Dubrovnik

18Sep11 This was our first visit to Croatia and we weren’t really sure what to expect.  The country conjures images of war in my head for some reason.  We pulled into a picturesque port around noon – blue green water and rocky beaches.  The city still has a 30’ tall fortified wall in its center that encircles what is now a collection of tourist shops and restaurants.  We considered walking the walls but the 10€ fee dissuaded us – we’re horribly cheap tourists.

In spite of the tourist trappings, the center was still enjoyable – great weather, and  green water lapping up against the walls and rocky cliffs.  Dubrovnik is known as the “Pearl of the Adriatic” – at least that’s what the cruise itinerary says, apparently for the “brilliant white marble” of the city walls. There was not much white left to be seen on the walls, I suspect they are covered by a few centuries of life.  They’ll either need to start scrubbing or consider getting a new slogan for the city.  The whole wall and interior has a system of drainage built right into the stones that I found fascinating – the amount of planning and effort required to build something this detailed (and massive) makes me feel like modern buildings come up short by comparison.

We continued walking on past the center and discovered what may have been the cities only beach.  Either nature was very kind and put a 100 yard beach just outside of downtown or someone had a bag of dynamite handy.  The beach was crowded with what appeared to be mostly locals and we spent a hour of so walking the beach, people watching, and enjoying the cool water.  For those of you that haven’t had the opportunity to walk a crushed rock beach, I highly recommend shoes.

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