The Pearl of the Adriatic
Dubrovnik has had quite a history. It isn’t as old as Split but it still dates
back to the 4th century so it isn’t like Maple Grove,
Minnesota. The original city is a round
bump-out into a beautiful harbor into the Adriatic with sturdy walls, a moat on
two sides and the sea on the other two.
There is also a mountain behind the city with the appropriate fort
capable of blasting away at any threats.
Today we go into the old city.
Breakfast today is in the hotel dining room and for the
first time on the trip we order off a menu instead of some sort of
help-yourself spread. We have become
accustomed to having a little bit of this and a little bit of that which we try
to do off the menu and wind up with a table full of food. What must they think of us, especially after
we eat it all. We are leaving on Mondays
so quite frankly we don’t really care.
It is a little less than two miles into the city. We opt to walk in and we pick up a couple of
bus tickets from the front desk to ride back.
Two miles really isn’t a big deal.
We’ve prepared for it, we have just taken in a day’s worth of calories
and it’s early in the day. All of that
doesn’t take into account that there is a major hill between here and the old
city that accounts for most of the two miles.
Crap.
The good news is that it is a glorious day with blue skies
and short-sleeve temperatures. In fact
we are sweating like NBA players when we get to the old city. There are several cruise ships in the harbor
this morning and the city gates are crammed with buses and people. Our Rick Steves book tells us that Dubrovnik
has always been a hub of sailors and traders so get used to the crowds because
it has always been like this. We can’t
believe that the old time 9th century sailors had selfie
sticks. After jamming into the gates
onto the Stradun (the wide, main thoroughfare) we still can hardly move so we
quickly move over to some of the back streets that allow some breathing
room. The old city is of course
vehicle-free within the walls and the further you get into the alleys and away
from the Stradun, the less cramped it becomes.
After peeking in a few shops and churches we have moved from
one gate to another on the opposite side.
This is a good access point to climb up stone steps for the city-wall
walk. This is where middle-ages (not
middle aged) guards would patrol the outer perimeter of the city ready to
defend against invaders. Little did
anyone expect that it would be used for the same thing in 1991.
Dubrovnik was always the glistening showpiece of tourism
even during the term of Tito in Yugoslavia.
It had been protected from the excesses of abuse in other parts of the
country to show a public face of freedom and stability. It was such a matter of pride for ethnic
Croatians that the Serbs and Montenegrans felt it to be a valuable
psychological target. They took up
positions on the hills over the city and poured artillery shells down on the
inhabitants during an 8-month siege.
Virtually every structure in the city was damaged but the locals held on
and were finally rescued by Croatian troops from the north. The city has been completely rebuilt or
repaired in its original form with almost no signs of the damage that was
inflicted.
It is about a mile walk around the wall with a lot of stone
steps up and down as the walls follow the contours of the land around. There are great views of the city as well as
the Adriatic. Never ones to leave a
tourist dollar behind, the city does charge 100 kuna ($15) for the privilege of
taking this walk, but it does keep the riff-raff out. It is also almost 2:00 when we finish,
meaning that some of our cruise ship folks are packing up from their 4 hour
visit and heading back further reducing the crowds.
After our warm wall walk we look for a spot on the Stradun
in the shade where we can have a nice cold beer. Even with shrinking crowds it is still plenty
busy which makes for nice people watching.
The beers are 50 kuna ($7.50) which is more than twice as much as we
have paid anywhere else in Croatia. The
people watching does not come without a price.
We’re still stuffed from breakfast so the beer are lunch.
We mill around for another hour or two and head for the bus
back to the hotel. It is very crowded so
Mary gets a seat but John stands. Twenty
people ram into the old man during the next 15 minutes while Mary thinks we
should take the buses around the city for fun tomorrow. Obviously two different experiences. We repeat our act from yesterday and pull of
a couple recliners poolside to read for an hour before the sun falls behind the
hills and the temperature starts to drop.
John has a plan for dinner tonight—let’s go find one of
those sports bars we saw yesterday and get a burger and a beer. After about an hour (exaggeration) of walking
back and forth it is obvious there really isn’t a sports bar offering a burger
and a beer. One little old lady has been
yapping at us every time we walked past so we reward her persistence to sit
down for dinner. John had a pork cutlet
topped with berries and apples with fries and a flavorful cabbage dish (we’re
almost done with Eastern Europe and therefore pork and cabbage) while Mary gets
a head start on Italy by having a tuna/anchovy pizza. Not exactly a burger and beer but we have the
rest of our lives to do that.
We take one more stroll down the pedestrian walkway and then
do an about face to go home.
What did we learn today?
War is different when it is happening where you live.
No comments:
Post a Comment