The second half of my Croatia trip centered around the city of Dubrovnik.  For this tour we had three other photographers join us which turned out to be lots of fun.  It was a really good group - still very small which was great.

20150525_Ecuador_0058 This was the view that we enjoyed while eating breakfast at the hotel.  The breakfast buffet was fabulous.

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Our group met for the first time mid-morning and from there we went into the old town of Dubrovnik.  It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean which meant it was fairly busy.  Roman told us that it was not nearly as bad as during the summer months though.  This is one of the gates leading into the old city.

20150524_Ecuador_0001 Lots of people entering the old town at one of the main gates.  Located on the very southern coast of Croatia, just above Montenegro, Dubrovnik has been inhabited for nearly 2,000 years.  Most of the current buildings and city walls date back to the 14th to 16th centuries, when Dubrovnik was one of the riches places in the Mediterranean due to its strategic location.

20150524_Ecuador_0002 According to some sources, Dubrovnik is among the 10 best preserved medieval walled cities in the world.  The city was demilitarized in the 1970's to protect it from war, however in 1991, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was besieged by the Serb and Montenegro' soldiers for several months and suffered significant damage.  During this time, the old city received over 650 direct artillery hits, damaging many of the buildings within the city walls.  The global community, led by the United Nations, funded the massive repair job to ensure all buildings were repaired as per their original style in order to maintain the architectural integrity.  

20150524_Ecuador_0004 Stradun is Dubrovnik's main street and was always busy.  The limestone-paved pedestrian street runs about 300 metres through the Old Town, the historic part of the city surrounded by the Walls of Dubrovnik.  The site of the present-day street used to be a marshy channel with separated Ragusa (Dubrovnik)from the forest settlement.

20150524_Ecuador_0003 The Large Onofrio's Fountain.  

20150524_Ecuador_0006 The Clock Tower (St. Nicholas Church).  Originally, this clock tower was built by the locals in the 15th century.  It was not damaged in the earthquakes, however when it was threatening to topple over, it was removed in 1906 and rebuilt in 1929.  It was built in a renaissance style with some gothic elements.  To the left of the clock tower, is the beautiful Sponza Palace.   The Sponza Palace, also called Divona, is a 16th century palace in the Renaissance and Gothic architectural style.  

20150524_Ecuador_0010 There were lots of kids playing in the square

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20150524_Ecuador_0011 Tourists taking a break.

20150524_Ecuador_0012  ​I really enjoyed looking at all of the buildings with the beautiful architecture.  

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There were beautiful old buildings everywhere we walked.

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20150524_Ecuador_0017 A group of talented musicians that we came across.

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20150524_Ecuador_0022 Meet Miles,  a student from England who was part of our group.  It was really nice having such a young photographer join us.

20150524_Ecuador_0024 An old doorway.

20150524_Ecuador_0025 I found this map interesting.  It shows all of the damage in the  city of Dubrovnik that was done during the 1991-1992 war.  As you can see it was very extensive.  Now you  couldn't tell that there was ever any bombing in this old section of town.

20150524_Ecuador_0026 We noticed that there  were many cats everywhere.

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20150524_Ecuador_0027 An old house in the city.

20150524_Ecuador_0029 One of the many cafes we passed by.

20150524_Ecuador_0030 We walked up and down the streets- it wasn't nearly as busy once we got away from the centre of town.

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