Aboard Seabourn Encore with Seabourn
Cruise Overview
Nothing can prepare you for your first sight of Dubrovnik.
Lying 216 km (135 miles) southeast of Split and commanding a jaw-dropping coastal location, it is one of the world's most beautiful fortified cities.
Its massive stone ramparts and fortress towers curve around a tiny harbor, enclosing graduated ridges of sun-bleached orange-tiled roofs, copper domes, and elegant bell towers.
Your imagination will run wild picturing what it looked like seven centuries ago when the walls were built, without any suburbs or highways around it, just this magnificent stone city rising out of the sea.In the 7th century AD, residents of the Roman city Epidaurum (now Cavtat) fled the Avars and Slavs of the north and founded a new settlement on a small rocky island, which they named Laus, and later Ragusa.
On the mainland hillside opposite the island, the Slav settlement called Dubrovnik grew up.
In the 12th century the narrow channel separating the two settlements was filled in (now the main street through the Old Town, called Stradun), and Ragusa and Dubrovnik became one.
The city was surrounded by defensive walls during the 13th century, and these were reinforced with towers and bastions in the late 15th century.From 1358 to 1808 the city thrived as a powerful and remarkably sophisticated independent republic, reaching its golden age during the 16th century.
In 1667 many of its splendid Gothic and Renaissance buildings were destroyed by an earthquake.
The defensive walls survived the disaster, and the city was rebuilt in baroque style.Dubrovnik lost its independence to Napoléon in 1808, and in 1815 passed to Austria-Hungary.
During the 20th century, as part of Yugoslavia, the city became a popular tourist destination, and in 1979 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
During the war for independence, it came under heavy siege.
Thanks to careful restoration, few traces of damage remain; however, there are maps inside the Pile and Ploče Gates illustrating the points around the city where damage was done.
It’s only when you experience Dubrovnik yourself that you can understand what a treasure the world nearly lost
Off the coast of Croatia in the southern Adriatic Sea lie some thousand islands and the largest of them, Korçula, is considered the most beautiful.
With an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine per annum, which guarantees a wide assortment of Mediterranean vegetation, it is not difficult to understand why seasoned travelers compare Korçula to a latter-day Eden.
Separated from the mainland by a channel of only one mile, Korçula's main town, named the same as the island, ranks among the best preserved medieval towns in the Mediterranean.
It is the island's main tourist, economic and cultural center.
Thanks to its strategic location along the sea trade routes, Korçula has always attracted travelers and settlers.
Korcula was founded by Greek colonists, who were followed by Illyrians, Romans and finally the Croats.
The Korçula Statute of 1214 is one of the oldest legal documents to have been adopted in this part of Europe.
The same century saw the birth of the famous world traveler, Marco Polo.
The house said to be his birthplace can be seen in town.
Korçulans have always been known as keen seafarers, excellent shipbuilders, stonemasons and artists.
From their many voyages, sailors brought back new ideas, which eventually mixed with local customs.
To this day, Korçula has maintained the tradition of performing knightly games such as the chivalrous Moreska dance, which has been in existence for more than 400 years.
Visitors to Korçula enjoy its stunning location, natural beauty and medieval ambiance.
And if that's not enough, the town offers numerous attractions that are within walking distance from the pier, including the City Museum and the Bishop's Treasury.
Dalmatia's capital for more than 1,000 years, Zadar is all too often passed over by travelers on their way to Split or Dubrovnik.
What they miss out on is a city of more than 73,000 that is remarkably lovely and lively despite—and, in some measure, because of—its tumultuous history.
The Old Town, separated from the rest of the city on a peninsula some 4 km (2½ miles) long and just 1,640 feet wide, is bustling and beautiful: the marble pedestrian streets are replete with Roman ruins, medieval churches, palaces, museums, archives, and libraries.
Parts of the new town are comparatively dreary, a testament to what a world war followed by decades of communism, not to mention a civil war, can do to the architecture of a city that is 3,000 years old.
A settlement had already existed on the site of the present-day city for some 2,000 years when Rome finally conquered Zadar in the 1st century BC; the foundations of the forum can be seen today.
