I didn’t know there was an Olde Town Dubrovnik, of course I was at first unaware that Cavtat (where I was staying) wasn’t Dubrovnik!!! Silly me!

But, HEY!!!! It’s unfamiliar territory to me and I’m gonna excuse my ignorance.

So, I did make it to Dubrovnik though….mostly to the Olde Town Dubrovnik portion of it. At first I was a bit confused as the bus drop off was quite a distance away and the driver said I’d have to walk to a certain place to be able to get the return bus. Throw in the accent and I was lost.

I did have the whole day to stay lost and then get un-lost…..hehehehe

The bus took about 45 minutes to get there, that long only because there was a stretch of road that was under construction. Speaking of construction. There’s a law or ordinance in Croatia that construction work (including building construction) can only be done in the off-season from what I understand. As you can see with this 2 lane road leading into Dubrovnik, they can’t afford to have work done during season!!! There were no 4 lane roads that I saw. By the way, just a short distance over the mountain range that’s on the right hand side of the road is Bosnia/Herzegovina the very most southern part of it. And from Cavtat just over the mountains are Montenegro.

The left upper photo is the entrance way into Olde Town Dubrovnik. It’s a walled city sitting on a low lying cliff. This place was very medieval, yet modern.

You have the old stone streets and the medieval architecture along with a modernized area with shops…yes Disney is there. Disney is BIG there!!

Olde Town Dubrovnik

This is a first for me…. I didn’t venture down any of these alleys! 2 reasons; one was that it was really cold and the wind was whipping down these alleys and secondly they led uphill. I was already going to have to walk uphill to leave I wasn’t about to do it more than once!

Olde Town Dubrovnik did have more restaurants opened than in Cavtat. And oddly, at least to me, ice-cream shops!!!

As you can see from above and below, it was the Christmas Holiday season.

I got a history lesson while I was in Olde Town Dubrovnik!

The Croat–Bosniak War lasted from 18 October 1992 to 23 February 1994. It was sometime called the war within a war because it was a part of the larger Bosnian War. 1951 Croatians died in this short lived war, it’s not forgotten here. Nor are the brave who died during the turmoil. Located in the southeast portion of Olde Town Dubrovnik is a memorial of sorts to their brave. It has a solemn effect on a person to walk into this hall. I found my way into this memorial room that honored these brave men and women.

The Memorial of The Defenders of Dubrovnik. The photo all the way to the right is on the left side of the entrance of the upper left photo. In this area, which is likened unto a church to me, whispers were the loudest noise. A display of paintings of what context I’m not sure of was being set up. The picture in the center was in the memorial room where I could read of the war, view films with audio and see those that fell during the war with specific heroism.

It was war…..no one wins in a war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croat–Bosniak_War#Casualties

Lots of cats…

Funny thing was walking into a bookstore of sorts and seeing Hillary Clinton’s book on display meeting me as I walked in!! I was out and about looking for a soccer ball of all things!

Here’s a few more looks at Olde Town Dubrovnik.

Below was my walk down….cat included!

And here was having to go back up! Once to the top, there was a short walk to the right then up more steps about half of these.

Coffee and Croatian delights along with beer. Most popular was Heineken.

Mostly cats in Croatia…..but there was this one pup that was making friends with me…..