Two Adriatic Port Cities You Need to Visit

Stone walls rise from turquoise water on Croatia's Dalmatian coast. Two cities, Dubrovnik and Split, have watched empires rise and fall from these shores, and both just joined the DuckAbroad Travel Passport collection.

Check in at either city to collect your virtual sticker and explore where Roman emperors retired and medieval merchants built fortunes.

Dubrovnik: The fortress republic that wouldn't fall

Walk Dubrovnik's city walls and you're tracing the perimeter of a 7th-century survivor. This limestone fortress started as a small trading village and grew into the Republic of Ragusa, an independent city-state that negotiated its way through centuries of powerful neighbors who wanted to conquer it.

The republic mastered diplomatic chess. It paid tribute to the Ottoman Empire while trading with Venice and maintained independence for 450 years. A 1667 earthquake nearly ended that run, killing 5,000 people and destroying most of the city. Dubrovnik rebuilt, only to face artillery fire during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.

Today the restored Old Town draws visitors who climb the 1.2-mile wall circuit, explore Lovrijenac Fortress (which doubled as the Red Keep in Game of Thrones), and walk the polished limestone streets that have seen 14 centuries of Mediterranean history.

Collect your Dubrovnik sticker when you check in to one of the Adriatic's most resilient cities.

Split: Where a Roman palace became a city

Split grew inside the retirement home of a Roman emperor. Diocletian built his palace here in 305 AD, choosing this Adriatic harbor for his final years. The complex covered nine acres with enough space for barracks, temples, apartments, and waterfront promenades.

After Rome fell, refugees moved into the abandoned palace. They built homes in the emperor's chambers, shops in the grand halls, and churches in the pagan temples. The palace didn't become ruins. It became a neighborhood.

Fifteen centuries later, 3,000 people still live and work inside Diocletian's walls. You can buy coffee in the former imperial apartments, attend Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Domnius (built inside Diocletian's mausoleum), and explore the basement halls where Game of Thrones filmed Daenerys's dragon scenes.

The city beyond the palace shows layers of Byzantine and Venetian influence: bell towers, piazzas, and harbors that served different empires but kept Split thriving as an Adriatic port.

Check in to Split and add this living Roman monument to your DuckAbroad collection.

Collect both Adriatic ports

Dubrovnik and Split are now available in DuckAbroad Travel Passport. Visit either city, check in with the app, and collect your virtual sticker from two places where the past never really left.

Open DuckAbroad and add these Croatian port cities to your travel collection.

Download DuckAbroad for iOS and Android to start collecting your travel stickers today.