Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours:
40 kn, Tue-Sun 9:00-20:00, closed Mon, put Frana Supila 23, tel. 020/
426-590,
www.ugdubrovnik.hr
.
The picturesque Old Port, carefully nestled behind St. John's Fort, faces away from what
was Dubrovnik's biggest threat, the Venetians. At the port, you can haggle with captains
selling excursions to nearby towns and islands (described in the next chapter) and watch
cruise-ship passengers coming and going on their tenders. The long seaside building across
the bay on the left is the Lazareti, once the medieval quarantine house. In those days, all
visitors were locked in here for 40 days before entering town. (Today it hosts folk-dancing
shows—described later, under “Entertainment in Dubrovnik.”) A bench-lined harborside
walkleadsaroundtheforttoabreakwater,providingapeacefulperch.Fromthebreakwater,
rocky beaches curl around the outside of the wall.
In the 15th century, when Venice's nautical dominance was peaking, Dubrovnik emerged
as another maritime power and the Mediterranean's leading shipbuilding center. The
Dubrovnik-built“argosy”boat(from“Ragusa,” anearlynameforthecity)wastheCadillac
