 AM

      Each alley has stairs, the 5824 is all the ones in the city must be at least 100+ sets of stairs.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousNovember 15, 2025 at 2:38 PM

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 15, 2025 at 6:35 PM

    I am in awe. Beautiful photos!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please leave your name so we know who is commenting.

Popular posts from this blog

4/14/2024 Final Day of our Tour - Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Image
Kutna Hora and Sedlec (a small suburb of Kutna Hora) is a unique site about an hour outside of Prague. In the middle ages it was a site of pilgrimage. Legend has it that the Abbot at the time Abbbot Heidenreich had travelled to Jerusalem and brought back a fistful of soil from Akeldama (Field of Blood) establishing the first holy field in Central Europe.  After a monk at the monestary here discovered silver in the second half of the 13th century, the population grew to about 80,000 making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time. With the black plague, mining accidents, etc. the cemetary grew to an unmanagable size of 3.5 Hectares (almost 9 Acres). At the time the solution was to build an Ossuary (a repository for the bones).  Since tradition mandates that remains must be buried below ground the Church od All Saints was built with the bones carefully stored in the basement "Below Ground". Records show that are over 500 Ossuaries in the Czech Republic, but this on...
Read more

The Trip Starts - Viking Ocean Cruises - Iconic Mediterranean Shores

Image
  Viking Ocean Cruises - Iconic Mediterranean Shores on the  Viking Vesta - Istanbul, Turkey to Barcelona, Spain Started with a long trip from home to Istanbul. Flights from Knoxville to Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte to London, England and London to Istanbul.  Flight Time 12 1/2 Hours plus another 9-10 hours in Airports. Finally got to the ship at about 9 PM the next day (local time). 
Read more

The Full Acropolis Experience

Image
  Day 7 – Athens (Piraeus), Greece   Sunday, November 9 Driving out of the port, you com upon this beautiful Greek Orthodox Church. We drove past the ancient harbor of Zea, its dock dating to the 5th century BC although it is hard to tell where the old harbor ends and the new one starts. This is a bustling harbor.  there were three Viking cruise ships at the port and at least 15 ferries that travel to the surrounding islands. The tour description said "Upon arrival at the Acropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, climb 80 steps through the Propylaeum, the grand entrance that delivers you to the plateau of the rock"  This was a lie they did not tell you about the six sets fo 20 steps each followed by hills to climb  to get to that 80 steps.  Once you get to the top, you can look down into the conservatory, an ampatheter where music venues are held. and that can seat approximately 2000 people. Then you look up and realize there is more stairs to...
Read more