Dubrovnik: Pearl of the Adriatic

That is the quote given by many a website and travel guide, to describe this beautiful walled city. Dubrovnik has probably the most well known fortifications around its old town and certainly the most complete of any walled city in Europe. Not to mention the stunning archipelago of islands that surround it, views of which abound on the drive in. We had three days there, so spent the first day wandering around getting a feel for the place and visiting a few museums etc, the following day we did a day trip to another national park on the Island of Mljet, and our final day we spent wandering the walls...

We arrived to find that our accomodation was further than I had expected from the old town - despite this disappointment, our host (Ivo)was a beautiful man and very helpful and insightful... the location (high on the hill above the old town) also afforded pretty good views, so was a pleasant place to sit, relax and get away from the crowds. After getting rid of the rental car, and settling into our pokey wee room, we headed for the town.

The overwhelming sense that one gets with Dubrovnik - is the harmony and functionality with which it meets the sea. High walls are perfect for keeping sea breezes to a minimum, yet wherever you are in Dubrovnik, you're aware that the sea is only a matter of metres away. For a kiwi kid who has grown up with the sea being ever present, this is surprisingly refreshing, and a stark reminder of another reason why I love home. But if I could get a handle on the Croatian language, I'd happily live there, amidst such beautiful surroundings and such beautiful people! The climate is definately more appealing! And Ivo (our Host) on imploring the virtues of his city, noted a crime rate of only 0.02%!!! Certainly the place felt very safe, and Ivo had an outdoor terraced area above the pool, with a screen, projector and sound system for showing movies etc, none of which was 'Secured' in the western sense of the word - all just sitting there - and his house was right on a main road... I was amazed! More food for thought eh?

Wandering down the hill we all agreed that it was well worth the taxi fare back up again! The Mountainbuggy was great, but the seven hundred or so stairs did get a little wearying! To get into the town you have to pass through one of only three entrances through the walls, which are flanked by the City's guards and the ever present figure of St Blaise, Dubrovnik's patron and saviour. It is said that way back a few hundred years ago when Dubrovnik was a republic, the Venetian's planned a deft attack on the city, entering first with a crippled boat to gain assistance and an idea of the defences and then returning later to take the place apart. However St Blaise appeared in a dream to one of the local priests to warn him of the Venetians' true intent, which the priest fortunately acted on, ensuring that the ambush of the Venetians was repelled with haste. Ever since He has been their patron and statues of him are literally everywhere around the city.

One of the things I do enjoy about travel, is a bit of art appreciation... whether it's listening to Fijian's singing to welcome you to an island, or strolling past local artists' work in towns like Dubrovnik, or any one of the towns we've visited on our holidays of the last few years, Cultural dances or costumes, or even things like weaving - it's wonderful to get into (in some way) the psyche of the locals and see the things that inspire them. The occasional wander around a gallery I more often than not enjoy, especially when there is some explanation of the artists' work. So the first thing that caught my eye and first port of call in the old town for me was a visit to a photographic art gallery called War Photo Limited, (see http://www.warphotoltd.com/) the particular exhibition was of Israel V Lebanon in 2006. Stunning photojournalism, really very moving, with two different journalists looking at the war from either side of the conflict. Seeing both sides, and reading the brief captions, you can't help but get a sense of the futility of war, which is i'm sure part of what war photo tries to do (I gather they have a number of similar exhibitions in other major cities worldwide). This is evident in this quote (from one of the photojournalists and on the website above...): “I have shot hundreds, if not thousands, of flashcards showing human misery, deprivation, tragedy, and death in this war without really learning who is the good and who is the righteous. I am no longer even sure if good is fighting evil. When I look at my laptop screen at the end of the day, what I see is evil fighting evil locked in mortal combat with the principal casualty being human goodness.” - Yuri Kozyrev. As part of the exhibition, there were a few shots from the homeland war, mostly of Sarajevo and Dubrovnik. Insightful, given that today as you look out over Dubrovnik you see mostly shiny new tiles... that's because more than 70% of rooves were damaged or destroyed by the Serbs in the early 90's. Thought inspiring stuff when you look into the eyes of Croats your age or older, and realise that is exactly what they lived through. Unfortunately for us (as human beans) they're not the only, or even the most recent war survivors...

While I wandered around there, Mez and Gwen wandered through a Jewish museum, which they also seemed to enjoy, but which I would not have the faintest idea what to write about (given that I didn't go...) Lunch followed at a pleasantly shady restaurant, just inside the walls, before heading through the Cathedral for a wander, then to the Dominican Monastery for a look.

The Dominican monastery of Dubrovnik is home to a beautiful cloister (as you can see) and a fair few valuable artworks, none of which I was overly fussed about (to be honest), there was the usuals - bits of various saints in assorted cannisters (arm shaped, bust shaped, head shaped etc) and a few sacramental bits and pieces dating back a long time. Wasn't overly impressed, considering the rave reviews I had read about the place... But the Church was pretty cool, had a couple of really cool Bronze reliefs in it (one was the stations of the cross, the other of the last supper) and a great stained glass window (which you can also enjoy!) I think one of the things I really learned on this holiday about myself, is that i'm far more impressed by a place of worship that is still used as intended (to worship God), than a museum of bits and pieces once used in worship, but no longer in commission, so to speak. It almost makes me sad to think that the artists intent with creating such wonderful items was to usher people to some kind of understanding of the Glory of God, and yet with the passage of time, what we're inevitably left with, is an image or sculpture which is said to show the greatness of the man that created it... if you catch my drift. It's a bit like some of the classical music written by Beethoven, or Mozart which were written again for that purpose, yet today we say "ooh wasn't Beethoven a genius" - seems to defy the spirit with which such works of art were created, not to mention missing the point of them... Which is not to limit the greatness of some of the artists by any means. I guess it just shows how secularised our/my culture has become. Anyway, I digress.

I had to make hasty tracks out of the Church cos Abbey got a bit bored with all the quiet contemplation and started testing out the surprisingly good acoustics of the place... so I invented a wee game of kiss tag, which soon had her grinning from ear to ear, which then had me grinning from ear to ear, and which will sit in my memory banks forever, especially given that Mez managed to Capture it both on camera and a short video! Unfortunately Abbey tends to get a little camera shy, so by the time cameras were out and pointing most of the grinning was all done! Good fun anyway.

Gelato outside the walls followed that with the sun slowly sinking into the adriatic leaving us in awe of the pink hue that seemed to drape all in sight. Dinner was enjoyed overlooking the sea as pink gave way to grey and then black with the glittering lights shimmering softly on the inky black blanket of sea before us. With blissfully content tummies filled we headed for the taxi stand to take us home to bed.