Dubrovnik - The Wall

A nine-hour time change, three days, and we’ve finally arrived in Dubrovnik. Like the trips before, our goal of staying in the present means finding the present. We took a one-day layover in Madrid and slept for the six hours we had missed on the flight over. We can say we are now in the moment and ready to start our journey. 

Chatting with someone yesterday, he said, “you’re on vacay, enjoy.” I said, “we’re in transit.” His reply, “In transit = vacay; In transit in Spain = double vacay.” An empanada, a Tinto de Verano, olives, cheeses, yes, double vacay. Just maybe it’s all in how you look at it.

The word of the day is War. This Balkans have probably seen more wars than almost any place on earth. The invaders came from the East, the Ottomans, the Byzantines, and others before them. From the west, the Germans and Romans. From the north, the Visigoths and the Huns. And yet, she persisted. As recently as 1995, during the Homeland War, Croatia’s war of independence from Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik was bombed and burned. Our war of independence was 250 years ago, their fight for independence ended 31 years ago. During our lifetime. 

Dubrovnik is a city built for wars. We’ve seen old walled cities before. Rotenberg in Germany. These are survivor cities. Their walls created barriers to unwanted intrusions. Whether they worked or not, we can’t say. The winners ended up inside the walls and they wrote the history. But it is impressive that an entire city was built within such huge walls during the Middle Ages.

On April 6, 1667, at 8:30 am an earthquake struck Dubrovnik. With somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 residents, over 2,200 were killed. The outer walls were not damaged, but the inside was devastated. But she persisted and they rebuilt. Stone walls and all. The visualization of a town of 4,000 people rebuilding this city, stone-by-stone, is almost unimaginable.

Our day started with a leisurely walk up a few hundred steps to catch the cable car and then a lift to the top of the Mt Srd overlooking the old city. And what a view it was. The cable car has been running since 1969 and reminds us of the one serving Sandia Peak.

                         

This view from the top is probably the same view shared by one of those intruders in the Middle Ages who thought, ‘are you kidding me, now I have to go down there, scale those stone walls while arrows are being shot at me, and hope that if I make it over the walls, I can open the door for you! You guys are nuts!’

In the afternoon, we developed a greater appreciation for the walls as we walked our way around the entire city on the crest of the wall. Over 2 kilometers. Not only is it a long way around, but it also has over 1,080 steps or about 50 floors. Malcolm tried to convince Susanne that once we went around the entire wall, there were an equal number of steps up as steps down. Susanne still swears that there are more steps up. Modern-day Debrovniks have figured out a way to make that trip around the wall easy with an occasional bar to offer a break.  It was easier to visualize being that guy on the wall shooting arrows down on the intruders than to be on the receiving end of the arrows.

 

 

We stayed in an apartment in the old city. Close to everything. The narrow streets served the intended function of moving people, but they carried with them the sounds of the city. Small cafes with tables in the alleyways were the norm. Ten-foot-wide alleys with 3-story buildings gave nowhere for sounds to go but up and into our bedroom. Groups of drunks, sitting at those same tables at 3 AM and talking loudly, joined the chorus of other sounds and the serenade for Susanne was just too much for sleeping. Ah! Life in the city.

 

Our second day was about slowing down the pace. Hopping on an old boat and touring three islands sounded ideal. One of the things that makes the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia what it is, is the archipelago of over 1,300 islands that run along the coast. The crystal blue waters of the Adriatic are sparkling and inviting, but we’re not swimmers yet.

  

When the two of us hop on a boat, time stands still and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It just brought us back to the moment. On the water. Sitting on a beach. Tomorrow, we will catch a bus and head up the coast to Orebec. But today, we’re feeling the trailing seas gently lifting our boat and surfing down each new wave and reminding us of our sailing days. Hard to stay in the moment when so many memories flash by. We’re doing our best.

 

Lunch was at the Captain's House. We originally thought we were going to our boat captain's house on the island. We later discovered it was his dad's house and his dad was our cook. After serving as a cook on freighters for 45 years, the dad had settled down and cooked for the ten of us. By the time we left, we were all family.

Lovin' the sun wherever we can find it.

On the third morning, we were going to fetch a little breakfast before catching the bus up the coast. We discovered that this was “Run Dubrovnik” weekend. A short 2K run that involved running down main street, up the stairs, around the wall, and back down the steps to finish where they started. Since you couldn’t have a mass of people running at one time, the starts were about 10 seconds apart. What a fun run. Then the kids had a sprint down main street. Tomorrow is the half-marathon, but we’ll miss that.  

 

Our take of Dubrovnik: It is a must visit city, but one day is enough. If you have more time, spend it on the water.