Dubrovnik (Day 6, Mar 22)

Full disclosure--I am not a Game of Thrones (GoT) fan. So that puts me at a disadvantage on some of the significance of the things I'm seeing. Fe got pretty excited when she saw the steps at the Walk of Shame. I asked, "Is that how I am when I talk about Star Trek and Star Wars?" She said, "Yes." Hmmm.

After a great buffet breakfast (this hotel has the best food so far), our bus took us in to Old Town Dubrovnik--but not before stopping at a lookout point.

Old Town Dubrovnik

Lokrum Island

Again, we started out with a great local guide to take us around. She was native to the city and it was kind of neat to see her interact with other locals that she's known. And she also told us that she had to move out when Dubrovnik was attacked in 1991 (more on that war later).

Fe and I in front of Fort Lovrijenac (King's Landing in GoT)

Pile Gate (Entrance to King's Landing in GoT)

Courtyard of Franciscan Monastery

Various scenes of St. Francis' life were painted all along the cloister walls.

Inside the Franciscan pharmacy, continuously operating since 1317--making it the third oldest in Europe.

Old Town Dubrovnik street view

Jesuit Stairs (Walk of Shame in GoT)

Inside the Church of St. Ignatius

Close-up of the altar

Rector's Palace. The egg to the right is a "statue" of a dyed egg traditional in Croatia for Easter.

The Yugoslav wars were a series of ethnic conflicts between 1991 and 2001 that led to (and resulted from) the breakup of Yugoslavia. There's way to much to cover in this blog, but what's important here is the siege and bombardment of Dubrovnik. On December 6, 1991, the Yugoslav National Army--by this point made up of only Serbs and Montenegrins--shelled Dubrovnik, including the Old Town which was (and is) a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bullet/shrapnel marks in the Rector's Palace wall

Map showing buildings damaged or destroyed by direct hits, shrapnel, or fire.

Photo of burned church on a street display (I took this on our second day in town, but put it here for continuity).

I still remember news reports about this and other battles and atrocities in the war, so even though this was almost 32 years ago I have to wonder if people have really gotten over everything. I've read that some groups in Central Europe hold grudges over things that happened 300 years ago, so who knows? Hopefully peace--and the prosperity that comes with it--will continue.

After all that heavy stuff, I'll end on something nice:

We've been eating a lot of gelato--and we're not even in Italy yet!

Our second day in Dubrovnik is tomorrow--and it's all on our own!

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