Tuesday May 16-18, 2017
The great walled city of Dubrovnik, Pearl of the Adriatic, survived the bloody Yugoslav Wars of 1991-1992, barely. After Tito's death in 1980, ethnic tensions fueled territorial disputes and full scale war erupted as Yogoslavia began to split apart in the 1990's. Heavily fortified with battlements and walls since midieval times, Dubrovnic had been a separate republic before Napoleon's 1808 conquests, fending off the Venetians from the north and the Ottomans from the south and west. When the Serbs beseiged the city in 1991 and began shelling it, the international community was outraged and the United Nations stepped in to negotiate a ceasefire. Dubrovnik has been rebuilt, the destruction evidenced by the new roof tiles over more than two-thirds of the walled city and some pock marks in the shiny marble streets. We followed Rick Steve around old town, orienting ourselves and deciding what we wanted to explore over the next two days.
From our hotel it was a 10 minute walk to the Ploče Gate into the old town. A walk down the main street, the Stradun, a wide stone comercial street, lead to the Pile Gate connecting our landmarks - Luža Square with its Bell Tower, Orlando's Column, and the Church of St. Blaise (the protector of Dubrovnik) to St. Savior Square with it small church, Franciscan Monestary, and Onofrio's Big Fountain. We found the Franciscan Monestary and Museum particularly beautiful, an oasis with its arched courtyard, each capital different, and its museum of embroidered vestments, altar pieces, chalices, and thuribles.
Cruise ships can flood the city, so we followed our early morning, late afternoon routine, returning to our hotel to relax and enjoy the view from afar. Once oriented we explored the side streets, stopping to listen to muscians, to have a drink, to just watch the people and kids playing in the square in the late afternoon light.
The first two season's of Game of Thrones (affectionately refered to as GOT) were filmed here. We found the Steps of Shane, Kings Landing, and Backwater Bay, after stripping away all the CGI. During the filming, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) was said to have frequently walked the streets in costume.
Our early morning walk of the wall was beautiful, and being able to recognize from above the places we had been, was particularly memorable.
The streets of Dubrovnik will always shimmer in my dreams like a pearl.
No comments:
Post a Comment