June 12 – Dubrovnik

All four of us agree that today’s port of call, Dubrovnik, is a wonderful place to visit and we’d visit it again should the opportunity arise.

Dubrovnik is the major tourist center for Croatia and one of the most beautiful towns in the Mediterranean.   Dubrovnik has stunning architecture, and boasts spectacular churches, monasteries, museums, and fountains. More than a million tourists visit this area each year and it is normal to have five large cruise liners in port at any given time.  We lucked out, because today we were the only ship in the harbour.

The first thing you notice as you enter Dubrovnik harbour is  the Franjo Tuđman Bridge. The suspension system is unique with its large single-pylon, cable-stayed roadway rising fifty two metres above the water. It spans a large cove northwest of the city of Dubrovnik

Franjo Tuđman Bridge

Dubrovnik is a fairly modern city in respect to other European cities because various natural disasters and multiple wars have forced it to be rebuilt on a regular basis. It is in an earthquake zone and on average it has a significant earthquake every thirty years. In the late 19^th century, most of the city had to be rebuilt after a very destructive quake.

In 1992 Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia.  In the bloody sectarian war that followed, Bosnia and Serbia launched more than five thousand missiles at the city.  Many of the buildings were damaged or destroyed and you can tell which ones because their distinctive red tiled roofs are newer and brighter.

The old town is encompassed within thick walls built in medieval times. Outside of the walls was a protective moat.  Access to the city was through a draw bridge, which is still functional.  So you have newer buildings built within the walled city with roads designed centuries ago that are very narrow, making it impossible to drive automobiles.  

Old town of Dubrovnik

Old town of Dubrovnik

Old town of Dubrovnik

Old town of Dubrovnik

In the Dubrovnik Cathedral there is a large collection of religious gold icons.  Also there is glass case that is supposed to contain the forearm bone of St. Thomas.

Old town of Dubrovnik

Later we went to the village of Cavtat.  Cavtat is a small village south of Dubrovnik along the Adriatic, where many of the European super rich dock their yachts.  Along the boardwalk, we witnessed a game of water polo being played by school children who were about twelve years old.  There were about 100 spectators cheering on their teams.

The water was amazing. It was clear, clean and very blue.  Given that temperature was exceeding forty degrees celsius and there was also high humidity, a cool dip in the water looked very inviting.

Cavtat 

Water polo in Cavtat 

After looking around Cavtat for about thirty minutes, we got back into the bus and headed into the high mountains that run along the Adriatic coast. We passed through a village that had to be rebuilt from scratch because the Serbians had destroyed it during the war of 1992.

We went to a restaurant called Konavoski Dvori along the Ljuta River for a very nice meal.  My meal was cooked in a bell-shaped pot over hot coals. I'm sorry to say the meat was very dry.  Here we had a wonderful conversation with two ladies, one who hails from Cleveland.  She knew where St. Thomas was as she had visited friends there to go skating.  What made the conversation more amazing was that both ladies are deaf.

Konavoski Dvori

Konavoski Dvori

The old name for Dubrovnik is Ragusa.  Here all along I thought my good friend Paul Ragusa was Sicilian, now I know he is Croatian.  So much for ethnic profiling.

The TV series Game of Thrones is filmed near here.  Everyone seemed to be excited because the actual Throne was being put on display in the town square that day.

After dinner, which was great, we went to one of the multiple of bars on board with our Aussie friend Tracey to have a night cap. A couple of minutes later there appeared on the staircase and in the glass enclosed elevators, the Equinox dance troop dressed as Venetian masked party goers.  Immediately the music switched to 1960’s music and the dancers broke into “go go dancing.”  This was followed this up by 1970's disco dancing.  It was definitely an interesting twist to the evening's entertainment.

Croatia was playing Brazil in the opening match of the 2014 World Cup tonight.  A lot of the children and many adults in Dubrovnik were wearing Croatia’s red and white checkered soccer jerseys and cars were flying their national flag.  If they win, Dubrovnik will be party central.  Too bad we’ll be on the boat heading for our final port of call Venice.