On the Road Again – Cruising Through Croatia – Part I

September 12, 2202

Early breakfast, check out of hotel and head out of Old Town Kotor, schlepping our possessions, to board yet another bus, this time to Croatia. The drive to Dubrovnik is about 2.5 hours but our bathroom stop is a bust with closed toilets and the border crossing is a bit slower because of the crowd so it takes a bit longer than planned.

Soon enough we make it to a spot overlooking Dubrovnik for or a photo stop before heading to the hotel which is a little way out of town. Our early arrival means we store the luggage for a bit, head out to get local currency, grab lunch and then return to the hotel for checkin. After a quick refresh, we’re off to grab the local bus for our short transfer into Old Town Dubrovnik.

Filip “marches” us through old town to our first stop – DEŠA; a Planeterra project supported by the G Adventures’ Foundation. We were greeted by one of their staff members, Anna, who provided us with an overview of the organization’s history and current activities.

DEŠA was founded during the homeland war by a group of locals from Dubrovnik who partnered with refugees to establish a small handicraft business. The organization promotes family values and economic empowerment for women. They run workshops in a number of areas, including: craft revival, computer skills, foreign languages and other projects that support women in particular. DEŠA also functions as a women’s centre providing support for victims and witnesses of crime; lawyers, psychologists, etc.

After Anna’s overview, we were treated to a demonstration of how the locals make candied almonds by one of their longtime members and, of course, had a chance to snack on them when they were warm out of the pan.

Next stop was their storefront to peruse their members’ handicrafts and buy some to support the cause. Through selling handicrafts, made by women across the country, and providing tourists with the opportunity to learn about traditional costumes, weaving, and cooking, DEŠA contributes to the sustainable and inclusive development of its communities.

Once our retail therapy is complete, we are met by Anya for our two hour tour of this beautiful Old City featured in Game of Thrones and many other cinematic productions.

Dubrovnik is located on the southern tip of Croatia surrounded by Bosnia and Montenegro. The city is a mix of east (Slavic) and west (Venice) in language, cuisine and architecture; as Anya put it a Slavic soul influenced by the west.

The history of the city probably dates back to the 7th century, when the town was known as Ragusa. Dubrovnik was a small independent Republic for 500 years trapped between the Venetians and Ottomans. Diplomacy was one of their strengths and information one of their most valuable exports; their strategic location was key to their success.

Dubrovnik is known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. It’s well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and the Gothic Rector’s Palace, now a history museum. Paved with limestone, the pedestrianized Stradun is lined with shops and restaurants.

In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in recognition of its outstanding medieval architecture and the fortified old town. The 19th century was the beginning of tourism here and today 90% of people now work directly or indirectly in tourism.

Our walk through town started at the Old City Harbour. From here you can enter Old Town through the Ploče gate from the east which is connected to the “main” entrance into Old Town through the Pile gate in the west. Between them Main Street runs 300 meters across the lowest part of the town; previously a sea channel that separated the two parts of the town.

Today, Dubrovnik boasts around 1000 residents with an additional 3000 rentals during tourist season. No cars are allowed in the Old City which is still delineated by the original city wall. Historically, the North wall protected the city inhabitants against the Ottomans and the South wall protected them against the Venetians.

The Austro-Hungarians urbanized Dubrovnik by closing shipyards in the Old Harbour and opening restaurants and bakeries etc.

An important local saying is to be friendly with everyone and … with no one. They also believed that their freedom was not for sale for all the gold in the world. They did, however, buy it by paying tributes to the Ottomans including allowing them free access to the harbour.

The east side of the city was populated mainly by non-Catholics (Orthodox or Muslims) so there are no religious symbols on the eastern Ploče gate. The west side of the city was the home of the Catholics so the western Pile gate has lots of religious symbolism, including St. Blaise.

Our next stop was The Assumption Cathedral; the oldest in Dubrovnik. Most people in Dubrovnik are Roman Catholics. When they were building the cathedral, the Ottomans wanted a door that faces Mecca so there is one. People from Dubrovnik know how to keep everyone happy,

We had a whistle stop at Buza (hole in the wall) bar restaurant which is built in the cliffs. Some of our travelling companions went the next day for a drink.

Soon enough we arrived at the Jesuit Church Square; home of the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the beautiful Baroque staircase. This is the most popular church for international weddings and a whole industry has developed around that similar to Anne of Green Gables weddings in PEI.

The town is replete with monasteries Franciscan, Jesuit and Dominican as well as eight convents filled with the daughters of noblemen for which no dowries were made available.

