The Great Wall of Croatia

Ston, Croatia

Ston has the distinction of being the town with the longest wall in Europe, often referred to as the Great Wall of Croatia. It is some three miles long, over a very high rugged terrain.

We wondered why a small unassuming town would require such heavy fortification, and the answer is its strategic location near Dubrovnik, and its valuable salt pans.

We could not take Berkeley East up to Ston, as it was too shallow, so we parked her on a rickety dock at Niko’s Restaurant in Kobase where, if we had lunch, we stayed for free. Since we had to eat anyway, it sounded like a good deal. So we ate, whatever Niko suggested, again there was no menu, even the bill was simply scribbling in Niko’s book. We were getting used to having other people tell us what to eat. Our Croatia guides, Fi and Eddie, insisted that we stay in Kobase, and that evening we found out why as boats hurried in for the empty spaces on the dock. We were soon surrounded by nearly a hundred people, including one boat full of children, scary but, in a weird way, a lot of fun.

The next morning we took the dingy the two miles up to Ston. At the time, we didn’t know that we could climb the wall and when we saw people up there, we questioned why we would even want to climb the wall.

It was very steep and really hot. But we did it anyway, and while the salt pan views were not stellar, the wall was very impressive. Who would build such a thing?

Our reward, on the other side in Mali Ston, were the oysters. We’ve eaten oysters before, but not like these oysters. They were simply the best, ever.