Globus Tour

My Globus “East Meets West” tour began early evening in Dubrovnik on Day 5. There were 36 on the tour, with Canadians the most represented: 14 Canadians, 8 Americans, 5 from India, 4 Australians, 4 New Zealanders, and 1 from Sri Lanka. Our tour guide was named Alison. It turned out to be a very enjoyable tour group and a very good tour of Croatia and four neighboring countries (Bosnia and Herzegovia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Austria) and another optional one (Slovakia). All these countries except for Austria and Slovakia used to be part of Yugoslavia, a federation of republics that joined together after World War I.

Dubrovnik Old Town

Dubrovnik’s Old Town is behind its City Walls, which were begun in the early Middle Ages to protect the city from the Saracans from Arabia. The walls were expanded as the city had later enemies: the Venetians, the Ottomans, Russia, and, in 1991, the Yugoslav army. After Yugoslavia’s communist leader Tito died in 1980 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989–90, some of the Yugoslav republics declared independence, which resulted in a war between Serbia, which had the largest land area and the largest population in Yugoslavia, and Croatia and Bosnia. Fora good history of Yugoslavia and Serbian–Crotian/Bosnia conflict, see https://www.ricksteves.com/watch–read–listen/read/understanding–yugoslavia

Dubrovnik’s Old Town

I visited Dubrovnik’s Old Town on my own on Day 5 and with my tour group on Day 6. On the slideshows (see later), I have photos mixed of both days. One thing that I noticed right away was that it was very hot and very humid here in mid–June. Traveling here either before or after the summer months might be more pleasant weatherwise.

The photo, taken within the City Walls, is of Placa or Stradun Street, the main street, 12th century.

Dubrovnik’s Old Town

My tour group in front of the Rector’s Palace on a tour with a local guide of the Old Town.

Dubrovnik’s Old Town

The photo is of the Dubrovnik Cathedral, 1713. Many buildings in the Old City were destroyed by earthquakes in both 1520 and 1667. The first cathedral was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1667 and was rebuilt. In the Old Town, there are a number of churches, some monasteries, many museums, hotels, restaurants, and residences.

Panorama Boat Cruise

On Day 5, I took a 45–minute boat cruise to see the City Walls from the sea.

Old Town Jazz Band–Movie

After the boat cruise, I had lunch at a restaurant in the Old Town that had a jazz band.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/8z5aPEfY7Aw

City Walls

After the panorama boat cruise, I walked up the 70 steps to the top of the City Walls.

View from the City Walls

View of Placa Street from the top of the City Walls. The views from the walls was stupendous, but I walked only a small section of them as I noticed there were many more steps to climb up if I walked around the entire wall of 1.24 miles (2 km).

Cable Car

On Day 6, after our Globus Old Town tour, with two tour mates, I took the cable car up Mt. Srd above the Old Town.

View of the Old Town

View of the Old Town from the top of Mt. Srd.

Sunset Cruise and Dinner

On Day 6, an optional Adriatic Sunset Cruise and Dinner was offered by Globus. We first sailed away from the direction of the Old Town. This is a photo of the Franjo Tudman Bridge.

Sunset Cruise and Dinner

We ended the cruise by sailing along the City Walls and then docked at the Old Port in Old Town.

Dubrovnik City Walls

When we got back to the Old City, the City Walls were lit up.

I have put my photos of Days 5 and 6 on two slideshows:

http://www.peggysphotos.com/dubrovnik–1/

http://www.peggysphotos.com/dubrovnik–2/

(Slide Shows, Eastern Europe, Croatia, “Dubrovnik–1 and –2”).