I haven´t found the exact quote but apparently
George Bernard Shaw, described
Dubrovnik in 1929
as
"Paradise on Earth". This ancient city on the
Adriatic Sea, is beautiful. I should point out that my visit was before the tragic wars that ravaged the former Yugoslavia. I was looking through my files and found a couple of pictures, so I decided to write this brief post, though the trip was made some time ago. When I visited, although it was a popular tourist destination, the numbers were manageable. I understand that, nowadays, there are quite a few cruise ships stopping there and, thus, a lot of tourists visiting the city. Also, when I visited,
Yugoslavia, as it was then, was still a Socialist country, but to my surprise, the city felt like any other European seaside city. The particular brand of socialism imposed by
Tito appeared to be quite distinct from other socialist countries.
Although Dubrovnik suffered severe damage during the war, it appears to have been restored to its former glory. Walk around the walls of the city, admire its Cathedral, its Rennaissance buildings and do as the locals do and walk up and down the
Stradun or
Placa, before or after indulging yourselves in one of the many good restaurants the city has (or so I remember).
Not far from Dubrovnik, but now in a different country -
Bosnia and Herzegovina - is the town of
Mostar, which was also heavily damaged during the war but has now been rebuilt. One of the main attractions was (and is) the
Stari Most or
Old Bridge, built by the Ottomans in the 16th century. In fact, the town takes its name from the bridge keepers or
mostari.
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