Dubrovnik is a city of 40,000 on the Adriatic coast. It has an impressive rock fortress wall which surrounds the old town. The wall is 1.2 miles long and 6 meters wide at the base. Dubrovnik was an independent city state founded by Romans in the 7th century. It reached its economic peak from 1300 to 1808 when Napoleon conquered the area. After this time, Dubrovnik was part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. And then later part of Yugoslavia. The city was largely destroyed in the 1600s by an earthquake. It was then reconstructed with a Venetian Baroque architectural style. In 1994, it was bombed by Serbia when Croatia declared independence. 400 people were killed in the city and much of the city was damaged. This is visible when looking at the city from above in seeing the new brighter red roof tiles. Up on the peak above Dubrovnik is a fortress built in the 1800s. This was used in 1994 during the Serbian bombings with shell damage still visible on the exterior. The old city goes up very steep streets with hundreds, if not thousands, of steps. Owen was in heaven with all those stairs to climb. There are no longer many year round residents in the old city because it is so difficult to navigate around all those stairs. However, the city is plenty full with tourists keeping the economy alive.
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