Dubrovnik

“The Pearl of the Adriatic” has captivated and seduced kings and artists for centuries with its immaculate medieval architecture.

Once upon a time, Dubrovnik was one of the smallest but most important merchant states in the Mediterranean.

It had consular offices in more than 80 cities. Its fleet of almost 700 merchant ships rivaled that of Venice.

Under the heavenly patronage of St. Blasius and crowned by the famous Libertas banner flying from a high stone pillar guarded by its legendary knight Orlando, Dubrovnik is a city whose story is best told by the city itself.

Walk along its main street, Stradun, whose stone pavement has been polished smooth by feet that have walked it for hundreds of years.

The city’s glorious walls, fortresses and bastions offer a view of the magical Elaphite islands – Šipan, Lopud and Koločep, scattered like pearls in the azure of the sea.

Named Elaphite islands after the Latin word Elaphos for deer, this archipelago, which used to be the habitat of this noble wild game, concentrates all the qualities of the untouched Mediterranean, featuring subtropical vegetation, expansive pine tree forests and olive groves, all surrounded by amazing sandy beaches.

The routes of the old sea captains traverse an area of turbulent history and struggles for freedom, an area where trade, seafaring and shipping have been developed since ancient times and where life has always been lived in harmony with the sea and the rivers.

Visit the ancient home of seafaring on the peninsula of Pelješac in the Maritime Museum in Orebić, the cradle of sea captains; in Korčula, the birthplace of Marco Polo; in the historical city of Dubrovnik, which was an independent republic for centuries, and this treasured tradition has continued in the modern-day sea and river ports of Ploče and Metković.

In these parts, nature has crafted the wondrous landscapes of the Neretva Delta, a meeting-place between the river and the sea, the lowlands and the karst, the lake and the wetlands; of the eternal beauty of the Mljet National Park, with its lakes; the Elafiti islands of Koločep, Lopud and Šipan, with their Renaissance atmosphere and the diverse, mellow landscapes of Ko