Rosie and The Operator are off, we are going to walk the City Walls of Dubrovnik today. A distance of just over two kilometers that takes you on a loop around the entire city.
There is no escaping these mighty walls as they totally dominate the landscape with their height and imposing solidity. The version you see of the walls today are from the 15th Century when they were finally completed. The highest wall is 26 meters tall and they range in thickness from 1.5 – 6 meters thick. From the ground looking at the rounded bastions they look so sculptural, smooth, curvaceous and utterly impenetrable!
Tickets are $150 kuna each which = $35nzd per person. You start in one direction and keep going around. There are three points along the way if you want to discontinue and leave the wall….be warned, once you have left the wall, you cannot get back on, says the bold signage upon entering in 5 different languages.
Its a climb up to the top of the 26 metre high wall, you can see the stairwell in the above pic, the stairs are in between the wee church and the wall. Once you reach the lofty heights on top of the wall it is an another OMG moment. You feel like you are on top of the world, looking down over the magnificent rooftops of the city, peering into back yards and the city squares. It gives us a totally different perspective on the places we visited yesterday.
It is just after 0800am and the sun is still low and shining down the main street along the Stradum reflecting on the tiles worn smooth from the passage of feet and time. It is glorious and Rosie hasn’t even moved more than 10 steps along the wall. The Onofrio Fountain looks awesome in its small square from up so high above it.
The breeze is fresh up so high and the day nicely overcast….just perfect! Go on then, another 5 second selfie before we start. See, Rosie told you we take awful pics!
The wall ramparts where we are walking are wide and smooth. The walls protecting us from falling over the edge….are not idiot proof in some areas which is refreshing in this day and age. This means Rosie can get optimum photo taking access….yipee!
This area of wall is still on the inland side and the evidence of recent war is still visible with broken jagged stumps of house walls and piles of rubble still to be cleared.
In 1991 Croatia declared Independence from the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia. Totally against the split a few months later its neighbors Serbia and Montenegro, also members of the FPR, attacked Croatia looking to weaken and take it over. All of the Dubrovnik region, except for the territory of the Old Town within its walls was occupied, pillaged and heavily devastated. The city withstood an eight month siege without water and electricity supply with an extra 21,000 Croatian refugees housed inside the walls for protection. The city suffered frequent bombardments and lived in utter hardship. Once again, in modern times, these walls saw war and saved the day. The people did not give up and this heroic defense was paramount in the international recognition of the independence of Croatia.
You can tell by the bright new looking roof tiles who was hit and who escaped the bombardment. A lot of rebuilding has happened in this area and it is sobering to think this happened not so long ago.
The walls undulate with the contour of the land it is built on, there are a lot of ups and downs by stairs as well as a lot of flat areas. Looking over the bay we can see the imposing St Lawrences Fortress sitting on a 37 meter high pinnacle of rock to the west of the old town.
This Fortress defended the City and the Pile Gate from the sea. Above the Fortresses gate is the famed inscription, ‘Freedom is not to be sold for all the worlds gold’.
This Fortress was first documented in 1341 but it is believed to be much older. Rosie took this photo, below, of St Lawrences Fortress out of the window of Fortress Bokar, which is a bastion on the wall directly opposite, these forts both worked together protecting the small harbor and the City Gate.
We head towards the seaward side of the wall, here the wall is built directly onto the bedrock and the two seamlessly morph together, rugged rock into smooth wall. Looking down over the edge of the wall, you can imagine how impenetrable and intimidating the wall would look if you were approaching from the sea in the hopes of causing mischief on the city.
This area of the wall pictured below, features a lot in the Game of Thrones TV series where the shots of Kings Landing, the Capitol City of Westeros is filmed. Check out my pic and a screenshot from the TV series of the lads looking out over the fictional Black Water Bay with the Red Keep in the background.
Looking back over the city, the red rooftops are amazing! We are on the high point of the city and you can see how low the bottom part is…picture all those stairs down there Rosie has been telling you about!
