All Around Town

Cruisers mill about on the Stradun.

Anne and Mark took several day trips while they were staying in Dubrovnik, but also spent a significant amount of time hanging around town.  Dubrovnik is quite the tourist destination and on a couple of the mornings Anne and Mark were in town, so were the passengers of a cruise ship.

Anne and Mark sat at a cafe and sipped coffee while the cruise ship passengers milled about.  They might even had appeared to be real Europeans except for the fact that Mark is roughly the size of 3 typical Europeans (Mark is sometimes mistaken for a street gang).  And even though it was late in the season, the street performers came out to ply their trade.  There was a parrot trainer guy right near our cafe.  For some reason, the parrots were trained not to fly or talk, but to walk around.  Interesting act, I guess.  There were also some other street performers, but they were clearly just going through the motions (not worthy of a photo on this blog).

What are you looking at?

After finishing their coffee, Anne and Mark sprinted to all of the other sites in town (it turns out that the coffee was actually espresso, so Anne and Mark sustained a significant caffeine buzz, which may explain the sprinting).  Just outside the main gate to the city (called the Pile Gate), there is a statue of St. Blaise.  Blaise is the patron saint of Dubrovnik and is usually portrayed with a model of the city in his left hand.  (And he is portrayed EVERYWHERE.)  The story is that St. Blaise warned the city of an impending attack and allowed it time to prepare to defend itself.  The attack was rebuffed and Blaise was declared to 'the man.' 

St. Blaise watches over the main gate to Dubrovnik

After the cruise ship crowds started to head back to their floating buffets and $50 pitchers of Sangria, Anne and Mark ventured further away from the main drag.  A friend who had previously visited Dubrovnik advised them to seek out the Hole in the Wall.  It turns out that this was great advice (thanks, Paulin).

Keep it short and simple.

The signs made it pretty easy to find.  When we found it we realized that this place was called the Hole in the Wall because... well, because it is a bar that you get to by going through a hole in the city walls (we probably should have picked up on that a bit sooner, I now realize).  The bar is actually set up on the outside of the walls.  And because of this, the unobstructed view is fantastic, or as the sign says, "the most beautiful."

Anne heads to the bar with the city walls behind her and the Adriatic in front of her.

After trying a local drink and soaking up the views at this establishment, Anne and Mark next ventured to the top of the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik.  The mountain is tremendously steep and the locals do not recommend hiking up to it.  This site is accessible by cable car and that is how Anne and Mark got up there.

The cross at the top of the mountain was installed by the residents of Dubrovnik.  The population of the city is mainly Roman Catholic.  When the Siege of Dubrovnik was taking place in 1991 and 92, the residents held strong in the base at the top of the mountain and the still-standing cross was a symbol to the entire city that the location had not been taken by the opposition.

While at the top of the mountain, Anne and Mark enjoyed a good view of the city and the Adriatic Sea.  

According to the tourist map, the far side of that island contains a clothing-optional beach.  Oooh la la.

Anne and Mark also visited a museum located in the old base on top of the mountain.  The museum exhibits made clear the fact that the people who fought in the Siege of Dubrovnik were not well armed soldiers.  For the most part the weapons they had available were mementos from World War II and hunting rifles.  Additionally, the photos on display in this museum show a fighting force made up mostly of local police and national guard-types, mixed in with what appear to be regular people and even a few tourists.

The guy on the left: You told me it was Bermuda Shorts day, not uniform picture day!  Real, funny guys.

I am not an expert in military issue headgear... but neither are these guys.

After a busy day of touristing, Anne and Mark finished it off by taking a nice walk along the beach in the newer part of Dubrovnik.  The area around the new port is well developed with resorts and play areas for the rich and famous.  Most of them were closed for the season however (it only got down to about 60 degrees that night, but this is "winter" in Dubrovnik, apparently).  This worked out well for Anne and Mark as with no one else around, they were able to relax, take advantage of the beautiful setting and watch the sun set over the sea.