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| Museum for fallen freedom fighters |
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| Young Croats who died fighting for their Homeland |
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| Main Street - Stradum - during the war |
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| War Scene |
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| Stradum Today |
Between 1991 and 1995 Dubrovnik was almost destroyed during
the ‘Homeland War’. Attacking forces fired canons from a 778 meter high
mountain named Srd onto the Old City. Taking a ride up the mountain with a
swift cable car offered an opportunity to note the many freshly coloured tiled
roofs as distinct from the somewhat faded ones, which show clearly how many
houses had been destroyed. A sad episode
in Dubrovnik’s long history is mercifully over, and the city has been rebuilt
to reflect its original appearance.
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| Small Boat Harbour below City Wall |
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| Old Dubrovnik |
First it was a refugee colony for the people of Epidaurum
(today Cavtat), who fled from invading Avar and Slav tribes. They settled on
what used to be an island, today south of the main street Stradum in Dubrovnik.
The island did not offer adequate protection and the citizens started to fill
in the ditch, todays’ Stradum (Main Street) between the original island (Laus,
Greek for rock, evolved into Raus, Rausa and Ragusa) and the mainland and started
to erect walls during the 7th century.
The Slavs who settled on the mainland portion called their
home Dubrava, Slav for Oak Tree, and the name Duvrovnik evolved from that.
First the new settler fell under Byzantine protection, the
Crusaders took over, and Venice moved in afterwards with the Croatian Hungarian
kingdom on their heels.
All that before the 14th century, when local
nobles negotiated for their freedom and Dubrovnik became a city state, which
rivalled Venice in its importance for almost four centuries. They remained
independent from threatening Turkey, with whom they conducted profitable trade.
Then Dubrovnik was known as Ragusa. The love of Liberty (Libertas appears on
many buses, flags etc. etc.) extended even towards freeing slaves, and slavery was
outlawed here in 1418. Napoleon cheated his way into the city walls (by then
impregnable) and his army entered in 1806.
The walls of the city stretch for about two kilometers all
around the Old Town. They were built between the 8th and 16th
century, with the land side almost 6 meters thick. They are fortified by
numerous impressive towers. Never in the history of Dubrovnik were its walls
breached. Pile Gate and Ploce Gate give access to the city, which even today
retains its historic appearance.
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| Olkd City Well, which kept the city drinking during long sieges, and still functions today |
Roland/Orlando, Charlemagne’s nephew, is the City’s patron
saint. He defeated the city from the Saracens on the island of Lakrun in front
of the city, and killed a notorious pirate Spucente. The length of Orlando’s
forearm on his statue in one of the town’s squares used to serve as measurement
for trading cloth.
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| Orlando with his measuring arm |
Visitors stroll leisurely through the small city – gate to
gate – and along the top of the city walls. The older segment of Dubrovnik (Ragusa)
is a maze of narrow streets and staired alleys; whereas the newer part
(Dubrava) is laid out like a chess board, however, with even steeper alleys
connecting parallel narrow streets. One of the oldest Synagogues of Europe
still exists here, dozens of churches and monasteries have their place within
the walls, and the oldest pharmacy of Europe is still open for business. More
recent establishments such as hundreds of restaurants almost fill every street
and even take advantage of nooks and crannies never meant for dining out. Food
and wine are excellent.
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| Cliff Side Cafe |
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| Stone Carver at work outside his shop |
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| Local wine and fresh oysters from Ston |
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| Coral worker - harvesting is strictly controlled |
The small protected Harbour outside Ploce Gate is filled
with tourist and fishing boats, and the wide plaza connecting the gate and
waterfront is lined with fish restaurants. The water is clear, one may observe
schools of fish cavorting around from one’s luncheon perch. One of the best
kept secrets of the café scene is a small cliff hanger,where tables are perched
on a vertical rock wall below the massive walls of the city. One sneaks through
a hole in the wall, descends stairs hewn into the cliff side to a couple of
narrow platforms, from which one has a spectacular vista of the sea and Lakrun
Island. A Hanging Rock Garden of Dubrovnik, where one enjoys some prized local
Plavac, Dingac and Postup wine!
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| Dubrovnik back street |
In the meantime back on the ship, two pigeons hitched a ride
on the foredeck of Prinsendam. They mysteriously disappeared to parts unknown,
when a barn owl had decided to occupy a protected spot somewhere between decks
for the ‘crossing’ and the pigeons hightailed it so safer quarters on the ship.
We had quite a number of feathered passengers aboard throughout this journey,
for instance a ‘stuck’ gull. This bird decided to land on a freshly varnished
railing with predictable results. Staff liberated the bird which fluttered
frantically to get unstuck, and re-varnished the rail. The bird was unhurt.
The Human Cargo – the usual suspects: the not so secret ship
board romances, the usual squabbles and complaints, jealousies surrounding the
coveted ‘gentlemen hosts’ and wardrobe failures galore. Life in a floating
village, to be specific ‘retirement-village’, complete with gossip and scandal –
never boring!
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| Old Friend...I saw this same dog a couple of years ago. He is just a little greyer, and his tail lost a few more hairs. But he wanders around main street - obviously homeless, but he seems to enjoy a well fed old age. May he live well until my next visit.... |