Anyhow, Rosie knows we have just started the walk…..but we haven’t had coffee yet this morning…..and we have just strolled upon a beautiful pit stop overlooking the bay.
Refreshed, we keep strolling, the pace is nice is leisurely, we are not in a hurry and there is no pressure from the people behind us as the ramparts get narrower. Every twist and turn takes us to another impossibly beautiful view and an amazing shot of these walls.
Now we are turning and looking back over the city and with every up and down of the path there is always something to see.
We keep peering into back yards and see if we can spy kitties lounging in the sun, not hard in this country…Rosie once again is fascinated by the washing lines so high above the ground.
At the next turn we come across a souvenir seller with a captive audience of every single person that is walking the walls…they have to pass her directly….great idea!
Some of the walkways are getting a little narrower and the steps are single file, we are all going the same way and the foot traffic is pretty thin. Houses are built right up the wall, their terraces are at our eye level and they look right over the top for a glimpse of the sea. Some on the other hand only have a view of the wall…1 meter in front of their windows.
We approach the Old Port of Dubrovnik and St Johns Fortress which was built in 1346 to guard this harbor. A chain was pulled across the entrance of the harbor every night to prevent any unwanted visitors in the dark and it was controlled by a manual winch from the Fortress. This seems quite an undertaking as the mouth of the harbor is not that narrow! Sorry Rosie doesn’t have better pictures.
The harbor is still alive with fishing boats and small dingys wait on the dock to ferry people to their moored vessels bobbing in rows on the blue sea.
On the inland side of the wall is a sea of beige brick. Large churches, squares and public building are what we are now looking down on instead of back yards.
We are nearing the end of our journey as we reach the highest point of the city and the Fortress Minceta.
This fortress defends the city from the North and with the Croatian flag always flying from its rooftop is the symbol of Dubrovnik’s greatest defense strategy. The views along the wall and of this towering fortress are impressive and amazing.
Rosie can hear children below us, laughing and shouting, it sounds like a school playground. Peering over the edge Rosie can see the back end of a large wall that looks like a high cage.
This is where all the noise is coming from, as we walk closer we can peer down from the ramparts into the school yard. It is amazing to see down below, the kids kicking a ball around the tiny concrete playground.
The yard has the town walls on one side and the school building on the other, at the end of the school yard is the cage wall, don’t kick the ball too high guys!
It made me a little sad to see how small and grassless the school yard was in comparison to our inner city schools at home….I suppose in a place where space is at a premium they were lucky to have this outdoor area….plus as always, kids were being kids….they didn’t care., still having fun.
It is awesome however, to see everyday life carrying on as usual in this congested historic center for the people that still call it home. Only 1600 residents still live within these walls today, where just over 7 years ago there used to be 7,000. Times are changing, it seems the city is now turning more into a museum for the tourists than a living working city which is a real shame.
We were nearly at the end of our trek, looking across the way we could see the start of the wall we climbed over two hours ago. The silhouettes of the crowds just starting out against the sky were pretty closely packed, Rosie is glad we were done and dusted and didn’t start later.
Did you know that over 1 million people a year walk these walls….Rosie and The Operator are well glad we avoided the thousands by starting early.
Our walk was just magnificent! It was great seeing the city from up high and the layout of the land beyond the city walls. The views, vistas and scenery were just spectacular from this vantage point and every single spot along these walls was a photo opportunity just waiting for you to click it.
Rosie and The Operator just loved the city of Dubrovnik as a whole. It certainly was a highlight of our Croatian trip visiting this amazing spot and Rosie can see why it is such a popular place in general. The history, the sights, the preservation….it is all amazing and stunning, we are glad we left the best of Croatia till last. On that note we have to finish with a five second selfie we took yesterday. Its been fun Croatia, every place we visited was stunning and each destination just got better and better! Thanks for having us. Bye, Bye!
Tomorrow Rosie and The Operator are heading across the border. True! A real deal old fashioned border crossing, like the good ole days, into the non EU country of Montenegro where Rosie is going to stay for a month while The Operator goes back home to work. Cant wait to get the low down on this mysterious wee country.
