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| The Walled City at Nifgt |
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| Panorama of Dubrovnik |
Our next stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia, regarded as
one of the world’s most exquisite and best preserved walled city. Approaching from the sea, you see the
gleaming white walls and red-tiled roofs – absolutely stunning. It is still known as the “Pearl of the
Adriatic.” In the past, Dubrovnik was an independent city-state that rivaled
Venice. (Its period of autonomy extended
from 1358 to1808 when it was known as the Republic of Ragsa.) It served as the base for a fleet of ships
that carried trade between much of Europe and the Middle East. In 1991, after Croatia declared its
independence from Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik was subjected to 3 months of shelling
by Serbia and Montenegro who lobbed mortars from the hills overlooking the
city. Many of the gorgeous historic
centuries-old structures were destroyed or heavily damaged. Almost ¾ of the homes inside the city were
also damaged, as was the beautiful polished marble pedestrian street (the
Stradun). Although the bombings slowed
considerable after December 1991, it wasn’t until the Dayton (Ohio) Peace
Accord was signed in December 1995 that peace came to Croatia. All the damage has been restored. However, the dark-tannish tiles that were the
roofs of the homes before the bombing were no longer available, hence the
red-tiled roofs that you see today. The
only building rebuilt with the dark-tannish tiles was the Cathedral. Its roof was rebuilt using dark-tannish tiles
scavenged from the damaged roofs of other buildings.
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| Walls of the City |
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| Oldest Pharmacy in Europe |
We had arrived in the
evening (it was only about a 2 hour cruise from Montenegro) so our guides took
us for a short walk on the Stradun, the main street in the old city so we could
see it lit up. It was beautiful. In the morning we took our regularly
scheduled tour of Stari Grad, the old walled city. But first we had to stop and get some local
currency – the Kuna. Although a member
of the EU, Croatia still uses its own money.
We then stopped at the fountain/cistern that still provides fresh, safe
drinking water from the mountains, the Franciscan Monastery which houses the
oldest pharmacy (1318) in Europe, the Bell Tower, the Rector’s Palace (once the
administrative center of the old city), St Blaise Church, and the Cathedral of the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary. St Blaise
is the patron saint of Dubrovnik and whenever you see a statue of him, he is
holding the city of Dubrovnik in his hands.
After our guided tour, Bill and I
set off to find the “Hole in the Wall,” a bar that lies just outside the city
walls where you sit on cliff-side ledges and enjoy the Adriatic Sea. We found it – it is just a little door in the
wall (no sign) and you go down a few steps and select your table. We were joined by two other members of our
group (Trudy and Renee) and enjoyed a relaxing glass of wine while admiring the
beautiful view. Then it was back to the
ship for lunch – just what we needed – more food!
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| Franciscan Monastery |
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| St. Blaise Church |
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St. Blaise holding city of
Dubrovnik in his hand |
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| Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary |
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| Enjoying wine and the view at the Hole in the Wall Bar |
This evening we drove to the small Dubrovnik suburb
of Gromaca where we will had a home-hosted dinner and met with some of the
local people of Croatia. We were broken
up into groups of 8. At our home, we
were met by our host Theresa and her adult daughter Anna. We were first ushered into their smokehouse
where Anna talked about how her parents are keeping the old traditions
alive. The homesteads are handed down to
the oldest son and this house has been in their family for more than 300
years. In the smokehouse, Theresa smokes
the ham, makes the cheese, and cans the fruits and vegetables that they grow in
their fields. The family has a bull,
cows, pigs, and chickens. They also grow
most of the vegetables and fruits that they use – squash, peppers, tomatoes,
beans, cherries, figs, pomegranates, lemons, and olives. Theresa makes her own wine and brandy. Anna, who did all the talking, said that her
parents will most likely be the last to keep to these traditions. Most young people now live in Dubrovnik and
work outside the home (which she and her husband do). While in the smokehouse, Anna served us some
of their very sweet grapes and Grappa (a strong, clear brandy made from
grapes).
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| Smokehouse at our Home-Hosted Dinner |
We then went into the main part of the house, which
has a modern kitchen and bathroom. Our
dinner started with home-made bread, smoked ham, cheese, and pickled red
peppers. The main course was stuffed peppers
(with meat and rice) in a tomato sauce and mashed potatoes. Dessert was an apple strudel. We were served their home-made red wine, and
with dessert they gave us some of their walnut brandy. The food was delicious! While we were eating dessert, Anna’s 6-year
old daughter Maggie joined us. She is
just beginning to learn English in her Kindergarten class. Her mother showed her the photo book of
Colorado that we had given them, and she loved looking at the pictures and
saying the names of the animals in English.
It was a most enjoyable dinner – one of the best home-hosted dinners
that we have attended.
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| Anna and Maggie |
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| Anna, Maggie and Theresa |
About midnight our ship set sail for Korcula, an
island off the coast of Croatia that is covered with forests of cypress and
oak. The city of Korcula is a
walled-city that many historians believe is the birthplace of Marco Polo. It was first inhabited by the Greeks in the 4th
century BC. During its golden years from
the 11th-14th centuries, it was ruled by the
Venetians. We did a short walking tour
of the old city. As you enter the gate
of the walled city you see a stone plaque with St. Mark’s winged lion. He is holding an open book in his hand which
means those were peaceful times. If the
book on a statue or plaque of St. Mark’s lion is closed it means turbulent
times (no time for reading). In the
main square are three palaces, again, homes of wealthy inhabitants, and one
church (St. Mark’s). The palaces or
houses have 4 stories. The shops are on
the first floor, the living and dining rooms are on the 2nd, the
bedrooms are on the 3rd, and the kitchen was located on the 4th. The heat from the kitchen would rise out of
the roof, keeping the house cooler, and if there was a kitchen fire, the flames
would move upward thus allowing the occupants to escape. The used a rope pulley
system to move the food up and down the house.
