Dubrovnik #4

Dubrovnik's street corners and bus stops hold groups of teenagers whose attitudes seem to give them the ability to recline while standing, holding their cigarettes and looking at the world over their shoulders. Vespas holding couples weave around the slowpokes on the steep streets around town. The evening corso in Dubrovnik saw groups of guys sauntering down the Placa Stradun as if their collars were up. 

All this mediterranean looseness contrasts with the very strict reputation the city maintained for hundreds of years. The city council that ruled the once powerful republic of Ragusa (as it was formerly called) tightly controlled the way the city was built. This is reflected in the orderly street grid, the uniformity in facades, building materials and even shudder colors, all coming from the middle ages.