Ston: Salt, Walls, and Oysters

We took the #15 Libertas Bus and did an overnight trip to Ston (pronounced “stone”). Ston is at the base of the Peljesac peninsula. It’s situated at the end of a small bay on the Adriatic side of the peninsula. Peljesac is only a couple of kilometers wide at this point. The town of Mali Ston (Mali= little) is on the bay side of the narrow base of the peninsula. There are 3 reasons for the tourist to visit Ston: walls, salt, and oysters.

Salt and Walls

This area (like most of the Balkans) has a long and convoluted history. For our purposes, we’ll begin in 1333 when the Republic of Dubrovnik purchased the Peljesac Peninsula. This acquisition expanded the Republic in a strategically important area that was geographically better for defense. Most important, however, Ston was a site of salt production. The bay is very shallow and the local population had leveled these shallows and put in flat stones to create pans where seawater was evaporated. Salt production in this area may go back to the Romans or further. During these times, salt was nearly as valuable as gold. To protect a resource in the Middle Ages as valuable as gold, you need a wall. So the Republic of Dubrovnik built a network of walls and forts that extends from Ston to Mali Ston and exists to this day; the longest wall (5 km) in Europe.

The salt production facility is only operational when the weather is warmer and not really at an industrial scale any more; it’s kind of like a boutique salt operation.
This is Ston at the base of this hill. The largest building is a fortress. The wall on the left goes to the top of the hill to another fortress. The wall on the right goes to Mali Ston and, you guessed it, another fortress.
Fortress in Ston
Ston wall and the wall over to Mali Ston.
Back of the Ston wall.
You can walk the 5km wall around Ston and over to Mali Ston. So, we did. The wall up the hill goes to the fortress on top- didn’t go there.
Ston.
Fortress. Salt pans to the left. of the elevated road.
We stayed in a studio apt. in the first building you see to the right of the wall.
Almost at the top.
Looking back and down at Ston.
No more uphill but…
…the decent to Mali Ston was a killer.
Fortress in Mali Ston. My knees were killing me then and they kind of hurt now when I look at this picture. To get back to Ston, we walked along the nearly-level road.

Oysters

These days, this area is known for oysters. Some say Ston oysters are the best in the world due to a perfect storm of seawater temperature and the right amount of freshwater flowing into the bay.

Anyhow, Susan and I got to Ston at lunch. Had oysters for lunch in Mali Ston (after walking the wall). Had oysters for dinner in Ston. The next morning, hoping to go 3 for 3, we went to a restaurant that seemed to be serving food and asked if it would be possible to get a plate of oysters. The young server said yes and we sat down. A few minutes later, he brought us our cappuccinos. Finished our cappuccinos. Waited…and waited. Finally, after about 45 minutes, the waiter comes out, apologizes, and says they didn’t have any oysters on hand and one of his colleagues had to go over to Mali Ston and find an oyster farmer to go pull our order out of Mali Ston Bay. About 30 minutes later, he brings this plate of fresh oysters and a couple of fried ones. All excellent.  

Oyster farm in Mali Ston Bay.
Fried…
or raw. BEST BREAKFAST EVER!

Leave a comment