George Bernard Shaw once wrote: 'If you want to see Paradise on Earth, go to Dubrovnik.' Most people who have had the fortune to visit this remarkable city, will agree. Everything about Dubrovnik is extraordinary - its geography, its history, its art and culture. Spread along a narrow stretch of steep, rocky coastine, Dubrovnik is pressed between the Dinaric mountains on the east and the Adriatic sea on the west. The contrast between this vast, barren, inhospitable hinterland and the dazzling beauty of Dubrovnik is mind-boggling. Like a pale amber jewel set in cobalt, the medieval walled city, with its massive ramparts and fortresses, glows in the sunlight with an inner serenity. A city of splendor, learning and culture, the streets of the old town are lined with elegant limestone houses, palaces, churches and monasteries. A veritable history book in stone, layers of Baroque and Romanesque alternate with Gothic and Renaissance traditions. Stradun, the main pedestrian boulevard, is flagged in polished marble and runs from the Old Harbour to the Gates of Pile. Here the fashionable gather every evening to stroll and chat, or sip cappuccino at one of the many outdoor cafés. A warren of side streets and narrow cobbled passageways ascend to the city walls on the east side of the town. In summer they are alive with crowded trattoria, the clinking of tableware and cutlery, and voices from open windows. The best views of Dubrovnik are surely afforded from the city walls. One of the most beautiful and strongest fort systems in the Mediterranean, this complex structure extends for nearly 2 km and consists of a series of fortresses, bastions, casements and towers. A photographer's dream, the views along these ramparts of the open sea and craggy Dalmatian coast are simply spectacular. Outside the Pile Gates, lovely 18th and 19th century villas, built by the Hapsburgs as summer residences, dot the jumbled hillside where palm trees, pine and cypress filter the afternoon sun. It is no wonder that UNESCO has named the entire city of Dubrovnik a World Heritage Site.
Did you know?
It comes as a surprise to many people that Shakespeare, that most English of writers, set 19 of his 38 plays in the Mediterranean. In Twelfth Night, Viola was shipwrecked in the province of Illyria (present day Croatia). Many believe that the setting for this play was Dubrovnik.
In October, 1192, Richard the Lion Heart set sail from Palestine following the Third Crusade. Shipwrecked in the Adriatic, he made a vow that if he survived, he would build a church in the place where he landed. According to the story, he landed on the island of Lokrum, whereupon the bishops of Dubrovnik talked him into building a church in Dubrovnik instead. Historical documents confirm that he contributed 100,000 ducats towards Dubrovnik's Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin.
