Cruise Destinations Help

Is pier wheelchair accessible? YES

Distance from Gangway to bus: 10 meters

Distance Pier from City Center: 3000 meters

Can You Walk? YES

Taxis Available at Pier? NO

Cost to City Center: EUR 10,00

US$ Accepted? YES

Taxis Metered? YES Hourly Rate: EUR 45,00

Phones Available at Pier? YES

Phone Cards Needed: YES

Limestone streets, the blue Adriatic Sea, red-tiled roofs, and medieval walls combine to make Dubrovnik radiate with character. Situated in southern Croatia, along the Dalmatian Coast, Dubrovnik long ago recovered from Serbia’s sieges of the early 1990s to become a trendy vacation destination.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dubrovnik’s old town appeals to children as well as adults with its historic, fairytale ambiance. Surrounded by 13th-century walls, up to 20 feet thick and 80 feet high, and fortress towers, old town marks the spot where the prince would hold court. Take a walk atop the wall, more than a mile long, checking for marauders while admiring the spectacular sea and city views. Be sure to visit the rampart look-out in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid the blazing sun.

The best way to see the old city is by strolling the main plaza (the Placa or Stradun), where historic structures line the streets. Some of the more interesting sights for kids include the Dubrovnik Cathedral, rebuilt after a 1667 earthquake, and the Franciscan Monastery. Along with 15th- to 17th-century chalices fashioned from gold and silver, the cathedral features the skull, arm, and leg bones of Dubrovnik’s hero, Saint Blaise, encased in gold filigree. Friars founded the pharmacy tucked inside the 14th-century Franciscan Monastery in 1317, which claims to be the oldest working pharmacy in Europe. The small but intriguing collection of apothecary equipment on view includes an iron still for the distillation of brandy and a metal and wooden press to squeeze the “juice” from shrubs.

Not only history draws vacationers to Dubrovnik, but also the sun and the sea. Take the kids to the Copacabana Beach, a shallow-water beach on Babin Kuk peninsula. Like most of Dubrovnik’s beaches, pebbles cover the Copacabana shoreline. For better beaches, board a boat to one of the islands off Dubrovnik’s coast-Lopud, about a 40-minute boat ride from Dubrovnik, contains the sandy beach Šunj, along with a hotel.

Back on Dubrovnik, stroll through old town. Sample some local sweets, such as torta od makarona (macaroni cake) or arancini (ornage grinds with sugar), at one of the cafes. In the early evening, street performers strum guitars near Onofrio’s Fountains.

From mid-July to the third week in August, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival takes place, featuring music, dance, and theater (www.dubrovnik-festival.hr). Listen to the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Leipzig Quartet, the Russian symphony Orchestra, and many other performers.

Caught in the cross hairs of the civil war that ravaged former Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik was pummeled with some 2000 shells in 1991 and 1992. When the smoke finally cleared in June 1992, the extent of the damage was severe.

Shell’s struck 68% of the 824 buildings in the old town, leaving holes in two out of three tiled roofs. Building facades and the paving stones of streets and squares suffered 314 direct hits and there were 111 direct hits on the great wall. Nine historic palaces were completely gutted by the fire while the Sponza Palace, Rector’s Palace, St. Blaise’s Church, Franciscan monastery and the carved fountains – Amerling and Onofrio, sustained serious damage. The restoration of the old town alone was to reach into the billions.

In order to handle the complex process of restoring the ancient city, an Expert Advisory Commission for the Rehabilitation was formed. The committee developed a master plan for the restoration work which would guarantee that all the repairs and reconstruction would be done with traditional techniques, using traditional materials whenever feasible.

One of the first and most urgent problems confronted by the committee’s experts was repairing the city’s tiled roofs in order to prevent water damage from rainfall. The rosy terracotta tiles that had topped all of Dubrovnik’s buildings were originally produced in a tile factory in Kupari, south of Dubrovnik, that had long since closed.

The traditional method was to knead the clay and then shape it to the curve on a man’s thigh before baking it. Such a procedure was far too lengthy under the circumstances, and the committee launched a desperate search for an existing supply of tiles to plug up the most critical holes. Replacements of the same color proved impossible to find.

The closest match came from the town of Agen in South-West France, which provided the first 200,000 tiles, followed by another 400,000 from a factory in Slovenia. The tiles now come from Bedekov?ina in the Krapina River valley. Though the red and ochre colors of the new tiles blends badly with the more subdued shade of the old Kupari tiles, the older tiles are gradually being replaced building by building.

The restorers faced a similar problem in finding a source of the fine white limestone used to build the city. The original stone came from nearby Vrink, off the island of Kor?ula, but the quarries have since fallen into disuse and are only capable of producing a small amounts of stone.

The island of Bra? has a long tradition of stonemasonry and a ready supply of high-quality stone; even with this stone, though, the restorers worried that obvious differences in color and texture would only magnify over time. The solution was to use the Bra? stone in places that had already used the stone or where it would not be readily visible, such as in drainage gutters.

With the war damage largely repaired, the focus of the committee is turning towards protecting Dubrovnik’s glorious architectural heritage from the ravages of time, weather and earthquakes. The process of replacing the old roof tiles is continuing. St. Blaise’s Church is undergoing structural reinforcement, while other buildings are being monitored for their structural integrity. Located in a zone that is seismic both geologically and politically, Dubrovnik’s citizens have become more determined than ever to protect their fragile, wondrous town.