Dubrovnik

 

Pigeons in Dubrovnik

 

We entered the city of Debrovnik by the Pile Gate which in ancient times was closed each night to foreigners. Above the gate is one of 25 statues to St. Blaise the patron saint of the city. The main street is the Stradun which used to be a canal separating the Roman city of Ragusa with the Slav city of Dubrovnik. Underneath the street is the sewer system from 1296 built of limestone pipes. Later aqueducts were built to carry water to the city, ending in the water fountain next to Pile Gate. Within the city we went to the Franciscan monastery built in 1309. This is the home to the oldest continuous operating pharmacy from 1317. As we walk down Stradum, the houses are 17th century, built after the 1667 earthquake which destroyed 2/3rds of the buildings. Each house has a shop on the ground floor, living room on the 2nd floor, with bedrooms above, and finally the kitchen in the attic. Our guide told us how as a high school student, they would cruise the street (walking of course) and each high school had a section of town they frequented, but the best looking boys were from the Maritime High School. One of the few building to survive the earthquake is the Sponza Palace which served as the Customs house. Our final stop on the tour was the Rector's Palace, home of the rector, the parliament, the court and the munitions storage. In 1435, the gun powder exploded and the power room was moved elsewhere. Here are displayed much of the furniture and artwork of the city. Little evidence of the destruction that occurred during the homeland war were visible, mainly placards talking about destroyed buildings and bombed roofs.

View from the walls

Afterwards, I walked the walls of the city, you can accomplish it in about an hour. These walls are probably the best known feature of the city since they are so imposing and complete. The walls facing the mountains have a commanding view of the town, while the walls along the sea, give many views of the backyards and gardens of the remaining residents (about 500) of the city. After completing the walls, the city was filled with people, since two cruise ships had arrived during the morning, filled with tourists. It was time to leave the city for lunch on our small ship to escape the crowds.

In the evening we travelled to the village of Gromaca for our home hosted dinner. Here we met Slovena and her son Jacob. She shared with us some homemade walnut liquor in her wine cellar. In the cellar were 5 barrels of red wine, many gallon size jars for flavoring liquor, a limestone container of olive oil and meat curing on the hooks. Next door was her mother Anna's house over 300 years old as well as the smoke house. They have a cow, several pigs, 250 olive trees, and over 2000 grapevines on their farm. Then we went to their modern house, where they had just completed turning their porch into a large party room with 3 huge tables for celebrations with family. During the Serbian-Croatian war, this house was occupied for 9 months by Montenegrin soldiers. The old folks stayed in the village while the younger generation moved to Split. Their house was well-kept until the army left, when a number of keepsakes were destroyed. We had home made cheeses and prosciutto ham, followed by mashed potatoes and stuffed bell peppers, with a large quantity of home-made wine. We learned that her husband works on an Italian cruise line, so she is in charge of the farm with the help of near-by relatives and her two sons. At the end of the evening Jacob played the accordion for us, despite being a teenager and somewhat embarrassed to play. He had been studying for three years.

Mary meeting Anna at home hosted dinner