Dubrovnik

It's been about three weeks since we went to Dubrovnik and finally, thanks to being stuck at home with a bad head cold, I've found some time to do a brief Dubrovnik post.

Dubrovnik has a fascinating and long history but its more recent history is rather sad, as during the break up of Yugoslavia it suffered some horrific bombing and, as well as suffering  human casualties, a number of its old buildings were destroyed.  I understand that significant parts of the old city are fact new and were painstakingly rebuilt in the old style after the war.

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A photo inside the historic city and including a few random tourists

The historic city is surrounded by hills and as I walked through it I could get a small sense of just how terrifying it would have been to be trapped in the city as bombs were being thrown by the Yugoslav People's Army from up high.

A photo taken standing at the harbour, inside the historic city, looking up the hill

It is hard to picture all of this happening now, as the city is a major tourist destination during the summer months, full of western tourists making the most of the sun and sea.  Most of the tourists seem to be day-trippers from  enormous cruise ships, touring the Dalmatian coast, meaning that the town is full during the day but clears out significantly at night.  A lot of the cruise ship tourists were of the heavier or older, sedentary types, so we also learned that the best way to avoid them was to head somewhere that involved a steep climb uphill.  It was pretty easy to find such places in Dubrovnik.

The city walls on top of the cliffs

The walk on top of the old city walls was one such place that most of these tourists did not tread and it also afforded an incredible view of the ocean and city.

On top of the city walls

the view from the city walls

We stayed just out of town at the Dubrovnik Palace which was a terrific choice.  It had its own beach and pool and we made good use of both. 

Me at the beach

We also caught up with a couple of friends in Dubrovnik one evening and the four of us attempted to find a bar to have a drink.  We discovered that night life is not one of the reasons one goes to Dubrovnik, as we struggled to find any bar that didn't play remixes of the Venga Boys (as if the originals weren't bad enough).

It was worth going out of an evening, however, just to marvel at some of the incredible outfits on display by other tourists.  Some people had clearly decided that less is more and were wearing as little as one can  wear without being arrested for public indecency. 

I don't think Dubrovnik is the sort of place you go for culinary delights.  That said, we did have some great meals at some fish restaurants on the harbour where the chefs did not strive for originality or greatness but simply barbecued some terrifically fresh produce.

The view from the restaurant on the harbour.  It was impossible to take a photo without capturing other tourists!

The harbour area was also full of some very cute stray cats.  I think they must survive on eating the fish the fisherman throw away and leftovers that tourists at the restaurants feed to them.

We only had four days in Dubrovnik but I wish we had longer.  It's definitely given me a taste for the Dalmatian coast and I'm eager to get back there soon.