Bettany Hughes Treasures of the World Season 4 Episode 1

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Transcript

00:01I'm on the trail of wonders to treasure.

00:06Precious clues from the past.

00:08She's full of sensuous promise.

00:11With unmissable experiences.

00:15I adore dolphins so much and they're playing with us.

00:19Hidden sights in unexpected destinations.

00:23No way. I've never seen anything like that before.

00:28Okay, ready? Let's go.

00:31I'm on a global voyage of discovery to explore our shared heritage

00:36and how our past shapes all of our lives.

00:41This time, I'm heading to southern Croatia.

00:47Through time, this stunning landscape has inspired people to do incredible things.

00:56History is waiting for us.

00:58Great!

01:00I can't quite believe they've let me down here.

01:05A place glittering with traditions.

01:09Jivoli! Jivoli!

01:10And where the gifts of the sea made history.

01:20The Stone Age knives!

01:23I mean, how awesome is that?

01:25Nestled on the eastern edge of the Adriatic, Croatia boasts a stunning shoreline stretching across 1,700 kilometres with over 1,000 islands.

01:46You can come here and take the rudder and be the captain.

01:52Okay. Unexpected, but alrighty.

01:55On its southern coast, the history-rich region of Dalmatia, where waterways have shaped lives for millennia.

02:05This is the way to live.

02:06This is the way to live. Am I doing okay, Alec?

02:11You don't need me anymore, Alec.

02:13I definitely, I definitely, definitely need him.

02:17Welcome to the wonderful treasures of Croatia.

02:29First, the intriguing island of Kortula.

02:35A luxurious setting for the TV blockbuster, Succession, where local legend claims medieval explorer Marco Polo was born.

02:45Kortula is home to layers of history, some long lost to the waves of the Adriatic.

02:57Dalmatia is made by the sea, but my investigations are actually going to start under the water because I've been tipped off.

03:04There is the most incredible excavation that's happening just over there.

03:10Marte Peridra and his team have been working here since 2021, when they discovered a mysterious, underwater, Stone Age world.

03:40This white area, this is the probes that we find a road. The road is going in that direction.

03:50A Stone Age road?

03:55Marte, why have they got a road in the Stone Age?

03:58Yeah, because they made artificial island with the coastline, and that road connects this settlement to the coast of Kortula.

04:08So it's a settlement, and they've made an artificial island in the Stone Age, but for protection or because they're trading here?

04:18We suppose that some kind of protection.

04:21Probably this settlement is focused on the maritime trading.

04:26They bring some stuff from Italy, from other destinations, and trade in the Eastern Age.

04:38So that's, you're marking out where it is?

04:41Yes, that is the marking.

04:45History is waiting for us.

04:47Great, great. What a great day.

04:50Okay, ready? Let's go.

04:59It's incredible to think that in 5000 BCE, all this would have stood above water.

05:24A stunning feat of engineering.

05:29The seabed is absolutely littered with clues.

05:33He's coming back off, I think he might have something.

05:34Who's going away?

05:35Uh, it's his father.

05:36He's coming back off.

05:37I think he might have something.

05:50He's coming back up. I think he might have something.

06:03Have you got something?

06:04Yeah, we find some plinth blades.

06:08Oh, is that okay to hold?

06:10Yes, yes.

06:11Carefully.

06:12No way. So this is...

06:14Yes.

06:15For cutting?

06:16Yeah, for cutting. It's characteristic for a Neolithic.

06:19Yeah.

06:20And this...

06:21Hang on a second.

06:22So this I'm holding is probably around 7,000 years old.

06:26Yes, yes. 7,000 years.

06:27Look, look, look, look.

06:29So they'd have used this maybe for slicing meat or leather or...

06:34Yeah, everything.

06:35Everything.

06:36Yeah.

06:37Wow.

06:38Oh, that is awesome. That's awesome.

06:42And there's a lot of this stuff down there.

06:44Yeah.

06:46Where's the flint coming from?

06:48Probably is from the Monte Gargano in Italy.

06:52That's what shows you that they're travelling and trading and...

06:55Yes, maritime trade and everything else.

06:58Amazing.

06:59So it's like a sophisticated Stone Age civilization.

07:03Yeah.

