The City Walls

This morning, we hiked the two kilometers around Dubrovnik's Old Town atop the city walls.  Back in the 15th and 16th centuries, Dubrovnik rivaled Venice in shipping and a large center of wealth, and the massive walls were built for protection.  Inside the walls are ten churches and chapels, a cathedral, two monasteries, and two convents (small influence of the Catholic Church...), along with palaces and still-active fountains that supplied the city with fresh water from the hills above.  Outside the walls are a small protected port and the requisite city quarantine and dungeon.

The views from the walls are absolutely spectacular.  On the north end is a tower that rises high above the city, while the walls on the south and east sides look out over the water to the islands in the distance.

A few pictures are below.  I'm not positive, but I believe the basketball court in the last picture is over three-hundred years old.

Dubrovnik - The Dark Side

Since we first came to Ljubljana, a trip to Dubrovnik has been at the top of our list, and we're finally here.  There are lots of things to love about this town, but perhaps the coolest (definitely the coolest if you ask Sy) is the fact that scenes from the next Star Wars movie were shot here this spring.  And if you're into Game of Thrones, there's that too.  Star Wars and Game of Thrones memorabilia everywhere, walking tours, you name it.

A few Star Wars comparison pics below:

1) Onofrio's fountain, as it looks now and done up for Star Wars.
2) The main street Stradun, as it looks now and done up for Star Wars.
3) The view of the port and St. John Fortress from Banje Beach outside the city walls, one with a beautiful lass and the other with an evil lord (jokes in the comments box, please).

If you want to see a video on scene set-up, there's a very cool one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-heyfopgT0

Tales from the 1st Half of Trip #5

Two weeks into our fifth trip to Ljubljana, and not a single blog post yet.  It's not sheer laziness, we promise...instead, a lot of time spent in class and not much time to write (or think for that matter).  So, not a lot of tales from the first half, but here are some highlights, along with a few pics below:

• Rediscovering Ljubljana's Old Town (and ice cream cones!!)
• A weekend trip to the seaside to visit our friends Mijo and Drita
• Catching the full moon from atop the Neboticnik (the 13-story skyscraper)
• A day at the Atlantis water park to celebrate the end of class (not pictured)
• Many spectacular sunsets from our terrace

Next up is a holiday in Dubrovnik (yes, from our holiday in Ljubljana).  We are actually already here, and have plenty of pics and thoughts to follow.  Na Zdravje!