This is the 58th country that I have visited. Dubrovnik is a place with a rich history and very welcoming to tourists. My route took me from Philadelphia to Zurich and on to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a magical place. You have a walled city facing the Adriatic Sea. The walls surround the old town. Most of its well known buildings were completed in the 16th century. It has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This will be our first stop in a trip that will take us through three counties. We will see Croatia, Italy and Switzerland.
We made sure that we packed European plugs since it’s different over there. Another thing that I have some annoyances with are European showers. Too complicated.
We are staying at the Sheraton Riviera Dubrovnik ( about 9.7km or 6 miles from Dubrovnik collecting our Marriott Reward Points). We quickly made plans to visit the old walled city of Dubrovnik. There were several tour operators stationed just outside our hotel. We selected Adriana as they had a 9:00am sailing on a small boat. The water route proved to be a good way to travel to Dubrovnik. It was just a 30 minute ride, which passed quite fast. The weather was pleasant and we encountered some nice breezes. Going by ship gives you quite a thrill when you turn into Dubrovnik harbor and come face-to-face with the walled city.
We had made prior arrangements online for a Free City Walking Tour. Usually this runs 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Your guide is usually a local. Your guide would work on tips. I find that this gives you a nice introduction to a city. Our guide was Marco who was excellent. He had a excellent sense of humor. He captured the flavor of the place.
The well preserved buildings include the Rectors Palace that was the seat-of-government. At the time Dubrovnik was the Republic of Ragusa. The Republic lasted from 1358 until 1808. It was an aristocratic maritime republic similar to Venice and Genoa. The palace was started in 1467. It suffered damage from earthquakes and fires. It became a museum in 1872.
Another prominent building is the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary. It was completed in 1713.
Also, we have Sponoza Palace which dates from 1522. Various functions were a customs office, bonded warehouse, mint, armory, treasury and culture center. It is now home to the city archives. It contains about 700 manuscripts and 100,000 individual manuscripts. The Luza Square is directly in front of the palace and is ofteen used a performance venue.
The city is quite compact. However, there is not much shade. Better to do your visiting in the morning.
I wanted to mention that our hotel is located about 30 minutes from Dubrovnik in the town of Srebreno. It is a nice modern resort from the Marriott family I enjoyed the Sheraton’s large pool. Also, the Sheraton has it’s own beach. I found swimming in the Adriatic to be quite delightful. In the evening, we could walk on a nice waterfront prominade near our hotel that had several restaurants. Some featured live music. One nice restaurant was Ruzmarin Gastro & Bar. It was nice to sit out on the terrace and have an outstanding meal. It is located right accross the street from the Sheraton. Another place that we enjoyed was Tutto Bene for great pizza and burgers. Nice terrace also.
