Dubrovačko-Neretvanska Županija

This was a fantastic tour of Dubrovnik. Our guide Vlaho is a long-term resident of the old town and fought in the defense of the town in 1991. He was excellent at covering huge amounts of history in succinct and interesting ways. If he decides to stop being a tour guide, he really ought to be a history professor.

We learned that we pretty much all pronounce Dubrovnik wrong, even people in other parts of Croatia. Natives to the area call it DUB-rove-nik.

There's a bit of old Latin graffiti from a monk to the boys who kept playing football in front of the monastery: Peace be with you, remember that you, playing with the ball, will die. I guess even monks lose their patience sometimes.

Dubrovnik's highest value is freedom, or "Libertas", which we saw everywhere. They managed to stay free for a long time by playing both sides or paying people off to be allowed to remain free. They were the only area in the region that was still allowed a great deal of autonomy under the Ottoman Empire. They even outlawed slavery in the 1400s.

Rectors only served for a month at a time and were completely cut off from anyone's that it could be no possibility of bribes to try to ensure that justice would be served and that they would not be able to use their position to help themselves.Read more