Dubrovnik's own Chinese wall

Yesterday I wrote about Asian restaurants. As you know many Chinese eateries are called Great Wall of China. That reminded me of the Great Wall of Dubrovnik. I don't mean the city walls here, although they are great, but the walls on the Pelješac peninsula, some 55 kilometers north of Dubrovnik. The Republic of Dubrovnik bought Pelješac in 1334 from Serbia. It's hard to believe, but in those days the Kingdom of Serbia possessed great parts of Southern Dalmatia and Montenegro. Three years earlier, in 1331, Dušan was crowned king of Serbia and he enormously extended the medieval Serbian empire. At its zenith it even covered large parts of Greece, though not for long as the Turks started to conquer the Balkans.
Despite its small size, the Republic of Dubrovnik fared a lot better. The old town was well protected by massive walls and Dubrovnik used Peljesac to build another line of defense. At Pelješac's narrowest point, just before it joins the mainland, a wall was build from Ston to Mali Ston. The wall that links these two small communities was 5,5 kilometer long. It was fortified with some forty towers and five fortresses, meant to protect the precious salt pans that contributed to Dubrovnik's wealth.
It is unclear how the walls of Ston rank in terms of length. I have read claims that it is the second longest wall in the world, or in Europe, or in this part of Europe. Whatever the correct answer, the tourists that visit Ston don't get the impression that it is very long. Several earthquakes and centuries of neglect inflicted so much damage on the walls that you can visit only a very small part. There is no way that you can walk from Ston to Mali Ston like you can walk on the Great Wall of China.
In fact, you can't walk on the wall at all, but you can visit the fortifications at Ston and Mali Ston. And you can eat the oysters of Ston, of course, which are considered a delicacy.

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