Dubrovnik, Croatia

This is Michael again.  Today, we are in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and is it ever gorgeous!  Croatia is one of the seven republics of the former Yugoslavia.  You may remember they had had the Yugoslav Civil War here between 1991 and 1995 when Croatia was attacked by the Serbians.  It is actually much more complicated than that, but I would rather concentrate on today.  The ship anchored just outside of the old harbor, and once on land in the old walled, medieval city you can see a Rector’s palace, two monasteries and one of the oldest pharmacies (1317) in Europe.   The town was founded in the 7^th century on a site called Ragusium by the Romans.  It was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire between 867 and 1205, under Venetian control until 1358, under Hungarian control until 1526 and under the Ottoman Empire until 1806.

I escorted a brief tour of the old city this morning.  We met at the old harbor and walked up to a modern cable car.  This device was originally constructed in 1969 and ran until 1991 when it was destroyed in the war.  It was rebuilt and opened in 2005.  It took us to the top of Srdj Hill for a spectacular view of both the old and new city, and a good portion of the Adriatic Sea as well.  We briefly visited a museum dedicated to the Yugoslav war and while there, I took a brief walk to an old fortress built by Napoleon.  Around the back of the fortress I came across a gun emplacement used during the Yugoslav war.  It is in great disrepair now, but it was very easy to imagine its original function.

We returned to the old city via the cable car, reentered through the Ploce Gate, and proceeded to tour the main avenue called the Stradum, and its many side streets.  I found the old pharmacy and even the old Jewish Synagogue which is still in use by Dubrovnik’s 45 Jews, all of whom are Sephardic.  Well, now it was time for some pizza (we are close to Italy after all) and beer while I tried to find Beverly and the gang.  We did eventually join up and proceeded on up to Dubrovnik’s largest nightclub (its hold 1,000 people) for a Croatian folkloric show, which we didn’t stay to see, but that’s another story. 

***

Michael gave you the facts.  I’ll give the color commentary.  We tendered to the old pier and were immediately struck by all the stone and brick.  I must say the ancients knew how to build things that would last.  I was not on an excursion, so Barry and Christine and I decided to do our own thing.  And it’s a good thing we did as I don’t think any of us could keep up with a group.  We are simply callings ourselves the Gimp Brigade or No Knees Whining.  It was another glorious day with plenty of sunshine and pleasant temperatures.  We headed up the street outside the city walls to the cable car in order to beat Michael’s group.  It was pathetic watching us climb up the steps to the cable car.  I don’t know how many steps there were, but we finally made it up the hill and the steps, tongue hanging out, drooling just like a hot dog. 

The Harbor

Climbing higher and higher, view of the harbor

We rode up and had a fantastic view of the old and new city and the Adriatic Sea.  All the roofs were red tile, creating uniformity to the town.  Barry wanted coffee and there was a lovely terraced café below.  We went looking for an elevator, found it, and pressed the button to go to the lowest level – but it didn’t work.  Where is OSHA when you need them?  We had more stairs to negotiate.  It was worth it as the view was dynamite.  As we were ready to leave, the hoard of people from Michael’s group descended upon us.   It is so weird to meet up with Michael all day long while he is on tour and I am not.  But at least we were able to get a picture of us together with the city in the background. 

View from the top of the cable car; you can clearly see the old walled in city

The old city

That's the old city below us

 

The old city wall

The old city; notice the red roofs

 

We rode down the cable car and this time, walked down a street that went where we wanted to go.  Yes, there were hairpin turns, but at least there were no stairs.  Until…….

We entered the old city through the Ploce gate and saw the elevation!  The main street was down, waaaay down.  Many stairs, lotsa stairs.  These were steep narrow stairways leading down to the main street.  

A typical steep staircase

What to do?  I knew from experience in other old cities like this that there had to be a gentler way down.  So I went in search of one and found a “street” that wasn’t as steep as some of the others.  It was comical to see the three of us inching our way down these uneven stairs with few handrails to hold on to.  Barry was our cheerleader, and I took point as I slowly and carefully crab walked down the stairs.  It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.  We got down to the main street.

Main Street

Off the main street

 A very narrow side street

We then went searching for the synagogue and found it up a very narrow side street.  There was a door to the synagogue, but to actually reach the synagogue, one had to climb a whole bunch of stairs, like two floors worth.  This was the time to take a pain pill.  I don’t care how rare, grand, or spectacular it was, I was not going up any more stairs. 

This town had more pizza places than Italy.  In fact, Italy is just a short ferry ride away so they do have a strong Italian influence here.  This little restaurant that I rested at at the foot of the synagogue had some good looking pizza.  It was a bit too early to eat, so off the Three Gimpcateers went in search of other sites to see.  We walked the main street, browsed the shops, found the old pharmacy and then made our way back to the pizza joint.  We had consumed most of the pizza when Michael, Morry and Hanita showed up.  Michael said our pizza was better than the one that they had.  I had a good feeling that this pizza joint was blessed (you know, being right at the foot of the synagogue). 

We moseyed over to the venue where the ship’s special entertainment was to be held.  More stairs, no elevator.  We entered having negotiated the first set of stairs only to find another two sets.  Well, we made it this far, so we continued up at a snail’s pace.  I have a special way of crab walking sideways up or down stairs when I don’t want to bend my knee.  The method is fairly effective, but looks retarded.  We get into this great big cavern, where chairs were set up for a folkloric dance.  Hor’s de oeuvres were nicely displayed.  We got some dessert and something to drink, sat down (ahhh) and waited for the show.  And waited, and waited, and waited.  For one hour we sat listening to native music, which frankly, got pretty boring after the first 50 or so tunes.  There was no announcement so we didn’t know when the show was going to start.  Finally, Michael and I left, with me gimping back down the stairs.  I was really tired and worn out, and the pain pill made me a bit sleepy. 

We tendered back to the ship, where I laid down on my bed and did not move for three hours.  I’m telling you, I am worn out!  And we didn’t even get time to walk on top of the wall around the city.  I really think this beautiful, well-kept and clean city was worth a second go. I guess I will have to save that for a return trip.