This is post thirteen of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.

• Intro to Northern Ireland & Croatia
• Recovering from Jetlag in Dublin: Dublin Castle and Trinity College
• Bubblin’ in Dublin: Dublin Eats
• Chasing Scully: Staying at the Hilton Belfast
• The Land of Giants and the Northernmost Point in Ireland
• Hiking Glenveagh National Park
• Singing the Blus in Dublin & Letterkenny
• Heating up in Zadar
• Azure Waters Await at Kornati National Park
• Falling for Picturesque Plitvice
• Let’s Never Split
• The Jewel of the Adriatic: Dubrovnik
• Walking the Wall in Dubrovnik
• A Brief Stop in Bosnia

As Mrs. Selfish mentioned yesterday, Dubrovnik has an unreal, Disney-esq feeling to it – so much so that I half expected them to pipe in music at any moment.

While this is partially due to the influx of shops and tourist traps within the wall, it is mostly due to the fact that the city walls are so well preserved. I mean, look at this thing.

While Dubrovnik has been around since the 7th century, the walls were constructed over the course of five centuries and were largely finished by the 17th century. They turned out to be a beautiful necessity, as Dubrovnik made many enemies on its rise to prominence as a maritime republic. At its peak in the 15th and 16th century it even rivaled the power of Venice.

The walls were used for defensive purposes as recently as the early 1990’s when Dubrovnik was under siege by the Yugoslavian army, but these days they’re more of a tourist attraction than anything else.

At 20 feet thick and 80 feet high in some places, walking the wall is a great way to get a stellar view of Dubrovnik’s old town.

Since the wall can get quite crowded, Mrs. Selfish, Cousin Selfish, and I decided to try a morning walk on the last day of our stay. This was also a great idea since we were visiting in August when temperatures peaked in the mid-80’s. Not the hottest weather, but there is no shade on the wall and it can really heat up.

Entering through the western gate, we purchased tickets for 100 kuna (~$15.50 USD) per person.

From there it was only a few flights of stairs up to the wall. Magnificent!

The wall is only 1.2 miles in length, but the path is quite narrow and can realistically only fit 2 people side by side. To accommodate the most people, the wall authorities force everyone to walk clockwise around the perimeter. For the most part this works out pretty well, though we did run into a few large groups of senior citizens who were moving at a snail’s pace.

Fortunately, if you should get hot or tired they have a few stands selling cool juice, coffee, and other refreshments. There’s even a bathroom or two on the top of the wall.

Hooray for Capitalism!

If you’re looking to avoid the crowds your best bet is to hit the wall in the early morning or right around sunset. Around 8am the walls weren’t too crowded, but it certainly started to pick up toward the end, and by the time we had finished there were nearly twice as many people on the wall as when we had started.

Dubrovnik has to be one of the most well preserved, beautiful walled cities in the world. I highly recommend visiting – though perhaps not during the summer if you can avoid it.

Join us tomorrow when Mrs. Selfish will talk about our brief stop in the under visited, beautiful Bosnia.