Ston Walls

The walls of Ston are among the longest defensive walls in Europe, more than five kilometres of stone fortification running over the hill between the two small towns of Ston and Mali Ston on the Pelješac peninsula. They were built in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Dubrovnik Republic to protect the valuable Ston salt pans, which were one of its main sources of income, and to guard the narrow approach to the republic’s territory.

The walls climb the ridge in a great arc, punctuated by towers and forts, with the Koruna fortress above Mali Ston at one end and the Bartolomeo fortress above Ston at the other. You can walk a section of the restored wall between the two towns, a steep, hot climb that gives you the view the defenders once had over the salt pans and the bay.

Mali Ston, at the foot of the wall, is famous for its oysters and mussels, farmed in the clean bay in front of the town, and a meal of oysters here is the standard payoff for the climb. The walls are smaller and far less crowded than Dubrovnik’s, and Pelješac as a whole is wine country.

For photographers, the wall running over the ridge is the wide shot, best in the morning before the heat haze. Bring water for the climb; there is little shade on the wall.

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