Dubrovnik: Fantasy and reality combined

The larger city of Dubrovnik is an attractive coastal town, but it is the Old City, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1979, that really captivates. Between the Ploce Gate to the east and the Pila Gate to the west is that fine main thoroughfare, the Stradun. It's one of the most perfectly proportioned streets I've ever walked along, the bell towers at either end acting as visual exclamation points bookending the gleaming stone pavement and the cream-coloured buildings in between.

The Stradun functions as a sort of spine to the old walled city, with numerous narrow lanes stretching out north and south. Those streets climb up to the ramparts on the land and sea sides, and as you walk up and down the flights of steps, the alleys keep framing the city in stunning vertical shafts - one street will perfectly frame the dome of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, another will offer a perspective full of stacked terracotta rooftops. The walled city is small, but you can get lost in the criss-crossing streets, finding yourself at yet another cafe-filled square or in front of one of many Gothic, Renaissance or Baroque churches.

Oznake: dubrovnik