07:04So look at this.

07:05Look, they're Stone Age knives.

07:07I mean, how awesome is that?

07:10From Italy.

07:11So they're like choosing to get this material.

07:15And that shows how sophisticated they are 7,000 years ago.

07:19But I'm slightly anxious about holding them.

07:21Can I give them back to you?

07:24I really do not want to drop those.

07:26What?

07:27Yeah.

07:28Thanks, Madhu.

07:29Nice.

07:30Yeah.

07:31Nice, eh?

07:34This unique site completely alters our understanding of how Neolithic people in the region lived

07:41and what they were capable of.

07:43We've got beautiful, decorated pottery and bones that are being worked.

07:48And this, look at this, it's a little tiny.

07:50Yeah.

07:51It's an arrowhead, is it?

07:52Yeah, we find a lot of them.

07:54We're on the boat, you described it as an artificial island.

07:57But I mean, that's incredible.

07:59That's in the Stone Age, in prehistory.

08:02Yes, it's a very good organization.

08:04And how did you find it?

08:06How did you know it was here?

08:07We saw that on the satellite image.

08:11We saw something, but we didn't know, is this natural?

08:15Yeah.

08:16Or is it artificial?

08:17And we, after we died, we said, okay, yeah, this is something.

08:21Totally.

08:22This is something, yeah.

08:23Neolithic people are often thought to be nomadic hunters.

08:28But this site points to them living in sophisticated settlements

08:32and creating international trading networks.

08:35The evidence also reveals a taste for the finer things in life.

08:40My eye is being caught by these two things.

08:43And they're in water, this is sea, or is this desalinating them?

08:48Yes.

08:49So it's taking the salt out?

08:50Yes, yes.

08:51But what are these two beautiful things?

08:54This is head of a needle.

08:55It's very good work, very precision work.

08:57You say a needle, but it looks more like something you'd use to decorate your hair.

09:01Yes.

09:02More like a hair pin.

09:03There's a food find that's totally unexpected.

09:07And these, I mean, I just almost dare not ask about these, because it looks to me like this is...

09:12Almonds.

09:13Right.

09:14Almonds.

09:15Because these layers are without oxygen.

09:17Yeah.

09:18And we can find all organic things.

09:21So we find a lot of pits of shells of the almond.

09:26Find three olive pits.

09:29Olive stones?

09:30Olive stones, yeah.

09:31Yeah.

09:32Yeah, two of them.

09:33Yeah.

09:34You see that?

09:35Because this is rewriting the story.

09:36Yeah.

09:37Because what we're told is that olives don't arrive here until...

09:39From the Greek time.

09:40From the Greek time.

09:41Yeah, but it's not true.

09:42No.

09:43But I think that trade and communication was a bigger deal than we think.

09:49Yeah.

09:50But isn't that amazing to think of them here, with their beautiful paved roads.

09:54Yeah.

09:55Enjoying almonds, olive oil.

09:57Yeah.

09:58A little fresh olive.

10:00Wearing something beautiful in their hair, you know, decorating themselves.

10:03Yeah.

10:04And they send it for a radiocarbon date.

10:06Yeah.

10:07They're also 7,000 years old.

10:10It's just incredible, because all of this put together, all these bits of evidence,

10:16it really is rewriting the story of what we think of civilization,

10:22because it's starting much, much, much further back.

10:25Yes, yes.

10:26It's for the first time in the Adriatic Sea.

10:28Yeah.

10:29Prehistoric seafarers.

10:30Yes.

10:31Well, honestly, I'm so grateful that you've let us come here and see all this as it's happening,

10:37and it's just, you know, it's astonishing.

10:40It's truly astonishing seeing this and seeing the place where it came from.

10:51There's one other prehistoric treasure on the island I just have to show you.

10:56It's just so awe-inspiring here, isn't it?

11:15So archaeologists who are working here, this is called the Great Cave, have discovered evidence of women and men living here as long as 18,000 years ago.

11:29So that's right back to the Ice Age, which would have meant there'd have been people here at the same time as that community who are creating that beautiful settlement under the sea.

11:38So isn't that fabulous to think about that, women and men carving out a prehistoric life for themselves, both ends of the island.

