DUBROVNIK WALLS & OLD TOWN TOUR - Dubrovnik Croatia Travel

Good morning. Today we are super excited. We are making our way over to Dubrovnik today. If you spend any time exploring the Dalmatian coast you are probably going to get very familiar with these, the Jadrolinja ferries. Good news is is that the prices are reasonable, the website is easy to navigate, and so far our boats have always been on time. So let's go. Made it to Dubrovnik. Now we just got to try and get over there and find our hotel. Hi we're Jeff and Angela and we're Pure Detour. This summer we are island hopping the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. We have made it into the walls of Dubrovnik. Let's show you around this town. So we are about to enter the walls, have a nice walk of the walls here of Dubrovnik, and we're entering through the eastern side of the city. Behind me is the Ploce gate and this bridge that we're on right now actually used to be a wooden drawbridge so that they could defend the city by raising the drawbridge and keeping everyone that they didn't want in out. So many historians agree that these walls started being built in about the 8th century, though the current form that they're in kind of took shape between the 14th and the 17th centuries. The walls here in Dubrovnik have withstood earthquakes and countless sieges over the centuries. It has never been breached by a foreign army. Most recently in 1991 it withstood an eight-month siege during the Croatian War of Independence. And to give you an idea of just how well these walls were built in medieval times, this structure still stood during that siege in 1991 where many of the contemporary buildings surrounding the Dubrovnik area did not. And this is the view from atop Fort Minceta which is actually the highest point of the walls here in Dubrovnik. So they call the gorgeous city of Dubrovnik the Pearl of the Adriatic and that's because it's one of the most complete and intact medieval cities in the world. And because of just it's so beautiful, a lot of Hollywood films and whatnot like to film here most recently and famously Game of Thrones. Dubrovnik was the site of many many scenes for King's Landing. The old town of Dubrovnik and the city walls became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The entrance fee to get on the walls today was 250 kuna for each of us and that only allows you one entrance so you cannot leave and come back in. And of course no medieval fortress would be complete without a basketball court. The views of the Adriatic from up here are stunning. These walls are up to 85 feet high at points and they are two kilometers long. These gorgeous walls are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region so they can get super crowded especially in high season. So there are a couple things that you can do to make sure that you have the best least crowded experience here. One, there are websites that will tell you when the big cruise ships dock because the cruise ships come in and everybody comes straight to the wall. So look at those websites to find out when the least ships are in port. Number two, come as early as you can in the day. A, it's less crowded and B, it's less hot. Also know that you don't have to pack and carry all your water with you. There are cafes and shops up here where you can stop have a drink and rest for a while. It's just so darn pretty. So we just came off the walls. The entire circuit took us about an hour and 20 minutes and that includes the time that we took to stop have a drink and take lots of pictures. Okay well it's finished up let's go check out the rest of this town. This is the main street of the town of Dubrovnik. It's called the Stradun and it is just lined with some of the most gorgeous examples of baroque and medieval architecture that you're going to find anywhere. And this is the Franciscan monastery here in Dubrovnik and it houses one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe dating back to the 1300s. So behind me is what's known as the Jesuit staircase. It's become famous in recent years because an infamous scene from Game of Thrones was filmed here. This is where Cersei began her walk of shame. If you guys watch this channel you know my absolute love affair that I have with the town of Split. If you haven't seen that video and you're new here you can check out that video right here. Dubrovnik same exact feeling. And when you're done exploring the main strip the main squares and all the gorgeous landmarks there I highly suggest you put aside some time to just wander around the back alleyways here and get lost. When you are packing for your trip to Dubrovnik just know that you are going to have to negotiate a ton of stairs to get in and out of the old town. So maybe you want to think about packing lightly. Behind me is a map of all of the buildings that were damaged and the direct hits that the city took from shells in the war of 1991 and 92. And the fact that this is now one of the most popularly visited places in all of the Balkans really speaks to the resilience of Dubrovnik and its people. That was totally unexpected. Today is the catholic feast day of Corpus Christi and we just came upon like a celebration that they were having in the streets and that was that was powerful. That was yeah extremely powerful that was awesome. One of the things that makes Dubrovnik special is that throughout its long history the republic of Ragusa positioned itself very strategically between two opposing empires the Venetians in the north and the Ottomans in the south and by negotiating strategically with both of those empires who were both actually a threat to it it came into its power and also into its own unique culture which can't be found anywhere else in the world. So after an amazing day of exploring Dubrovnik and some amazing food if you haven't seen our Dubrovnik food tour you can check that out right up here. And we're going to sign off to enjoy the rest of our evening here in Dubrovnik. Don't forget to like and subscribe to see what we get up to in Croatia next. Bye!