But it wasn’t ours.
The early morning Krilo ferry to Dubrovnik takes over 3
hours. We cab it to the Ploce (PLO-see) Gate
of the walled city where we meet Jon, our host and owner of the 7 room Byron
hotel. There are no cars allowed in the
Old City, so Jon has arranged for a porter to carry our once-again overpacked
bags. The Byron is in a converted 300-year-old
building down one of those impossibly narrow alleys that we’re so fond of
photographing (and whose pictures are plaster all over this blog), so it’s nice
to finally have a chance to stay in one.
Our room, The Cathedral, has
windows onto the alley on one side and overlooks the famous domed Dubrovnik Cathedral
from the other.
We drop the bags and head out to explore. We wander randomly, cutting up an alley with
a crazy long, steep, uneven flight of stairs.
Every few stairs up, there a door to another home on one side or the
other, a three-dimensional wonder I can only guess has been designed by Dr.
Suess, Architect. At the top we bump
into Lady Pi-Pi, one of the restaurants Jon recommended, we stop in for
lunch. While waiting to be seated, we
take a picture of one of the funest ancient fountains we have ever seen.
Our table is on the top terrace, and our seats have a nice
view of the city from this perch. I
order the Pi-Pi salad and out loud the playful waiter shames my pronunciation.
“It’s not pie-pie. It’s named after the
lady out front” he says with a wry grin.
Ohhhhhhhhhh, we figure out… pee pee.
Lunch was good.
Walking back down, we stop in the War Photo Museum. Admittedly, we avoid overly serious places
when on vacation, but because of the very recent history of Croatia, we feel
this deserves our time and attention. To
catch you up, in 1991, Croatia declared independence from communist socialist Yugoslavia. Serbia did the same at the same time. The brutal Bosnian War ensued. From 1992 to 1995 the civil war among Serbs,
Croats and Bosnians raged on, the bloodiest event in Europe since World War II,
extinguishing an estimated 100,000 souls.
The museum captures the cruelty and ray brutality of modern war through
the lens of photojournalism, and does so without political agenda or editorial. the current exhibits are an exposé on two
very recent conflicts: War in Ukraine
and The End of Yugoslavia. We did not
think it was appropriate to take pictures inside the museum (hell, even I have
a little decorum), but here’s a link to the museum’s website: https://www.warphotoltd.com/ It’s worth a visit if you’re ever in the
neighborhood.
Almost back to the Byron, we walk past the Cathedral. Spilled out from the front doors, onto the
streets, and into the outdoor restaurant across the way is a big wedding, their
energy infectious, and not bothered at all by us and a bunch of other tourists hanging
around the edges. We head upstairs to
nap, but half an hour later we’re awakened by the sounds of very loud singing and
it smelled like the building was on fire.
It took us a few minutes to realize that the wedding had kicked up a
gear. Walking in this morning Jon had
told us that Saturday was wedding day in these parts, and pyrotechnics were a
big part of the celebrations. It turns
out that weddings in Croatia are a week-long celebration, with family and
friends involved in daily festivities, most of which involve alcohol, fireworks
and road flairs. The joy was undeniable,
even if the bride, groom, flagsmen and the entire wedding party was completely obscured
in the thick gray smoke. I am 100%
bringing a truck safety kit to the very next wedding I am invited to as this
tradition will play great back home.
We cab it to the top of the Srdj Hill to Konoba Dubrava, a locals
restaurant far above the Old Town walls.
It’s in a secluded grove of trees with a gravel parking lot and indoor
and outdoor seating. Konoba Dubrava is
known for their Dalmatian Peka, dishes cooked over a wood fire under a cast
iron bell. We’re seated outside and for
the first time during our trip the night is cool. Not bad considering it’s the last day of
September. The atmosphere is
lively. In one of the biggest rooms,
there was our second wedding of the day, guests spilling out to smoke, chat and
cool down from all the dancing and singing.
Across the courtyard is what appears to be a bachelorette or birthday
party, a long table of attractive, smartly dressed women in their early 30s
laughing and enjoying the evening. Our
waiter, who insists on calling Mandy “Lady”, takes our order and departs with a
“Yes Lady, thank you Lady”. Another
liter of house white wine, perhaps our 20th of the trip is delivered
and we start our own celebration. When
our mixed meat Peka is delivered, our waiter stages the table and insists that
“I’ll take your picture please, Lady”.
He’s done this before. It’s
nice. The breeze kicks up, the
temperature drops a few more degrees and we ask for a check. “No, no, you can’t leave yet. It’s Saturday. We have live music starting!” is our waiter’s
response when he returns with blankets to warm us from the outside and homemade
grappa to warm us from within. The band
rolls in, and it’s different than a band setting up at an American bar when
dinner service is winding down. It’s
more of a Croatian Mariachi band, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar and
accordion players, going table to table.
They start at the bachelorette table (hell, I would have 😊),
and do 4 or 5 what we assume are Croatian classics based on the enthusiasm and
volume with which the entire restaurant sings along. Just another Croat Saturday night.
We Uber it back to Old Town and the crowds are gone. It’s peaceful and beautiful and dramatically
lit. At the top at stairs at St Blaise’s
Church is a jazz quartet, so we stop and listen for a bit. We head down Stradun, the wide main street of
town. The walkway, like so many we have
seen this trip, are made from the regional limestone which have become so
highly polished over the centuries that they always appear wet. At the far end of the street, by the Pile
Gate is the Large Onofrio Fountain. Yes,
that’s right, you heard it here first… Onofrio Fountain. It’s named after the Italian engineer who built
the water system in the early 1400s that brought clean drinking water to the
city. To this day, this fountain has 16 running
spouts where you can fill your water bottle or just drink right from the faucet. We take advantage of the late hour to get a
pic, just me and my namesake monument.
