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All Croatia Ston Walls of Ston

Walls of Ston

Longest fortress system anywhere in Europe.

Ston, Croatia

Added By
Alex Timian
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Walls cut through the vegetation in Ston. (Saskia van de Nieuwenhof/Flickr)   http://www.flickr.com/photos/saskiavandeni...
Walls cut through the vegetation in Ston. (Saskia van de Nieuwenhof/Flickr)   http://www.flickr.com/photos/saskiavandeni...
Red-roofed buildings tucked inside of the walls. (jared moran/Flickr)   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredmoran/50...
Walls lead up the rocky hillside. (cormac70/Flickr)   http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizandcormac/...
A rounded tower along the wall. (IKIMILIKILIKLIK/Flickr)   http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikimilikilikl...
Walkways along the great Dalmatian wall. (annettebouvain/Flickr)   http://www.flickr.com/photos/70672543@N00/...
  RoadUnraveled / Atlas Obscura User
  jfoleary13 / Atlas Obscura User
  linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
  jedbutler1963 / Atlas Obscura User
View from the wall.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
  linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
Looking down to Mali Ston.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
  linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
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About

For hundreds of years, Croats have dealt with hordes invading their lands. During the 19th century, they desperately fought the Ottoman Empire from the south. Today, they face a less violent mass, and are instead overrun by the great tourist hordes of Northern and Western Europe.

In Ston, Croatia, these two forces, historic and economic, meet in the middle. As tourists flock to Croatia for its placid blue-green waters and dramatic seaside cliffs, they still face the great walls that protected the city from Ottomans for the last 500 years.

Ston and its smaller neighbor, aptly named Mali Ston (Little Ston), are completely connected and surrounded by a five-kilometer defensive wall. Situated on the Dalmatian coast, the walls and fortified port resemble the more famous Dubrovnik harbor, only 60 kilometers to the south.

However, the walls of Ston are twice as long as those of the more-acclaimed Dubrovnik and make up the longest fortress system in Europe. The walls also feature forty stunning defensive towers and a massive hillside fortress looking over the city from the rocky outcroppings above.

Although invaders could not destroy the system, the Ston walls took massive damage in an earthquake in 1996. Luckily, this natural disaster spurred a restoration project of the walls. Today visitors come to climb them and look over the breathtaking Adriatic Sea, picturing themselves as Ottoman warriors preparing to loot a wealthy kingdom of the past.

Related Tags

Fortresses World's Longest Architectural Oddities Ruins Architecture

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Buses regularly travel to Ston from Korcula and Dubrovnik.

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Community Contributors

Added By

atimian

Edited By

PlacesofJuma, jedbutler1963, linkogecko, RoadUnraveled...

  • PlacesofJuma
  • jedbutler1963
  • linkogecko
  • RoadUnraveled
  • jfoleary13
  • Ju An

Published

July 21, 2011

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Sources
  • Neatorama: The Great Wall of Croatia: http://www.neatorama.com/2010/11/02/the-great-wall-of-croatia/
  • Wikipedia: Ston: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ston
  • Croatia: Peljesac Paradise Sites: http://www.croatia1.com/peljes-sites-en.htm#OREBIC
  • https://www.placesofjuma.com/ston-croatia/
Walls of Ston
Ston, 20230
Croatia
42.838304, 17.697022

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Photo of Croatia

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