Was Christopher Columbus Croatian? Maybe a Croat bought his boat! Ken Fuhrer shot this photo of the Nina while putting together our new Croatia hiking tour.
The town in the background is called Dubrovnik. Also referred to as ‘The Pearl of the Adriatic’, Dubrovnik is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the best-preserved walled cities in all of Europe.
While the Nina certainly grabs your attention in this photo, it’s the tiny glimpse of a mountain in the upper left-hand corner that interests us. Dubrovnik has a number of peaks that rise above the city. We’ll hike to the top of Srđ Mountain, the prominent local peak, for a bird’s eye view of Dubrovnik’s old town, a medieval walled city replete with Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches; monasteries, palaces and fountains; and some of the oldest, continuously operating establishments found anywhere in Europe. The Friars Minor Pharmacy (the Old Pharmacy), for example, a drug store set within the cloisters of a fourteenth century Franciscan monastery, continues to do business after 700 years.
Notice, too, the palm trees that line the promenade in this photo. You can almost feel the warm sun, smell the salty Mediterranean breeze, and hear the gentle waves lapping against Dubrovnik’s ancient shores.
Interested in a brief history of Dubrovnik? Check out the Old City of Dubrovnik at unesco.org.