11:49The people who lived here were Stone Age communities, actually going right the way back to the Ice Age, and they were really pioneering.

12:03So, you know, they obviously traded in ships, they developed these amazing settlements for themselves.

12:10You know, they were, it was tough to live back then, but they're developing these rich, nourishing lives for themselves and in many ways leaving us the foundations of the lives that we live today.

12:40My next treasure on Croatia's Dalmatian coast is one of the best preserved defence systems in the world, the walls of Ston, designed to protect a natural wonder.

12:55700 years ago, the Republic of Ragusa thrived in Dalmatia.

13:01Their land territory was modest, but Ragusa became a maritime power, punching above its weight, combining cosmopolitan diplomacy with commerce across the waves.

13:15In 1399, the Republic acquired Peldrishak, a slender, mountainous peninsula.

13:22The rugged hills are dotted with ancient local burials, Roman villas, and some of the world's steepest vineyards, famous since antiquity for their potent red wines.

13:35But for medieval Ragusa, Ston was a vital source of a particular income, because the shallow bay here provides what they called white gold.

13:52These have been in use since Roman times, which makes these salt pans the oldest working salt pans anywhere in Europe.

14:11Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Yeah. Is this your salt pan cat? Are you a Croatian salt pan cat? Yeah, I bet there have been cats here in Roman times as well. Oh, nice, keeping our fork.

14:29You cannot overstate how important salt was in pre-modern times.

14:36Without fridges, it was how you preserved everything. Salt alone brought in one third of all income to the Republic of Ragusa.

14:46Our bodies don't produce salt, but we can't live without it. These salt pans yield 500 tonnes every year, so although this fruit of the sea represented a lot of cash, one pool was always reserved for the poor, so they too could access this life essential.

15:09You've got to come and have a look at this. Isn't it awesome? So this is where all the salt is stored, and there were piles of salt like this going right back 2,000 years here.

15:29And do you know what? There's actually a direct connection between the Roman salt industry and our own lives, because the Latin word for salt is sal.

15:41And there's another word that they used, which was salarium. And a salarium was either money that was given to Roman soldiers to buy their salt rations, or a salarium was when Roman soldiers were actually paid in salt.

15:55And it gives us our word salary. So it's like the ancient world reaching out across to us. And it's lovely here. It's really beautiful. It's very sort of timeless and calming and magical for some reason. It's lovely.

16:12By luck, the day we're here, there's a festival celebrating local food and wine.

16:37In vino, vino, vino, vino, vino, veritas!

16:55Something else the Romans did here was start oyster farms, because the oysters are...

17:05Oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much.

17:11Oh, well, that's big flattery. Not after I've had too much wine here, I won't be. Thank you. Hi. Hello.

17:19Can I, um, can I get a glass of wine? Oh, thank you. Voila. Thank you. Cheers.

17:27Are these your oysters?

17:30Because I'm a lifelong vegetarian, so I'm definitely not going to eat those oysters.

17:36But our producer, Jonny, just behind us, loves an oyster. Thank you. Look at this, Jonny.

17:46So, I've never eaten meat or fish in my life. But these are supposed to be exquisite and special.

17:52Can I try one? Yes. Go for it.

17:54Or four. Twelve? Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

17:58Yeah. Absolutely delicious. Yeah. They are supposed to be absolutely delicious.

18:08They'll be flat. Right. But juicy, grimy, everything you want from the most.

18:14Is it? Never having had one. But they are supposed to be amazing here, because there's a river,

18:19sort of mineral-rich river, that runs down to the salty water and combines.

18:23And they're supposed to be... Are those the best oysters you've ever tasted?

18:27..spitting out some chunks, delicious.

18:31Roman emperors adored stone oysters, taking them on campaign.

18:35But for me, there's another treat. Cake. Now you're talking.

18:40This one? Yeah. Good. Yeah. Yeah, why not?

18:47Oh, I've heard about this. Thank you. Oh, my gosh.

18:51OK. I am not going to be able to move this afternoon.

18:55So this cake is traditional to stone.

18:59And it's a mixture of pasta, almonds, other nuts and chocolate.

19:04And it's probably got about 450,000 calories per forkful. Go for it.

19:15It's like eating pasta covered in chocolate.