Our next stop was the Rector’s (Duke’s) Palace. The Rectors (Presidents) were man aristocratic men over 50. They served one month terms with no salary. During that term the wife couldn’t live with him and he wasn’t allowed to leave the palace to avoid him being bribed or influenced. Due to the short term, the position didn’t really have much power and the big decisions were mainly made by the Senate.

Nearby was the Central Luža square home to the most important church in Dubrovnik; St Blaise’s Church named for the city’s patron saint. This is the favourite church for locals to get married and features statues of Faith and Hope.

Sadly, Orlando’s Column located in front of the church was being restored so this site of proclamations and shaming! wasn’t available for photography. The small Ornofrio fountain is also found in this square.

Anya showed us some graffiti from 1597 in a wall close to the church. Apparently, it was a subtle message from the Bishop for boys to stop playing Florentine football in front of the church.

Our next stop was an orphanage where babies born of unions between aristocratic fathers and non aristocratic mothers were left anonymously for the nuns to take care of as such unions and their offspring were considered illegal. Politicians supported these orphanages as they were guilty of fathering many of the children that ended up here. The mothers would try to leave something with the babies, an earring or some other identifiable item, so they could figure out which of the children was theirs when they grew up. There is a frieze of Pieta at the end of the street which is an interesting counterpoint.

Our next stop was the Big Ornofrio fountain where apparently, the same man has been playing the same tune for three years. Lol, talk about an ear worm. He usually stops playing if he catches you snapping a pic – I guess he saw me!

Nearby is a small church, the St. Saviour Church, the only church that survived the big earthquake.

We exited Old town, through the Pile gate, to take a look at the St. Lawrence Fortress (aka Dubrovnik’s Gibraltar) built to protect town against the Venetians. The walls facing the sea are 12 meters thick while the walls facing the city are only 60 cm thick.

Everyone is pretty much done by the time we come back to the Pile gate again so Anya gave us some recommendations on things to eat and local wines before bidding us adieu. Apparently, the cuisine in the city restaurants is mostly Mediterranean though the residents usually cook Slavic delights. She recommended buying local wines and olive oil. There’s no space for bottles in my luggage but we did try several varieties of local wine with Dingač being the most robust and favourable. She also recommended oysters and mussels. I didn’t try any oysters but the mussels were just okay, too small for my taste.

After the tour is done, we meet Filip and head to a beautiful seaside restaurant for a group dinner. Jen and I tried a feta salad and locally caught grilled tuna steak washed down with one of Anya’s recommended wines, Plavac Mali, before hopping the city bus back to the hotel. Linda, Jen and I decided it was time to try one of the bottles of wine we’d purchased from the Bosnian Monastery on our balcony before settling in for the night. The robust red wine was very tasty indeed.

Tomorrow is another day. Adventures await …

September 13, 2022

Today was another beautiful sunny day and over breakfast, people were discussing their plans for the day; some of them quite ambitious. As I’d visited Dubrovnik a few years ago on a cruise and was feeling a bit chill, I opted for a rest day to catch up with myself! Worked on blogging in the morning, hoofed it to the local market for some supplies shortly after noon and then enjoyed an al fresco lunch on my balcony before taking a nap.

When the gang returned from their adventures, they let Linda and I know they were interested in going for dinner so we joined them for a nice dinner on Sunset Beach and later shared some wine on the balcony. The perfect end to a perfect day!

Tomorrow is another day. Adventures await …

September 14, 2022

Today we are catching the ferry to the Island of Hvar at 4 pm so there’s a good chunk of the day available for explorations after a good breakfast, checking out and storing our luggage. Linda and I opt for a beach day at Sunset Beach where we’d had dinner the night before.

We rented beach chairs and an umbrella and settled in to read our books with the odd dip in the refreshing water thrown into the mix.

Around 2, we packed up and headed to the hotel to change, have a quick bite and get ready to hop the bus to the ferry. Not sure if our luggage is expanding or the busses are getting smaller but the driver is challenged getting the baggage in the boot and several suitcases are loaded in the front of the bus. All good, at least we’re all on the bus and our stuff is as well.

The ferry crossing is pleasant enough and after around 3 hours we arrive in Hvar. The island and the town look great though I’m not sure there will be much time to explore given our schedule. Our hotel has sent a couple guys to pick up our luggage and bring it up the hill. We head up the hill in foot; at least we don’t have to drag our luggage along!

Time for a quick shower before heading back down the hill for a late dinner at a local restaurant. Filip knew the owners so they gave us a nice slug of rakia to start the evening. Linda, Jen and I shared a bottle of Dingač that was recommended by Filip. Yummm as was the nice salad, grilled calamari, grilled veggies and homemade bread with local olive oil I had for dinner.

After dinner, we slog back up the hill and I had a couple more glasses of wine with Filip before calling it a night.

Tomorrow is another day. Adventures await …