Stari Grad

Today I understood why there are so many tourists in Dubrovnic, it really is beautiful. It's a must to take the 2km walk around the city walls, which has a one way system to avoid congestion. I got there at 8am and spent most of the morning on the walls, looking down over the old town. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, probably one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe, dating back to the 7th century. Having said that it was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1667 (it was a dangerous time:  the plague was 1665-1666 and  the great fire of London was 1666 --- on the plus side it was while he isolated by the plague that Newton developed his ideas on calculus).  It was also badly damaged in the war between Serbia and Croatia in 1991, when it was shelled by the Yugoslavian People's Army and badly damaged (note how new some of the roof tiles are in today's blip). Serbia and Montenegro came under severe international condemnation for bombing a UNESCO site.

The extras are the main street, the Stradun, at 8am and 8pm.