The historical small town of Ston, with its famous walls and numerous cultural and historical monuments, is one of the most beautiful examples of a fortified town and Dubrovnik architecture. The restaurants offer domestic specialities, especially oysters, as well as other seafood. Ston is also known for its saltworks, and the coast along the Channel and in the Prapratna cove provides fine swimming, fishing and underwater fishing opportunities. The beautiful sand beach is ornamented with centuries-old olive trees, and one of the most excellent campsites of the region is situated in this scenery. Apart from water sports, there are many sports grounds designed for tourists' recreation.
 

Dubrovnik (53.5 km) * Neretva Delta (41.5 km) * Medugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 81 km) * Korcula (67 km + 2 Nm) * Mljet (2.5 km + 5.5 Nm) * Lastovo (2.5 km + 32.5 Nm).

STON, a town and harbour in southern Dalmatia, on the extreme north--west of the Ston Channel and the isthmus of the same name connecting the Peljesac Peninsula with the mainland, 59 km northwest of Du-brov-nik; population 581. Chief occupations include farming, viniculture, olive growing, synthetic material processing, fishing, oyster farming and tourism. The sa-lt-works used to be and still are most important for Ston. Ston is situated on the regional road connecting the main road with Peljesac.
 

Roman settlement Sta-g-n-um. The fou-ndations of the Roman castrum can still be seen on Starigrad Hill. In the 10th century Ston was the seat of the diocese, probably located by the church of Our Lady of Luzina. The present Ston was founded in 1333, as soon as Du-brovnik got hold of Peljesac. The town was fortified by 980-m long walls, forming an irregular pentagon, with mo-re massive towers on the corners. From the north-western corner the walls rise to the top of Po-zvizd Hill, where they merge with Pozvizd Fortress, and from the north-eastern corner they follow the line of the isthmus to coalesce with the walls of Mali Ston. The most massive fortress of Stone, Veliki Kastio, rises on the south-western corner. The wall east of it was running along the coast which borders with the saltworks of Ston between the coast and the sea. The huge fortified complex was built by Dubrovnik between 1333 and 1506. Famous masters include: Zupan Bunic 1455, Bernardin from Parma 1461, Olivier the French 1472-1478 and Paskoje Mili-cevic 1488-1506. The school of Ston was mentioned already in 1389, the almshouse in 1485 (the building still stands there), and the orphanage in 1494. The most representative secular buildings within the walls are the Chancery of the Dubrovnik Republic, built in Gothic and Renaissance styles, Sorkocevic Palace and the former bishop's palace (1573; elements of late Renaissance and the arcade accommodating a collection of stone monuments). The former Renaissance Duke's Palace was expanded and reconstructed in the 19th century. The Franciscan monastery with its Gothic-Renaissance style cloister and the Romanesque-Gothic church of St. Nicholas date back to 1347. The complex holds several pieces of art: a big painted crucifix (a work by Blaz Juraj Trogiranin), the silver frame of the missal, the Gothic wooden statue of St. Nicholas, etc. On the location of the present pseudo-Gothic church of St. Blaise (from 1870) there used to be a 16th-century cathedral (collapsed in the earthquake of 1850); the only preserved remains were the wooden statues of St. Blaise, Sts. Peter and Paul, the icon of Our Lady (by Andrea Rizzo). The parish church of the Annunciation was erected in the 15th century outside the walls, on the location of the former parish church of Our Lady of Luzina. The sacristan's loggia with two big bells (cast by Ivan Rabljanin in 1528) is in front of the church. The well-preserved pre-Romanesque church of St. Michael (9th c.), with valuable early Romanesque mural paintings (featuring the king donor and saints) rises on the St. Michael hill. There are several other old churches in the surroundings of Ston, most of them in ruins now. These are the church of St. Peter with a memorial chapel (probably the first cathedral of Ston), St. Magdalene on the Gorica hill (sarcophagus, fragments of mural paintings), St. John and St. Stephen (within which the foundations of a pre-Romanesque church have been dis-covered), the early Romanesque church of St. Martin and the reconstructed Romanesque church of Our Lady of Luzina.