This running tour starts at Pile Gate, the western entrance into the Old Town. But we’re not going to enter – yet! Let’s first catch sight of the St. Lawrence Fortress, built on a 37 metre high rock. Mamma mia, this is the Gibraltar of Dubrovnik! A little bit further on, there are the Boninovo Cliffs that will take your breath away… all right, now we will fly back to the Old Town in no time.

Running the Croatian Athens

After crossing the wooden drawbridge of Pile Gate, you’ll be struck by the shininess of the limestone of the main street, Placa, commonly known as Stradun. It’s so shiny your running shoes can see their faces in it. The Stradun starts and finishes with fountains, the Large Onofrian Fountain and the Small Onofrian Fountain. There you can drink or fill your water bottle. We’ll pass the Church of the Holy Saviour and the Franciscan Monastery, and start to climb the steps of one of fourteen steep streets leading to the northern wall. All of a sudden, a basketball court leaps into view! Wow! Minčeta Tower stands tall behind it.

The run continues beneath the city walls, through narrow streets where laundry is hung out to dry. We’ll pass through the Buža Gate (literally the hole in the wall) to run also along the outside wall and to understand better the Revelin Fortress whose main function was to protect the town against attack from the land. From the Ploče Gate, we’ll run in the direction of the most famous Dubrovnik beach, Banje, passing Lazarretti, a former quarantine hospital. Further on, beyond the Hotel Excelsior and the Hotel Argentina, there is the Monastery of St. James with amazing views back towards the Old Town…