Okay, today is going to be about Dubrovnik, as that is all we did today…

Our first full day in the beautiful coastal city of Dubrovnik, Croatia! Did we mention beautiful?! It was another day that started with rain but quickly turned into sunshine and a beautiful 64 degrees.

Our morning started with a panoramic tour of the city. Basically this means the bus drives around the city and stops for a photo op or two.

Here are the photos back of Dubrovnik from a high overlook, outside the City:

This is Lokrum Island a few thousand yards off of Dubrovnik:

And of course here’s “proof of life” for the family 😉

And since we spent the day & evening with them, we thought we’d welcome to the blog, George & Jackie (George is the Green Beret previously mentioned in an earlier day/blog).

In our short drive on the panoramic tour, we learned that Dubrovnik only has a population of 35K people, 50K if you include the surrounding area.

Crazy to think that such a well-known European city is so small. During high season, this becomes the biggest town in Croatia. Workers come from surrounding countries for seasonal jobs and, due to the housing situation, employers frequently must arrange housing for their workers.

The housing situation is this – if you live in Dubrovnik proper, your landlord might ask you to leave (and by “ask” we mean kick you out) for 3 months during peak season because there is so much money to be made on rentals to tourists. For that reason and the fact that rents are higher in Dubrovnik proper, many live just outside of Dubrovnik and therefore either must purchase a car or take public transportation.

We met up with our local guide, Lidia, at Pile Gate (pronounced pee-lay) and entered the old city of Dubrovnik which is surrounded by a city wall that dates back to the 13th century. The old city is sooooo neat!!!! Shops, churches, restaurants, and residential – this area has it all.

Here’s a quick view of the walls as you are walking towards Pile Gate:

Before we get to the pics of Dubrovnik, one piece of the tour was fascinating and surreal – the Homeland War from 1991-1992. Upon entering the city walls we were directed to a sign that marks all of the damage done during this short war, mostly fought from 1991-1992. As Yugoslavia began to fall (after the death of Tito) Serbia and Montenegro wanting to keep the union of countries together, began attacking/bombing Croatia.

Our guide was 8 years old when the war started and has vivid memories of living through bombings for a year. She shared accounts of going to her elementary school not for education but for safety as it was a designated bomb shelter, spending time in the principal’s office running around and playing.

The hard times were those when they had no water or had to ration water. She said people ask her if she has PTSD, does she have flashbacks, or possibly need therapy to all of which she says NO. And she holds no grudges toward any nations who were involved as she cites those to blame were the politicians who started the war, adding that none of her loved ones were one of the 450+ casualties that occurred in Dubrovnik.

The facade of one church is pockmarked from flying shrapnel during those attacks as is a 14th century cistern across from the church. It was fascinating to hear this first hand account of living through a year of bombings and surreal as trouble in the Balkans was just something we heard about on the news and now we’ve seen where it happened, literally touched indentations in a church wall where shrapnel hit, and seen before & after pics of some of the areas.

But enough history… you are likely just here for the pictures, so here are pictures of the original, walled, old-town Dubrovnik:

A water cistern with church (pock-marked) in the background:

The main street of Dubrovnik:

Varied streets and piazzas of the City:

And for those who watched the Game of Thrones, you might recognize this as the area / stairway where Cersei was accosted on her walk of shame…

After our old city tour with Lidia concluded we headed for lunch with four of our travel mates. It was a nice, relaxing, and enjoyable lunch with great company! Once lunch was done we took a stroll back through the old city before hopping on our tour bus back to the hotel for a bit of R&R before heading back to the old city area for the evening.

Early in the evening, we headed back down to the old city with our new friends from Pittsburgh (you remember….the bad-ass ex-Green Beret? Yep, him and his wife).

We wanted to see what the old city looked like after dark. We are so glad we went!

The crowds were gone and about half the stores were open. We got a glimpse of real life – kids playing soccer in the street, locals eating dinner on restaurant terraces, people walking their puppers, etc.

Here are some of the same (or similar) shots of the City, except this time at night / after dark.

Outside the Walls (this first one is at the Pile gate):

And inside the walls:

We strolled through to the harbor side of the City, and back out of the walls into the small harbor. The four of us walked our as far as we could, sat on the benches and enjoyed the sound.

Jay thought it was amusing (or maybe not)….. when Tim said “Isn’t this nice? Couldn’t you just sit here and listen to the waves all evening?”. Jay started to agree but then Tim added “You know, sitting right here at the point of King’s Landing”.

And then back outside the wall (on the Harbor side):

We wandered back inside the city walls again and found a nice pizza place for dinner. With no concern for time, we ate, drank, and thoroughly enjoyed the company of our friends in a quaint back street (okay, to them streets, more what we’d think of as an alley).

We exited the walls, hopped on the city bus back to the hotel, and called it a night. A good night!

Tomorrow, more exploration in Dubrovnik, including walking the City walls, and visiting Saint Lawrence keep (where the Red Keep was portrayed/filmed).