Before the Romans came the Liburnians had made it a key center for trade with the Greeks and Romans for 800 years.
In the 3rd century BC the Romans began to seriously pester the Liburnians, but required two centuries to bring the area under their control.
During the Byzantine era, Zadar became the capital of Dalmatia, and this period saw the construction of its most famous church, the 9th-century St.
Donat's Basilica.
It remained the region's foremost city through the ensuing centuries.
The city then experienced successive onslaughts and occupations—both long and short—by the Osogoths, the Croatian-Hungarian kings, the Venetians, the Turks, the Habsburgs, the French, the Habsburgs again, and finally the Italians before becoming part of Yugoslavia and, in 1991, the independent republic of Croatia.
Zadar was for centuries an Italian-speaking city, and Italian is still spoken widely, especially by older people.
Indeed, it was ceded to Italy in 1921 under the Treaty of Rapallo (and reverted to its Italian name of Zara).
Its occupation by the Germans from 1943 led to intense bombing by the Allies during World War II, which left most of the city in ruins.
Zadar became part of Tito's Yugoslavia in 1947, prompting many Italian residents to leave.
Zadar's most recent ravages occurred during a three-month siege by Serb forces and months more of bombardment during the Croatian-Serbian war between 1991 and 1995.
But you'd be hard-pressed to find outward signs of this today in what is a city to behold.
There are helpful interpretive signs in English all around the Old Town, so you certainly won't feel lost when trying to make sense of the wide variety of architectural sites you might otherwise pass by with only a cursory look.
Lying 216 km (135 miles) southeast of Split and commanding a jaw-dropping coastal location, it is one of the world's most beautiful fortified cities.
Its massive stone ramparts and fortress towers curve around a tiny harbor, enclosing graduated ridges of sun-bleached orange-tiled roofs, copper domes, and elegant bell towers.
Your imagination will run wild picturing what it looked like seven centuries ago when the walls were built, without any suburbs or highways around it, just this magnificent stone city rising out of the sea.In the 7th century AD, residents of the Roman city Epidaurum (now Cavtat) fled the Avars and Slavs of the north and founded a new settlement on a small rocky island, which they named Laus, and later Ragusa.
On the mainland hillside opposite the island, the Slav settlement called Dubrovnik grew up.
In the 12th century the narrow channel separating the two settlements was filled in (now the main street through the Old Town, called Stradun), and Ragusa and Dubrovnik became one.
The city was surrounded by defensive walls during the 13th century, and these were reinforced with towers and bastions in the late 15th century.From 1358 to 1808 the city thrived as a powerful and remarkably sophisticated independent republic, reaching its golden age during the 16th century.
In 1667 many of its splendid Gothic and Renaissance buildings were destroyed by an earthquake.
The defensive walls survived the disaster, and the city was rebuilt in baroque style.Dubrovnik lost its independence to Napoléon in 1808, and in 1815 passed to Austria-Hungary.
During the 20th century, as part of Yugoslavia, the city became a popular tourist destination, and in 1979 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
During the war for independence, it came under heavy siege.
Thanks to careful restoration, few traces of damage remain; however, there are maps inside the Pile and Ploče Gates illustrating the points around the city where damage was done.
It’s only when you experience Dubrovnik yourself that you can understand what a treasure the world nearly lost
Off the coast of Croatia in the southern Adriatic Sea lie some thousand islands and the largest of them, Korçula, is considered the most beautiful.
With an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine per annum, which guarantees a wide assortment of Mediterranean vegetation, it is not difficult to understand why seasoned travelers compare Korçula to a latter-day Eden.
Separated from the mainland by a channel of only one mile, Korçula's main town, named the same as the island, ranks among the best preserved medieval towns in the Mediterranean.
It is the island's main tourist, economic and cultural center.
Thanks to its strategic location along the sea trade routes, Korçula has always attracted travelers and settlers.
Korcula was founded by Greek colonists, who were followed by Illyrians, Romans and finally the Croats.
