Day 13 Dubrovnik

The 'Pearl of the Adriatic' as it is called in many travel guides, we have been wanting to visit for a long time. Finally, the opportunity arose because from our mountain village of Ošlje, we drove just over an hour along the coast to the south.
Our rental warned us emphatically about the catastrophic parking situation and offered to pick us up at a bridge outside the city and take us to the historic center.
It was not possible to decline this 'service'. So we told him our arrival time at the mentioned bridge and to our secret delight, he unfortunately had an important appointment and could not pick us up. We were fine with that, as we feel much more comfortable when we are independent.
So off we went into the tunnel and simply followed the signs to the parking garage. Just before the old town, there is a really large parking garage where we could easily park the car for 40 Kuna (around €5) per hour. Not cheap, but anything else would have been pointless given the parking chaos along the city walls. Besides, the Volvo was in the shade.

In 1979, the entire old town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List and today is home to just under 43,000 inhabitants, most of whom do not live within the old city walls. The majority of the population, 90%, are Croats. There are also some Serbs and Montenegrins, Bosniaks, Albanians, and a small Jewish community. The city of Dubrovnik was one of the centers in the history of the development of the Croatian language and literature. Numerous important Croatian poets, artists, scholars, mathematicians, and physicists come from this city.

During the Croatian War of Independence in 1991, the Yugoslav People's Army and the Serbian-Montenegrin troops heavily shelled and damaged the city. Today, the damages have been almost completely repaired.
According to the Red Cross, 144 civilians and 200 soldiers were killed during the 9-month siege.

With the stroller, we had to walk down some steps to reach one of the two city gates in the massive walls. The old town, and thus the tourist magnet, is surrounded by an impressive wall that is almost 2 kilometers long and can be completely walked for a corresponding fee (10 euros).
Even if you have a fantastic view from there, we decided not to do this activity with the children in the heat.

On the way to the old town, the tourist crowds armed with selfie sticks were already pushing through the gate. Although in the main season, busloads and cruise ships literally pour out here, we were lucky on this morning and could move relatively freely. However, the heat did not allow for intensive exploration on this day, so we moved through the alleyways at a leisurely pace.

Dubrovnik is probably the most beautiful old town I have ever visited and a reunion is almost certain. Best in the off-season when it is cooler and there are no tourists everywhere blocking the view.

As the city is also a filming location for the successful TV series 'Game of Thrones', even more people from all over the world come here.

In a side street, we had the most expensive döner kebab so far for 8 euros, and then we started the grueling climb to the parking garage after a little over three hours, which brings us closer to collapse with every step...
In the end, we had to pay 20 euros for parking, but that couldn't shock us anymore, and we drove back to our mountain village satisfied.