Dubrovnik: Part I - Old Town

Last week, I took a much-needed vacation from the cold, dreary Sarajevo winter and spent 6 days in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was the best decision I've made since I moved overseas. During my time there, I spent a couple of days exploring the Old Town (Stari Grad), which is the biggest tourist spot in the city.

side street

The first day, my trusty tour guides Alisa and her friend took me all over downtown Dubrovnik. Our hotel was barely within walking distance, so we took the bus there. It runs every 15 minutes or so on weekdays and only cost 10 kuna one-way (less than 1.5 Euros). It dropped us off right outside of the Pile Gate, one of the entrances to the fortified part of the city. I instantly fell in love. It reminded me of Venice but with less water and more stone. Every building is extremely close to its neighbors, and the side streets are only about 5 feet wide. Walking down Stradun, the main drag, you can see that all of the narrow side streets leading up the mountain. The Croatians decorated the stone windowsills with plants and hung clothes lines from one building to another.

My trusty tour guides

We made our way down the Stradun to the spot Alisa recommended for postcard-worthy pictures, a pier just past St. John Fort (Trdjava sv. Ivana). There, we found quite a few benches and stray cats. These strays were not like that ones I've seen in Bosnian though...they were quite fat and healthy. They were in just as much need of loving as the ones in Bosnia though. The view from the pier was spectacular. Besides the quaint Croatian houses and endless Adriatic Sea, we could see Lokrum, an island about 1 kilometer away where people go cliff diving. After our picture break, we continued weaving our way through the streets of the Old Town in order to ensure that I had seen everything. I contemplated spending 70 kuna to walk the City Walls that fortify that part of Dubrovnik, but even if I had wanted to, the entrances were closed. I had no regrets though because I was planning on hiking up to Mount Srđ the next day and knew the view of the old town would be fantastic.

On the way to my last point of interest just outside the city walls, Alisa showed me Ivo Grbić's house. He is a rather famous Croatian painter who survived the most brutal attack by Serbian forces on Dubrovnik. On December 6, 1991, his house suffered a direct hit and burnt down, but he managed to save a few paintings from the blaze. There is a famous picture hanging on the side of the restored house from that day. In the photo, he stands wrapped in a blanket in front of his burning house and gives the Serbs a hand gesture that means FU. I thought that was a really cool story. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it because I thought I'd be able to find it online. No luck though.

Panoramic view of the square by the Bell Tower

On the third day of my trip, I ventured back to the Old Town with my colleague Edo, his family, and my clarinetist roommate for week. We stopped for coffee at a cafe on the Stradun, just like Edo had suggested I do before we even left Sarajevo. It was calm, sunny, and relaxing. The city was peacefully empty. Since the weather isn't hot enough for most seaside activities, tourists tend to avoid Dubrovnik in January. I enjoyed listening to everyone around me speak Bosnian while I watched the some kids play with the pidgins that were close to the Bell Tower.

strolling along the old city port

After coffee, we made our way over to the aquarium. It cost 40 kuna, and yeah, there were some pretty cool fish in there. However, it was much smaller than I expected. It only had two rooms. Perhaps it's better to go during tourist season, since it seemed like they were in a transitional stage. A set of stairs seemed to lead to another part of the aquarium, but it was roped off. Oh well.

We wandered around the city after that to kill time until Edo's wife's rehearsal was over. Honestly, there isn't a whole lot to do in Old Town unless you want to go into all of the different museums. Without the museums, you can see everything in no more than 3 hours including a coffee break. I just tried to take in the sights as effectively as possible and enjoyed breathing the clean sea air. :)

iconic view of the city walls