World Cruise Day 86/152 - Dubrovnik, Croatia - games, thrones, ties, and cats - they have it all in the old city

Cruise day: 86/152

Ports days: 34
Sea days: 52
Countries: 15
Continents: 4
Ports: 25

We arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia this morning around 8AM for a two-day stay.

Dubrovnik, in the Dalmatia region of Croatia along the Adriatic coast, is about 30 north and west of the southern tip of Croatia.

Our tour this morning consisted of a brief bus ride to the walled old town of Dubrovnik. The fortified walls were constructed in the 1400s.

Looking up the hill, on the left, you can see a defensive fortress

We entered the walled city on the west side through the Pile (pronounced PEE-lay) Gate

St. Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik, is almost always portrayed with a scale model of the old city in his hand

Pile Gate

St. Blaise was everywhere you looked

Some modern conveniences like electric lighting have been retrofitted in the city

This map shows all the locations that were bombed by the Yugoslav, Serbian, and Montenegran armies in the 1991-1992 aggression.  The end of the war was brokered in part by Bill Clinton and the treaty ending aggressions, known as the Dayton Accords was signed at Wright-Patterson Air Force near Dayton, Ohio, and then formally signed in Paris.

I'm not sure what this guy was doing, but he sure seems happy

Our first stop was at Velika Onofrijeva Fontana or Large Onofrio's Fountain, a circular springwater fountain built in the mid-1400s.  It is covered with carved stone masks with spouts to spray water.

The fountain was fed by water delivered by a Roman aqueduct and supplied drinking water for the city's inhabitants.

For some reason, they put a sculpture of a dog on top of the fountain - it did nothing to deter the cats - more on that later...

A Franciscan monk was out feeding bread to the throngs of pigeons that call Dubrovnik home

More sites as we headed southeast east along Stradun, the main esplanade through the old town.

The alleyways to the north lead to residences that are only accessible via stairs

I mentioned cats earlier - they were everywhere - this one seemed quite at home on the window ledge of a store

The streets were spotless and everything in the town was well-maintained

After about 300m of walking, we reached the other end of the walled city - you can see the landmark clocktower at the end of the esplanade

You can see the figures with their hammers - they strike the bell

The bell tower is right next to Sponza Palace, a 16th-century palace that is now an archive holding documents that date back to the early 1000s.

In front of the church dedicated to St. Blaise, there is a statue called Orlandov stup, or Orlando's Column. It is dedicated to a hero knight of Dubrovnik and was built in the early 1400s.  It is currently being renovated.

Right behind the statue is The Church of St. Blaise or Crkva sv. Blaža in Croatian. It was built in the early 1700s.

St. Blaise sits high atop the front of the church, again holding a model of the city

We continued our tour with a stop in a Dominican Monastery. The old city has both a Franciscan and Dominican monastery within its walls.

"Year 1623"

St. Blaise, still toting the city model

When Napolean's army took over this monastery, they dug these depressions on the wall tops and tied up their horses - the depressions were used to hold food and water for the horses

On the steps down from the monastery, our guide pointed out the addition of the closed section at the bottom of the spindles - any idea why?  When ladies of the day ascended these stairs, they had to hoist their dresses slightly to step up so these modesty panels were installed so that the men below would not catch a glimpse of any ankle!  Cleavage was out on display everywhere, but ankles - well, those were simply not to be seen in polite society.  Imagine that.

We stepped outside the walls for a look at the old harbor.

Back inside the city, we toured past the Rector's Palace - now a museum.

We completed our tour and started wandering on our own.  They have the most interesting things here...

One of the big draws for Dubrovnik is the fact that the massive hit HBO series, Game of Thrones, was filmed in part in Dubrovnik.  We have never seen an episode, so that is a little lost on us.  Our understanding is that these steps were used in the Walk of Shame episode.

At the top of the steps, there is a Jesuit church.  We popped in for a look.

It is me, or does this angel look a little bored?

We continued our walk around.

Glad we were wearing hats

As I mentioned yesterday, Croatia is proud of its contribution to men's fashion - the necktie

It appears that the cats were having a private gathering

Serbian orthodox church of the Holy Annunciation

We left the old city via the Pile Gate to catch a ride back to the ship. From here, we could get a good look at the walls and fort.

Amerling Fountain - early 1900s

She seems much happier than he is - what do you think?

We took advantage of the empty ship and got a load of laundry done in the afternoon.

I worked on this blog and we did a little reading and enjoyed watching the sun disappear behind the hill, across from our ship.

We had a nice dinner with friends in the World Cafe and decided to make it an early night as we were both tired.  We are in Dubrovnik overnight tonight. Tomorrow, we're visiting the quaint towns of the Dubrovnik Riviera and are considering climbing the wall around the old town after that.