DUBROVNIK STRADUN. .. . .The official name was Placa, but apparently it was usually referred to by locals as Stradun. Makes sense if you know that in Italian “strada” means street. It was the main street connecting the two main city gates on the east and west, Ploce and Pile. Originally it was a canal that separated two communities. To the south of the canal the island of Ragusa was settled in the 4th century by Illyrians and a few centuries later by Greco-Romans. On the other side of the street . . . er, canal, a Slav settlement called Dubrava grew. By the 12th century, it was decided to fill in the canal, integrate the two towns, and build a wall around Dubrovnik.

Stradun is the life line that runs through the center of Old Town. When much of Dubrovnik was destroyed by an earthquake in 1667, the street was rebuilt and straightened out. It is a place to shop by day and eat by night. And, in between there is a lot of ice cream to eat and coffee to drink. It’s where people dress up to see and be seen.

MARTIN