We visited the Cathedral of St. Mark’s, a local museum, and the supposed
home of Marco Polo – of which only one wall remains. The Cathedral was built from the 14th-16th
centuries. St. Mark is the patron saint
of Korcula, and over the entrance to the Cathedral is a statue of St Mark. On either side of him are statues of a lion
guarding the people, and below the lions, on one side is Adam and the other
side is Eve. Our guide told us an
interesting architectural fact about air conditioning the homes inside the
walled city. The streets on the west
side of the city are straight so that when the Maestral winds (a cooling breeze
from the NW) blow they blow through the town cooling it off. The streets on the east side of the city are
curved to slow down the Bura winds (strong, cold winds from the NE).
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| Walled Old Town of Korcula |
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| Town of Korcula |
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| Entrance to the Walled City |
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| St. Mark's Church |
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Ruins of Marco Polo's supposed
birth place |
In the late morning, our guides arranged a boat trip
for us around some of the nearby islands.
It was a wonderful little trip – the scenery of the islands and the
turquoise blue of the sea was beautiful.
On one of the islands (Brnik) we saw the remains of an old stone
quarry. This quarry produced much of the
marble that was used in building the old cities and statues, and even provided
some of the marble used in the construction of the White House. We stopped in front of a Franciscan Monastery
for a little snack of Croatian cookies and walnut brandy. After lunch, Bill joined several other guests for a dip in the Adriatic Sea. I just dipped my feet in it.
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| Brnik Island |
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| Beautiful waters of the Adriatic Sea |
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| Franciscan Monastery |
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| Swimming in the Adriatic Sea |
In the afternoon, our guides tried to give us a “Balkan
Wars for Dummies” lecture on the complex break-up of Yugoslavia in the
1980s/1990s that resulted in independence for six former Yugoslavian states –
Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia. While interesting, it was also mind-boggling.
We really should have taken a refresher
course in Western Civilization for this trip!
We left Korcula for Hvar at 4 AM the next morning –
who needs a wake-up call when the bow thrusters that are used to push us away
from the dock are located just under our room!!
Hvar is a small lavender-covered island teeming with
tiny bays. In the morning we did a short
walk through the small fortress town of Hvar, seeing the Cathedral of St
Stephen, the village square and the Benedictine Convent where the nuns continue
the tradition of making lace doilies from the fiber of the agave plant. We did a short visit to their museum to see
samples of their work. It is
exquisite. I was disappointed that the
only items they had for sale were larger pieces that cost over $300. The smaller pieces (costing between $70-$100)
were sold out. I really wanted to buy a
small piece – it is so unique and the only place you get these lace pieces is
in the Convent Museum.
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| Town of Hvar |
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| Convent where Nuns make lace from Agave |
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| Lace doilies made from fiber of Agave Plant |
After our walk we boarded buses for a drive around
the island to see the fields of lavender (the hills are purple during the
summer), thyme, and rosemary. Our
destination was the seaside village of Vrboska, where we had a wine tasting at
a local winery. The wine was very good,
and I could even drink the red wine.
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| Wine tasting with our new friends from Parker, CO |
In the afternoon we cruised 1½ hours to Split on the
mainland of Croatia. This is the final
stop for our ship. Our last leg to
Zagreb will be by bus. The town is
dominated by the Palace of Emperor Diocletian and most of the better shops and
restaurants are located within its walls.
Diocletian built this palace as his retirement home in the 4th
Century AD, and lived there from 300-313 AD.
He was buried in the large 8-sided mausoleum within the walls, but his
sarcophagus is no longer there. In the 6th
Century, Christians converted the mausoleum into a church and the belief is
that, since Diocletian tortured Christians during his reign as Caesar, the
Christians removed his body. Today no
one knows where the body is. The church
is magnificent. The Christians broke out
one of the walls and extended the mausoleum, placing a beautiful alter in the
space where the back wall used to be. The
palace is the only Roman palace
that has been continuously occupied since Roman times and is one of the
best-preserved Roman ruins in Southeastern Europe.
When we arrived, the waterfront was teeming with
ferries and little cruise ships that sail between Split and the many Croatian
islands.
Our guides took us for a short walk along the
waterfront promenade in front of the Palace. Bill and I then went into the Palace to see
what was there. The weather tomorrow
when we have our guided tour is supposed to be cold and rainy so we felt it was
better to see it tonight. We also
stopped in the flea market and Bill bought a sweat shirt and I bought a pair of
warm pants. The temperature in Bled
(where we will be in 4 days) is in the mid-30’s and neither one of us has any
warm clothing.
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| Palace of Diocletian |
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| Inside Palace of Diocletian |
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| Inside Palace of Diocletian |
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| Walls surrounding Palace of Diocletian |
After dinner we were treated to a Croatian folk
dance. There was a live band with a
cello, two mandolins, and two guitars and 4 couples doing their native folk
dances. They performed 3 dances for
us. Their native costumes were fabulous
and they were great dancers. A nice way
to end the day.
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| Croatian Dancers |
Saturday morning dawned cold and rainy. Bill decided to go on the guided tour of the
palace but I decided to stay on the ship.
I do not want to get sick for the Romanian tour. Bill enjoyed the tour and said he learned
some interesting facts about the palace and the Emperor Diocletian. The rest of the day was at leisure – they
offered a tour of the engine room which Bill went on, but the rest of us were
either busy packing or talking in the lounge.
Tomorrow we leave the ship and travel by bus to Zagreb, the capital of
Croatia.
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