19:18So I just want to wash that down with another little sip of wine, though.

19:24Time to walk off all that indulgence.

19:27The twin towns of Stone and Marley Stone, or Little Stone,

19:38carefully controlled access to the wealth of the peninsula.

19:46A crucial pinch point kept safe by some of the most gravity-defying fortifications in Europe.

19:54I'm not sure if I had a job done, too.

19:55I owe you a capital miss.

19:56I'm not sure if I was worried that you were in Europe.

19:57I'm not sure if I was worried that you were in Europe.

19:58No, I'm sure I would have to get a trip.

19:59I'm not sure if you were worried about New Zealand.

20:01But the rest of the world is the best of you.

20:02No, I'm not sure if it were a rep.

20:33These walls, which are quite an adventure to climb, were built to protect the white gold that was produced in the salt pans down there.

20:43And they were started in the 14th century, and by the time they were finished, they were 7,000 metres long.

20:50So they're affectionately known as the Great Walls of Croatia, which actually isn't a bad name,

20:56because next to the Great Wall of China, these are one of the biggest defensive wall systems anywhere in the world.

21:07The walls of Ston held back invaders for over 500 years.

21:12Napoleon's army did breach them in 1806, but these resilient ramparts still stand strong.

21:23How amazing it's been to witness the natural treasures here in Ston,

21:28and then to experience this extraordinary, monumental, human-made wonder created to protect it all.

21:36My next stop transports us back to ancient Rome,

21:57and a time when this coastline was pivotal for the Roman Empire.

22:03It's Croatia's second-largest city, split.

22:08I'm just in time for another special day.

22:12So, our timeline visit here on the feast day of St. Dominus, who's the patron saint of the city.

22:31So this only happens once a year, and it celebrates the fact that he was martyred and was a Christian who supported the church.

22:40But I love the fact that they've got incense, which is a very ancient Roman thing.

22:49Pretty apt, because Split was home to a game-changing Roman emperor, Diocletian.

22:58You can really get a sense of Diocletian's character from this exquisite gold coin that I am incredibly lucky to be allowed to hold.

23:12Just look at his expression.

23:14He's really ferocious, and he's got this close-cropped military-style beard with a laurel wreath in his hair.

23:21And then if you just look at the back of the coin there, there's an image of Jupiter, the king of the gods, brandishing a spear and holding Victoria,

23:33who was the goddess of victory, in his hand.

23:36And this was minted in the year 290 CE in what's now modern-day Turkey.

23:42And this was the time when Diocletian was also associating himself with Jupiter.

23:48So basically he was telling the world, like the king of the gods, I am super-powerful, I'm indomitable, I'm pretty much omnipotent.

24:01He ruled the empire with an iron fist for 20 years, strengthening borders and unleashing a ferocious persecution of Christians.

24:10He also established the Tetrarchy, splitting the Roman Empire into east and west.

24:18Two emperors, the Augusti, shared rule, assisted by two junior leaders, the Caesars.

24:27In his early 60s, Diocletian did something extraordinary, something no emperor had ever done before or would do again.

24:36He voluntarily retired.

24:39To this mega palace.

24:45This is the Golden Gate, and it gives you access inside Diocletian's original palace.

24:55His seaside retirement home was completed in 305 CE.

25:01Its design, rectangular, with towering walls, four entrance gates and 16 defensive towers, echoes the structure of a Roman military camp.

25:16With the empire under threat, the fortified palace was a safe haven, evolving into a city that still thrives today.

25:24In Diocletian's time, the palace was a fusion of luxury and military might, where he etched his legacy in stone.

25:41This is basically a grand entrance hall where Diocletian would welcome visitors from right across the empire.

25:57He'd be raised on a podium underneath a canopy.

26:01And it's really interesting, because obviously I'm here in Croatia, but just look at where the materials come from.

26:06So these granite columns are from Asia Minor, what's now Turkey.

26:11And over there, there's a sphinx in Egypt.

26:16So even though he wasn't emperor anymore, it's all a reminder of Diocletian's enduring power within a vast, interconnected empire.

26:26Diocletian was not shy about coming forward.

26:34He'd wear purple robes and a golden crown.

