Day 216 Sat 19 May 2007 Dubrovnik, Croatia

Catching the bus to the old city, we alight at the Pile Gate and enter the old town through a gateway guarded by guards in colourful Croatian uniform. Its a traffic free town within the walls with a maze of narrow streets and passageways, churches, palaces and museums, as well as lots of houses and shops, cafes and restaurants. Although there lots of tourists its not too crowded and its beautiful sunny day. The harbour and sea are an amazing blue with crystal clear water. We notice that most of the buildings appear to have new red tiled roofs and learn that the entire city was extensively bombed and shelled during the Homeland war in 1991-2 when the city was under siege for 9 months. Over half the buildings were hit, many destroyed and there are bullet scars on virtually every wall. However they have done an amazing job of restoring the place and unless you look carefully you’d hardly notice.
After a late lunch on the waterside we explore a Franciscan monastery before walking around the city walls. These walls are stupendous, the most extensive walls around any city and provide superb views, although the steps are quite exhausting.