We set aside the whole day for visiting Dubrovnik. After the breakfast, about 10 a.m. we were ready to conquer the medieval city – the European pearl of architecture. The drive from Neum to Dubrovnik takes about 50 minutes, traveling through the spiral road, that goes along the cliff with the view of Adriatic Sea. 

    On entering the city, beautiful and highly modern bridge of Franjo Tudjman should be crossed, that hangs over the rocky bay and is a 20 km short cut to the city. The bridge took its name after the first President of independent Croatia, who is regarded here as a national hero.

    The city is entered by the Pile gate, on which the posture of Saint Blaise - the Dubrovnik’s patron is situated. After crossing the gate, on the right side, the Onufry’s Fountain is placed, which was designed by Onofrio di Giordano Della Cava in 1438. The Fountain has an unique shape, not completely resembling a fountain. It’s round and pretty huge construction with 16 masks, from which the water flows. According to the legend, the one who drinks from all of the taps, will have good luck for all year long. In order to fulfill the tradition, we walked around the fountain, tasting cool and refreshing water, which was more likeable, since the temperature was reaching 30 °C. Reportedly, this building had a great number of beautiful ornaments, but earthquake in XVII century damaged them, and no one has tried to reconstruct them since then.

    To sightsee the entire city, you require two days at least; we had time until 5 p.m. The city is divided into two parts, by the long promenade, which is made of white limestone, and has also served since the XII century as the channel separating two settlements: Dobrava – the Slavic settlement, and Laus – the colony of the original settlers. It is worth to mention about the first pharmacy in Europe, established in 1317, which serves as a museum nowadays, containing a great pharmaceutical collection from its long-lasting period of functioning. It was originally used exclusively by monks, but soon (about 1391) it became at the disposal of all city. The old town (Stari Grad) has maintained its unique character, by many buildings that are made of white stone, and their history dates back to the medieval times. The most interesting, in our opinion, are: the gothic Franciscans’ cloisters of XIV century, as well as Dominicans’ from the turn of XIV and XV centuries, The Rectors Palace of XV century – the residence of Dubrovnik Republic’s authorities at that time, serving today as the museum, Sponza palace of XIV-XV century – currently the Dubrovnik’s Archive is situated there, but before it was a place for custom-house, treasure-house, mint, bank, measure office and even the Museum of Socialist Revolution. The most spectacular attraction are the city walls with 20 bastions, that have overall length of 1940 meters. While walking around them, you can observe the breathtaking views on the sapphire sea and on the city’s panorama on the other side. When visiting the walls, two things should be taken into account: good shoes and a headgear. The temperature during the summertime is high there, and you have to cover another stairs all the time, that reach upwards, and the fatigue along with the sun can be discouraging. After we walked around the walls, we went to see them from the sea side. There are the tourist ships moored at the harbor. You can buy a trip for 5 euro. On the boards of these ships, the tasting of local vodka Rakija is prepared, especially for tourists. I don’t know, what it is distilled of, but after having one glass I wanted to sing a half of Britney Spears’ repertoire.

    The culmination point of our journey, was the relaxation in the pub. After short consultation with the people from the next table, we ordered the local meals. The lady brought us two enormous pots of seafood, one of them contained little fishes roasted with a sauce, that had an interesting flavor, while the other included the little roasted octopuses. The food was delicious, but the amount of it was beyond our capabilities. A piebald cat, took advantage of it, entertaining the other pub’s customers, who took the photographs of this cat, who was eating hurriedly each octopus, that it was served with. The free tasting was ceased by the waitress, who admonished us politely, that the cat should not be fed in that restaurant.

    On our way back, our attention was absorbed by an inscription, that was curved in the rock of Saint Laurence fortress: "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro" – The freedom can not be sold for all world’s gold. Considering the history of Dubrovnik and whole Croatia, this inscriptions distinctly reflects the past times of this region, which was occupied by Venetians, Turks, Greeks, Italians and many other nations.

    At evening, after we came back to the hotel, we didn’t want to wander at it surroundings. We postponed it for tomorrow, which was reserved exclusively for relaxation at the beach and visiting the city.