26:37And he hated being in Rome, because there they treated him like a human being, whereas here they treated him like a god.

26:56Archaeologists who are working here have lent me this awesome graphic map that they're producing of the city beneath the city.

27:12So this is the bay where I came in by boat.

27:15This is the whole city here, and they're literally mapping the city beneath the city.

27:19Look.

27:19So this is Diocletian's palace.

27:22Amazing.

27:22I spent the night just here, next to the vestibule.

27:29So where I'm heading is this little white mark here, which I think is just around this corner.

27:40This is right.

27:52I can't quite believe they'd put me down here.

28:02So what I'm standing in right now would have been a furnace, a huge kind of oven for heating hot air to go in here.

28:14Look, look at this.

28:15I mean, look at that.

28:16That is just pure Diocletian period.

28:19Hang on, here we go.

28:20So these are part of this hypercore system, so they're the bases of pillars.

28:25So actually the floor would have been above me, and it heated air for the baths, Diocletian's baths.

28:33So where I'm standing right now is basically in his private apartments, in his private chambers.

28:39So I'm experiencing the sensual pleasure enjoyed by a Roman emperor 1,700 years ago.

28:51And today is my home too.

28:55And if you're lucky enough to stay here, then you get to spend the night surrounded by the walls of a Roman emperor's palace.

29:13Spending a night within the palace walls gives you a unique connection to the past, while the bustling streets outside keep it alive, with a big dose of Croatian hospitality thrown in.

29:31Hi.

29:32Hi.

29:33Hi.

29:34You need to try this.

29:35Typical from Croatia, from this part of the sun.

29:37Yeah.

29:38And also you need to try this later.

29:40Okay.

29:41Also typical from Croatia.

29:42Yeah.

29:43Yeah, also.

29:44Okay.

29:45You are very kind.

29:47And I feel incredibly welcome here in Split.

29:49What do you say?

29:50Jivoli.

29:51Jivoli.

29:52Jivoli.

29:53Jivoli.

29:54Mmm.

29:55Ice.

29:56Lovely.

29:57Coat.

29:58Like this, huh?

29:59Yeah.

30:00I haven't got a hand, but I'll go and put it down.

30:02You have just two hands, huh?

30:03I think.

30:04Just two hands.

30:05Just one mouth.

30:06Yeah.

30:07Enjoy time.

30:09Ciao.

30:10So this happens a lot in Croatia.

30:11Randomly people come up.

30:12I think they've seen the programs.

30:13It's because they love history.

30:14And they just kind of ply us with food and drink.

30:17It's hard to actually know about this.

30:18This is a walnut liqueur.

30:20It's very delicious.

30:21I'm going to have a sneaky sip.

30:24Mmm.

30:25And I might give this to the crew.

30:35So this extraordinary building here was originally Diocletian's mausoleum.

30:41But the incredible irony is that after his persecution of all of these Christians, that burial place has been changed into a church.

30:55To add insult to injury, it now honors St. Dominus, once the local bishop, who was killed on the orders of Diocletian himself.

31:06Diocletian's plans for a powerful pagan Roman empire soon fell apart.

31:12And his tetrarchy descended into brutal civil war.

31:18What a city this is.

31:22There's a great story because we're told that towards the end of his life, Diocletian became really keen on growing vegetables.

31:30And when imperial officers came to try to persuade him to become an emperor once more, he said,

31:36just tell all that to my cabbages.

31:39How could I possibly exchange a never-satisfied greed for all this peace?

31:50He may not have been able to save the old Roman religion or keep his empire together,

31:55but his palace and the extraordinary city that now lives within it are a legacy to be proud of.

32:04We're sailing right into Dubrovnik now.

32:23And it's really interesting because there's a possibility that the name Croatia comes from a really ancient route,

32:30meaning one huge guards, and certainly through time, this coastline's protected the really rich interior of the country.

32:37So you get these amazing fortified cities all along the coastline.

32:42And arguably Dubrovnik is the best.

32:45Yes, of course.

32:49My final stop, Dubrovnik, has been called the Pearl of the Adriatic,

33:02where natural wonders were proudly protected and the gifts of the earth traded.

33:08You can hear all the swallows coming in at the end of the day.

33:15Isn't that beautiful?