The Korçula Statute of 1214 is one of the oldest legal documents to have been adopted in this part of Europe.
The same century saw the birth of the famous world traveler, Marco Polo.
The house said to be his birthplace can be seen in town.
Korçulans have always been known as keen seafarers, excellent shipbuilders, stonemasons and artists.
From their many voyages, sailors brought back new ideas, which eventually mixed with local customs.
To this day, Korçula has maintained the tradition of performing knightly games such as the chivalrous Moreska dance, which has been in existence for more than 400 years.
Visitors to Korçula enjoy its stunning location, natural beauty and medieval ambiance.
And if that's not enough, the town offers numerous attractions that are within walking distance from the pier, including the City Museum and the Bishop's Treasury.
Dalmatia's capital for more than 1,000 years, Zadar is all too often passed over by travelers on their way to Split or Dubrovnik.
What they miss out on is a city of more than 73,000 that is remarkably lovely and lively despite—and, in some measure, because of—its tumultuous history.
The Old Town, separated from the rest of the city on a peninsula some 4 km (2½ miles) long and just 1,640 feet wide, is bustling and beautiful: the marble pedestrian streets are replete with Roman ruins, medieval churches, palaces, museums, archives, and libraries.
Parts of the new town are comparatively dreary, a testament to what a world war followed by decades of communism, not to mention a civil war, can do to the architecture of a city that is 3,000 years old.
A settlement had already existed on the site of the present-day city for some 2,000 years when Rome finally conquered Zadar in the 1st century BC; the foundations of the forum can be seen today.
Before the Romans came the Liburnians had made it a key center for trade with the Greeks and Romans for 800 years.
In the 3rd century BC the Romans began to seriously pester the Liburnians, but required two centuries to bring the area under their control.
During the Byzantine era, Zadar became the capital of Dalmatia, and this period saw the construction of its most famous church, the 9th-century St.
Donat's Basilica.
It remained the region's foremost city through the ensuing centuries.
The city then experienced successive onslaughts and occupations—both long and short—by the Osogoths, the Croatian-Hungarian kings, the Venetians, the Turks, the Habsburgs, the French, the Habsburgs again, and finally the Italians before becoming part of Yugoslavia and, in 1991, the independent republic of Croatia.
Zadar was for centuries an Italian-speaking city, and Italian is still spoken widely, especially by older people.
Indeed, it was ceded to Italy in 1921 under the Treaty of Rapallo (and reverted to its Italian name of Zara).
Its occupation by the Germans from 1943 led to intense bombing by the Allies during World War II, which left most of the city in ruins.
Zadar became part of Tito's Yugoslavia in 1947, prompting many Italian residents to leave.
Zadar's most recent ravages occurred during a three-month siege by Serb forces and months more of bombardment during the Croatian-Serbian war between 1991 and 1995.
But you'd be hard-pressed to find outward signs of this today in what is a city to behold.
There are helpful interpretive signs in English all around the Old Town, so you certainly won't feel lost when trying to make sense of the wide variety of architectural sites you might otherwise pass by with only a cursory look.
Cruise Itinerary
Aboard Seabourn Encore
Launch Year: 2016 Length: 198 Width: 25 Currency: USD Capacity: 604 Crew Count: 450 Deck Count: 12 Cabin Count: 300
Seabourn Encore is as strikingly beautiful and as excitingly innovative as any Seabourn has ever debuted. She crowns a fleet of luxury cruise ships that is already the newest, most modern and most acclaimed in the ultra-luxury segment. Modelled on the award-winning trio of ships introduced with Seabourn Odyssey, Seabourn Encore represents another welcome stage in the evolution of small ship cruising, which Seabourn pioneered and has consistently expanded and enriched for all of our small ship cruises.
Seabourn Encore Facilities
Seabourn Encore Includes
Cabin Details
Your spacious suite welcomes you with complimentary Champagne and a fully stocked bar with your preferences. Thoughtfully designed and tastefully curated with delightful touches, all ocean-front suites feature expansive views, and most open onto private verandas for relaxing or entertaining.
