Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As you ramble, keep an eye out for these key attractions. I've listed them roughly in the
order of a counterclockwise route through town, beginning outside the main entrance gate.
▲
Main Town Gate (Glavna Gradska Vrata)
The wide-open
square
fronting the bay and waterfront marina now welcomes visitors. But
for centuries, its purpose was exactly the opposite. As the primary point of entry into this
heavily fortified town, it was the last line of defense. Before the embankment was built, the
water came directly to this door, and there was only room for one ship to tie up at a time.
If a ship got this far (through the gauntlet we saw back at the Verige Strait), it was care-
fully examined here again (and taxes were levied) before its passengers could disembark.
This double-checkpoint was designed to foil pirates who might fly the flag of a friend to get
through the strait, only to launch a surprise attack once here. By the way, pirates' primary
booty wasn't silver or gold, but men—kidnapped for ransom, or, if ransom wasn't paid, as
slaves to row on ships.
Check out the pinkish
gate
itself. The oldest parts of this gate date from 1555. It once
featured a Venetian lion, then the double-headed eagle of the Habsburg Empire. But today,
most of the symbolism touts Tito's communism (notice the stars and the old Yugoslav na-
tional seal at the top). The big date (November 21, 1944) commemorates this area's libera-
tionfromtheNazisbyTito'shomegrownPartisanArmy.TheTitoquote
(tu
đ
e ne
ć
emo svoje
nedamo)
means, roughly,“Don'ttake what'sours,andwewon'ttake what'syours”—atyp-
ically provocative statement in these troubled Balkans.