33:17And if there are any Game of Thrones fans out there, this is Blackwater Bay.

33:23This city's story begins with the sea, a haven for refugees from the turmoil following the fall of the Roman Empire.

33:35The city thrived, growing into a great port, Ragusa, the origin of the name of the medieval Republic of Ragusa

33:45that would flourish on the Dalmatian coast.

33:48By the 14th century, Ragusa, or Dubrovnik as we know it, rivalled its one-time master, Venice, just across the Adriatic.

33:59And the city is still revealing new secrets.

34:04This is a place that's full of hidden gems.

34:19Some of Dubrovnik's most precious treasures are hidden in the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary,

34:27raised in 1667 after an earthquake that devastated the city.

34:33I'm lucky to get in before the crowds, and I'm promised a bit of a surprise.

34:48Closely guarded within are extraordinary medieval relics, many a thousand years old.

35:02including the arms and head of St. Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik,

35:09encased in some of the silver and gold that this treasure city traded, helping to make it so rich.

35:18Seismic activity here uncovered another marvel.

35:40Another marvel.

35:45This cathedral is just full of wonders, isn't it?

35:49But there was an earthquake here in 1979 that revealed something truly astonishing.

35:55Hello, this is Ivan.

35:58And Ivan, hi, and Bethany, hi, thank you so much for coming.

36:01So, Ivan's promised to reveal it to me, and I've got a funky feeling it's down here.

36:07Yeah, and let's go down and see.

36:10Archaeologist Ivan Veeden is devoted to uncovering Dubrovnik's treasures.

36:16Ivan, it's incredible. Is it okay for me to come in?

36:19Yeah, please do.

36:21Ivan, this is totally incredible.

36:24So, we're kind of, what, two metres, three metres?

36:26Yeah, two and a half metres, yeah, at least.

36:28Down here, archaeologists discovered the cathedral had been rebuilt three times across the centuries,

36:40with earliest remains dating back to the late Roman period.

36:45So, we are entering the main site, the main nave of the so-called Byzantine cathedral.

36:51So, they knew that there was something here from the 12th century,

36:55so it was kind of a crusading time, but what we're standing on now goes centuries back before that.

37:00Yeah, centuries back, yeah, yeah.

37:01It's really cool.

37:02Is it okay to tread here?

37:04Yeah, just be careful about the curbs.

37:06I will be careful about it.

37:07Oh, thank you very much.

37:08Yeah.

37:14But look, Ivan, look at that.

37:16Yeah, this is the ebbs.

37:18Yeah.

37:19And the bishop's chair, the bishop's cathedra.

37:21Yes.

37:22Well, it's the classical paintings because all this cathedral was completely covered in frescoes.

37:33But they're so fresh, those colours.

37:35Yeah, they are, really.

37:41But this is at least a thousand years old.

37:43At least a thousand years, exactly.

37:44It's really fascinating this, because this pushes back the dating of Dubrovnik, it completely

37:50changes the story.

37:51It was said that these refugees came here and founded it, but this would have been earlier

37:55than that.

37:56Yeah, this goes centuries back, and it's still an open question of debate among scholars

38:00about this first century of Dubrovnik.

38:02Yeah, but don't you love that about history?

38:05You get these little secrets that are revealed, and then the whole story of the place changes.

38:10Yeah, it's like a circle of questions and answers all over again, yeah.

38:14Because every answer gets you another question.

38:17Yeah, amazing.

38:19Thank you so much for letting me down here.

38:21You're welcome.

38:22Awesome.

38:32Dubrovnik has been forged by its dynamic geography, and has benefited from it too, all in abundant

38:40evidence on the tiny island of Lokrum, a short ferry ride from the city.

38:47It's just so peaceful here.

39:15And the plants are nuts, aren't they?

39:18And there's a reason for that.

39:20The Benedictine monks who were once here

39:23nourished foliage as a kind of act of worship to God.

39:28And then centuries later,

39:30this island sort of became a botanical scientific experiment,

39:35when plants from Europe, Asia and Africa were all grown together.

39:40And now they're beautifully entwined

39:42in this kind of glorious hymn to life.

39:55Over the centuries, many household names from history

39:59have found their way here.

