Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia turned out to be the most intriguing port. They've got a great deal of very recent history that sounds more like medieval stuff, you know, wars, attempted take overs, etc. The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995. Dubrovnik was significantly damaged and is still being repaired today.

Our mode of transportation for today's tour was a tuk-tuk, an electric rickshaw of sorts. What fun (despite being a little chilly)! We just zipped in and out of wherever we wanted. We climbed a rather large hill, Srdj Hill, for quite the panoramic view of Old Town and also to see evidence of defensive positions (Fort Imperial, 1812, built by Napoleon's soldiers) that helped them hold the city in conflict after conflict.

We passed over the new Franjo Tudman Bridge on our journey.

The rest of the day was spent in Old Town, a walled portion of the medieval city. We entered through Pile Gate. In Old Town were places like Cathedral of the Assumption, Sponza Palace (16th Century), and Onofro Fountain which supplied water to the city for over 500 years. There was another wall on which to walk all the way around the city. Vickie and Rob gave it a go, but had to bail about halfway through to make the bus back to the boat.

Also in Old Town was something rather revolutionary for the day - an orphanage. Apparently it was funded in large part by nobles who wanted to take care of illegitimate offspring but could not acknowledge them outright.

Back at the ship for High Tea.

All the day's photos are here.

Old Town

From up on Srdj Hill

Fort Imperial (part of)

in Old Town

Our ship near the Franjo Tudman Bridge

High Tea on board the M/S Sirena