Walking the "old city" of Dubrovnik

So we did NOT have to run between the rain drops today after all!  The weather Gods were with us as we had warm temperatures and sunshine all day!  However, I am posting a photo of twin funnel clouds that were in Dubrovnik just after we left to drive 30 miles away for lunch.  There was quite a little storm that hit the area, but we never saw a drop of rain!

But, now for a small bit of the history that we learned today.  Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th century AD. The Alyrian tribes are the first known settlers in the region 2000 years ago.  They were conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century and they made the area a secure military outpost for Rome.  By the 5th century AD, the Roman Empire has collapsed, which now allows people of many regions to begin to migrate.  So, the Slavs migrated to the area.  The Slavs began building the city of Dubrovnik.  The Romans maintained a small presence across the River in the city and the two cultures managed to co-exist with mutual benefits to both sides.  Dubrov means "Oak Forest" and Dubrovnik means the settlement next to the Oak forest.  The early buildings were made from the wood of oak trees but it wasn't long before they realized "the error of their ways"!  Wood was easily destroyed by fires and earthquakes so they switched to stone as a building material.  By the 15th century all the buildings in the city were made from stone.  

While Rome was very close if you sailed directly across the Adriatic Sea, the ship's did not use that route because it was so dangerous.  They had no navigation instruments at the time and the sudden storms that can develop in this area made it too treacherous a crossing.  Instead , the trading ships hugged the coast line  to sail  to Venice.   But, the ship's needed to stop along the way for provisions of food and water.  This resulted in small villages springing up, about 40 miles apart, as provision stops for the extensive trading ships that made their way up the coast.

Dubrovnik was built on a grid system- a bit unusual for the time.  But, they were not worried about safety as they really became a neutral trading port.  This differentiates from other towns north of here where the streets are winding and you can easily get lost.  This was done to confuse any invaders!  

From the 13th to 15th centuries, Dubrovnik purchased land -about 100 square miles -- and became a successful "city state" with a People's Congress and a Senate.  As merchants became wealthy, they began to control the Senate and eliminated the Congress.  The government even reached an agreement with the expanding Ottoman Empire to allow them to continue their own government. Dubrovnik became a free trade zone (more or less) and entered a Golden Age for 200 years.  Consider this:  Croatia has been in existence for 24 years.  Prior to that, it was Yugoslavia from 1918 - 1991.  Backing up from Yugoslavia, it belonged to the Austrian/Hugarian Empire. (some of you will remember that WWI began with the assassination of the Grand Duke in Sarajevo.)   Napolean invaded and had a brief 9 year period of occupation before it became part of the Austrian/Hungarian Empire.  But backing up once more, Dubrovnik was a successful City State for 800 years!  They evidently had a vast network of spies that traded information but managed to protect the city state.

I must also mention that the "Golden Age" ended at 7am, April 6, 1667 when an earthquake leveled the city.  It was rebuilt as before, but it never recovered its former status.

It is interesting to note that this is still a very fragile area because it so heavily depends on tourism - 97%!  (All their eggs are now in one basket) and they are "one bomb away from disaster."

The war with Bosnia began in 1991 and lasted for four years, but the city was heavily bombed and under siege for 1 year when they had no water and no electricity. Four thousand people lost their lives when Milosovic decided to invade from Bosnia..

It is a VERY busy tourist destination and we're not even seeing it at the height of season.  Cruise ships make this a port of call.  Today was perhaps especially crowded because NO one could tour yesterday because of the rain.  So EVERYBODY was out making up for a lost day!

We did venture out of the city for lunch to the town for Cavtat.  It's a quiet place and we had a yummy lunch right by the calm sea on the Main Street of town.  Barb enjoyed another delicious bowl of mussels cooked in white wine and garlic!  This region also grows oysters that are found no place else In the world.  They only grow in the small area around the city of Ston (where we had lunch yesterday ).  It takes 4 years for the Oysters to grow.  They are actually "cemented" together shell to shell and then cemented to the rope that goes down to the sea floor.  This is done because Oysters  can only attach themselves once in their life, unlike mussels which can attach themselves multiple times.  This very small section of water around  Ston has just the right amount of fresh vs salt water to create these rare Oysters.  We're told this has been the best Oyster farming year in 20 years!    

To finish the afternoon, we rode the cable car down from the top of a mountain with a spectacular view of the old city.

Tomorrow we will take a boat ride to the Elephite Islands.

Since we walked a little over 4 miles today and up and down about 9 flights of some steep stairs, we elected to eat at the very nice restaurant in our small, but elegant hotel.  The food is excellent. We hope to be adventurous tomorrow night!

The storm that occurred in Dubrovnik while we were 30 miles south in glorious sunshine eating lunch.

Now this is hilarious!  This was "siesta" time for one of the many cats in the square in the middle of the old city!  Oh to be so relaxed! 😉

View from our balcony.  Every room on the hotel faces the Sea.

First glimpse of the old city we are walking to tour.

Exact replica of a 16th century Galleon.  

Getting closer to the old city which is pedestrian traffic only. Delivery vehicles are allowed in only for 2 hours in the morning.  The three arches you see behind the boats is actually the area where they used to built their galleons.  They would build the hull in one of the arches but the entrance was covered with bricks to prevent spying eyes from determining how they were able to build such large ships at the time.  Once the hull was constructed, they would bring the hull out to complete the masts and the top deck of the ship!

The central square.

Clever way to anchor the railing!

Repairing his nets.

Lots of stairs and narrow streets.

Tom and Barb....

Inside the grounds of a working Franciscan Monestary in the old city.

Images painted on the ceiling of a small museum showing the destruction in 1991 from the Bosnian War.

The world over.....

On our walk...

Our yummy lunch...

Fun day!

The main square of the old city.

Note the grid layout of the red roofed old city of Dubrovnik.

We walked around the whole perimeter of the walled city.  About 4.2 miles.

Barb loves these mussels!

High above the city before taking the cable car down.

Vo Vivjenja!  Translation:  good bye!  But just for tonight!  Tomorrow will bring lots of new adventures so stay tuned!