Dubrovnik - Croatia

Dubrovnik (pronounced [dǔbroːʋnik], Italian: Ragusa, Greek: Ραγκούσα, Ragoùsa) is a city on the Adriatic Sea coast of Croatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641 (census 2011). In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The prosperity of the city of Dubrovnik has long been based on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages, as the Republic of Ragusa, also known as a Maritime Republic (together with Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, Venice and other Italian cities), it became the only eastern Adriatic city-state to rival Venice. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the city achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Croatia (ⁱ/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-AY-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska  listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country's population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.

The Balkans, often referred to as the Balkan Peninsula, and recently also as "Southeast Europe", although none of the three are exactly coterminous, is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe. Many linguistic families meet in the region, including the Slavic, Romance, Hellenic, Albanian, and Turkic language families. The main religion is Orthodox Christianity, followed by Catholic Christianity and Sunni Islam.

This part of Europe is divided culturally and linguistically. At their core, the "Balkans" are states that have been shaped by their membership in the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.

The Balkans are highly mountainous. Mount Musala (2,925 metres (9,596 ft)) in the Rila mountain in Bulgaria is the highest point in the Balkans.