Lawrence and the Friars Minor

Spent another day walking Dubrovnik—primarily the old town. The two highlights were Fort Lovrijenac and the Franciscan Monastery.

First, you have to know that visiting the fortress requires climbing about a thousand stairs. 

Of course. Also, apparently it’s one of the shooting locations for Game of Thrones, which would probably explain the hordes of people following individuals with little paddles up those thousand steps.

The fort, named for Saint Lawrence, was started in the 11^th Century and completed in the 1500s. Primary purpose, at least in the latter part of that span, was defense against the Venetians, who were quite the marauders.

You get quite the view of the old city from Lovrijenac. And looking out on the Adriatic is beautiful, too.

I saw this boat heading out and all I could think of was how I’d be hanging over the stern, barfing, since it looked choppy.

Some of the elements of the construction interested me—I’m a sucker for a good arch:

A cannon and pile of ammunition for those pesky Venetians:

View to the other side of the fortress.

And the water is remarkably clean:

Except where there’s plastic trash in it:

Then, inside the city walls, the Franciscan monastery had more interesting architectural features. Many of the capitals on the columns around the courtyard had intriguing creatures on them. (The rest had shells and leaves and such.)

Columns:

The museum had a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi—“The Ecstasy of Mary”. It was dark, and not lighted well, but still—Gentileschi. (No photos allowed.)

Franciscans played a major role in converting the people of Croatia to Christianity. They established the Church so deeply that inroads from Orthodox Christianity and Ottoman Islam from the East did not really stick across the centuries. (That also set up a distinction that, in the 20^th Century, led to wars and war crimes for about 90 years.)

Oh—and here's Wednesday's sunset:

And moonrise last night: