Life's adventures: Walled Old City-Views

The Old City, as seen from an overlook along the road to the airport and from a boat

leaving the Ploce harbor. The boat view clearly shows how protective the walls were for centuries.

The wall along the old city at the Ploce Gate area shows how traffic in the new city skirts the exterior of the wall.

Tall walls along the Pile Bay area.

Here you see the wide spectrum of city streets, from the broad Stradun, to narrow byways, most with stairs. Lines for drying laundry cross the alleys overhead, reminding us all that this is a living city, not a museum.

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Bombardments during the Homeland War (I promise more on this) resulted in almost total destruction of roofs and interiors of almost everything in the Old City. Some old tiles were able to be reused, but the new tiles are obvious because of their bright orange color. The old tiles are a mottled brown in comparison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The city walls are accessible in three places but most people climb up at the Pile Gate entry. In one photo you will see a street sign, located at the top of those stairs, telling people not to go straight but to turn to the left. Because much of the wall walkway is only 3 feet wide,way movement is enforced by a number of men who work there. Carol is chagrinned at the attitude found there (and everywhere around the world, I suspect) that says the one way pattern has always been this direction. She has suggested changing the flow to the opposite direction because this entry is close to the highest point of the wall. If movement was clockwise, it would require a few steps up to the highest point and then all steps would be downhill. Instead, movement is enforced counter-clockwise, requiring over 200 steps up along the circumference of the wall.

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I've mentioned before that Dubrovnik is an ancient city. They really don't know how old it is, although some recent evidence found while digging in the basement of one of the churches indicates that there was a city there in the 8th Century. Dubrovnik was essentially destroyed in 1667 when a major earthquake leveled all but three buildings. Rebuilding began immediately. Dubrovnik was a major seafaring/merchant power in those days and there was wealth to help finance the project. However, there are still a few ruins from that time. Since all records were destroyed in the quake, any land without survivor ownership probably became church owned. At this time, it may be too difficult to sell and develop the parcel, since most are not adjacent to even one of the narrow streets and bringing consturction materials to the site may be impossible. It is unfortunate that some of the people providing tours often tell the herd of people folowing them that these are ruins from the more recent Homeland War.

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The Old City is not flat. It climbs on each side, up from the Stradun to hills on the west side overlooking the sea and on the northeast corner where high battlements offered protection. Tiled rooftops and white stone walls provide a homogeneity in the view.

With the Bell Tower at the Ploce end of the Stradun, the Monastery's tower balances the effort to reach to the sky at the Pile end of the street.

The Bell Tower dominates the Stradun.

From atop the City Wall, on the Ploce Gate side, you can see into the Bell Tower where the replica Maro and Baro strike the hour and the half hour.