Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik is near the southern end of Croatia. The road from the northern part of Croatia passes through a piece of Bosnia & Herzegovina to get to this bit of Croatia. It is a beautiful city that sits on the slopes where Mound Srd meets the sea. The old town is inside a huge stone fortress partly sitting on a rock cliff facing the Adriadic. The majority of the walls were built in the 15th and 16th century though most of the buildings inside the fortress are from the 17th century. An earthquake in 1667 destroyed almost all of the existing buildings. The Yugoslav wars from 1991-95, caused more recent damage to the walls and building, but there are few signs remaining today.
The whole town feels like a movie set, and indeed Game of Thrones other movies have used the town and walls as set. Fans of fortresses (and Game of Thrones) will for sure want to come here.
We walked the nearly 2 km of walls that encircle the old town. It was a bit rainy so there were not many other tourists
…and we had the place to ourselves.
We strolled in the interior to see the shops and prominent buildings on the unexpectedly wide Stradun street, and we explored the narrow alleyways as well. Cats are popular and everywhere, as since medieval times, they help eat vermin that carry the plague.
Outside the front gate of the apartment 
View from our apartment window
The nearby Red History Museum uses objects and stories to give a glimpse of life under the 40 years of communist rule.
The Yugo! 
Famous Basketball player who attended BYU, then turned pro.
The War Photo Limited exhibit inside the old city had sobering war journalists photographs from the “Homeland War” and other conflicts throughout the world.
We also hiked up to the top of the nearby Mount Srd for sweeping views of the city.
Montenegro
We took a day trip into Montenegro and visited two cities. The rugged coastline has mountains that come right down into the sea. The water is relatively calm due to nearby islands and the location of these towns at the edge of Kotor bay. First we visited Perast, a UNESCO Heritage city perched on the edge of the Bay of Kotor. We took a small boat to visit the Our Lady of the Rocks chapel on a small manmade island in the bay. Legend has it that the island was formed by seaman dropping rocks into the water to thank the virgin Mary for protection when they returned from the sea. Afterwards we walk through the town. We are now near the end of the tourist season so there were very few tourists around.
in Persat 
Persat 
silver engravings from parishioners 
a neighboring small island 
Our Lady of the Rocks 
Persat
We drove further around the bay to visit the city of Kotor, another amazing medieval city that also sits on the bay. A unique element of this city is the defensive walls that snake up the adjacent steep hillside. We climbed the zillion steps that run just inside the wall to get to the fortress on top. Great views from up there. The history of the city, the city walls and the fortifications up the mountainside start with a fort from Byzantine Empire (6th century) and continue with various kingdoms, wars, occupying forces up through World War II.
We also had amazing fresh gnocchi and grilled vegetables. This has convinced us that we need to learn to make good foods like this when we are at home!
We continue to be thoroughly impressed with the beauty and ease of travel in this region. Most of the tourists are European, with Germans the largest portion. The sights are beautiful, the food is great, there are few tourists and the weather has been kind to us.
Next up, we head back inland to see Bosnia & Herzegovina!
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