40:04One of the people to experience all of this

40:07was a medieval king of England, no less,

40:10Richard the Lionheart, who came here in 1192

40:15on his way home from the Crusades.

40:17And the story goes, there was a terrible storm

40:20and his boats were shipwrecked along these shores,

40:23but the islands gave him sanctuary.

40:26And so, in fact, he decided to found a church

40:30in this lovely place.

40:32It's just incredible thinking about everybody who's come here,

40:42because it was such a thoroughfare.

40:44And I'm loving it, just sitting and looking at this now.

40:48But other people, tourists and travellers and, you know, adventurers

40:52and crusaders even would have had the same experience.

40:55So, yeah, it's lovely being here.

40:58It's a beautiful place, but it's got beautiful memories, this place too.

41:13Dubrovnik's freedom was ferociously protected.

41:16For over 500 years, the city's intimidating walls,

41:21almost two kilometres long and up to six metres thick in places,

41:25kept its people safe.

41:27And this inscription, which, by the way, is on what was the Red Keep

41:44in the Game of Thrones, pretty much says it all.

41:47So, it translates as,

41:49freedom cannot be bought for all the gold in the world.

41:55That freedom was sorely tested from 1991,

42:00when Dubrovnik was besieged by the Yugoslav People's Army

42:05during the Croatian War of Independence.

42:08Yay!

42:09Mihaila Skuric, who lived through that siege,

42:12is a champion of the city's heritage.

42:15You could not have a better view than this.

42:17No.

42:18It's amazing, isn't it?

42:20It's amazing.

42:21So brilliant to meet up here,

42:22because you get such a sense of how the city's entwined with nature.

42:26Yes, it is.

42:27It's walled by its marvellous city walls,

42:30but you see the gardens inside,

42:32you see there's even one vineyard and the sea.

42:36You know, it's all connected to the sea, isn't it?

42:39You can't actually picture it without it.

42:41And, you know, you're the same as me,

42:44because as historians you can just imagine all the ships

42:47that would have come here trading salt and silver and silk.

42:51Yes, they brought so many goods to the city and so many news,

42:54but what Dubrovnik kept was always its freedom and its legacy.

42:59Liberty is on the flag of Dubrovnik.

43:02Yes, it's the most important value that we inherited from ancestors.

43:07For my generations, it's very, very important,

43:09because we know that it took so many skills and efforts to protect it.

43:14And throughout the history,

43:16people of Dubrovnik really made magnificent tasks

43:20of preserving it for future generations.

43:24Because you were a child here, weren't you,

43:26during the War of Independence?

43:28Yes, I was just 11 years old and we all fled, you know,

43:32to Dubrovnik thinking that it would never be attacked.

43:36But it was attacked, it was shelled

43:38and it was under siege for several months.

43:41And many of our greatest monuments were damaged back then.

43:45You know, any building, it's not just a building,

43:48it carries memory and history and identity.

43:51It's important to save them, to restore them,

43:54but for its cultural value.

43:57But what it means to us, being its inheritors,

44:01it's the identity they give to us.

44:04So our city has provided so much to us

44:07and it still is doing the same job.

44:10And it is the foundation of our being here.

44:13So it's a city to be cherished.

44:15You know, our city, Dubrovnik,

44:17has been actually like a member of our family.

44:20Honestly, just look at that place.

44:30Dubrovnik's a real reminder that when cities work with nature,

44:35they succeed.

44:37And thanks to the persistent resilience of its citizens,

44:42even despite being pounded by earthquakes,

44:46this really is a pearl that hasn't just survived,

44:50it's thrived.

44:52The Adriatic has forged the spirits and the stories of Croatia.

45:11And it feels as though these waves and this beautiful sea

45:18have beaten out this kind of vibrant narrative

45:22full of optimism and opportunity and inspiration and prosperity

45:27and sheer enjoyment that has nourished this place

45:31from the time of ancient seafarers right up until today.

45:39Here in Croatia,

45:40natural resources were celebrated and respected,

45:44fostering an expansive interconnectedness with the wider world.

45:49A testament to harmony between us, the land and the sea.

46:01A testament effort and boldness.

46:18It is fit according to us.

46:22Another construct.

46:24As you see,

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