Last day and I have decided to head into town. There are still some sites to see. Yesterday before going over to Lokran I stopped in the Sponza Palace and found copies of beautiful letters written from all the great heads of Europe to the city of Dubrovnik over the last five hundred years. Even a letter from Napoleon’s General to the city informing them of the end of their independence. Instead of French troops invading they have the uncontrollable masses of tourists. The Palace has also a collection of plans of the city buildings as drawn in the late 17th & 18th Century. These are across many elevations and amaze me with the detail and colours. Further into the Palace is a 17th Century dressed gentleman signing ‘Freedom to the city of Dubrovnik’ Certificates with your name using quills and bottled inks. At the rear of the Palace is a small memorial in two rooms dedicated to all those that died in liberating the city from the clutches of the Serb dominated Army. They are noticeably all young men either police, firemen or those that organised themselves in different brigades. A photograph framed 8’ x 10’ represents each of them, most look like graduate photos and line the walls. I had to leave a brief entry in the visitors book “Much life, much sadness, much freedom”.
I am trying to do one of the walks in reverse order, always difficult remembering to read one thing and do the opposite, to overcome this I’ve walked backwards to see where I have come from. Not literally.
I walk up past an old Pucic family house which is now ringing out to flutes being practiced by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra who now reside here. The walk takes me through gardens and out by a chapel where nuns are not evident. Through very narrow lanes crowded with local housing with cats, cats and more cats hanging about, I come out into the light of a rocky harbour, Brsalje. It is pinned between Fort Lovrijerac and Fort Bokar. Fort Lovrijerac looks quite imposing setting a vast shadow over the area, well it will when the sun comes round. Talk about unfit, it’s knackering climbing up to the entrance and although my ticket for entrance is out-of-date I don’t begrudge the 5Kn. The guy must be bored out of his mind apart from his reading of an English dictionary. Of all the places I have visited this one is the easiest to visualise, a garrison of troops within it a couple of hundred years ago. Napoleon was two hundred years ago and it is very well preserved with no fancy modern “artist’s impression”. I can see the tourist buses massing as they drop of their 50+ cargo, that can be quantity or age.
In the apartment next to me when I first arrived was a young couple, either late teens or early twenties and they would open the window and smoke, I guess after a lot of physical activity. I also saw them in the Dubrovna coffee bar together and today while sitting by the taxi bus terminal, I have seen her come in with definitely her mother. Well we know what was going on, cheap hotel 100Kn per night. I have got Marija Ruso direct e-mail and telephone numbers as it is worth staying there again even passing through to other areas of Croatia.
The fortress is empty and I literally have the whole place to myself. The views over the old town are magnificent as well as of the two bays either side of this spit of land. From here I make my way back through the Pole Gate that I have now done every time on entering the city and go up to the Cathedral via the narrow lanes. Before going into the Cathedral I stop to participate in a non-alcoholic refreshment in the Hemmingway Bar. The chairs are large dark woven wicker chairs with big white cosy cushions. Whenever I have passed this spot it’s always been busy so I grabbed a chance when I saw an empty chair.
The Cathedral is large and spacious and completely the opposite of Palna which was so dark. The high windows in the dome afford masses of light to the altar and the while paintwork can be seen as new after the repairs of the war. The altar has had some repair and a separate room, the knave I guess, houses the treasures and art. From here I happen upon some more narrow lanes and the Maritime Museum. This really was a naval city and the fact that they have managed to keep so much of this historical paraphernalia is a credit. Again here are documents, some parchment, that profess to orders for shipbuilding, right of passage, protection, passports and even health certificates for the crew of a Ragusan trading ship to put into port in Tunisia.
In the upstairs part of the Museum there is a mass of models of ships to a huge scale. These are the models of ships the shipping companies of the 20th Century purchased from mainly Britain. Glasgow, Stockton on Tees, Belfast, Newcastle – all the old shipbuilding cities of the UK. Unfortunately a few were lost at sea, probably no bearing on where they were built. Below the Maritime Museum which I really enjoyed is an aquarium, a complete waste of money and I can only say very disappointing. It is so sad to see a huge loggerhead turtle in something not much bigger than a bath.
So much for the scaffolding in the harbour area, it is for some sort of music festival this weekend which is a shame to miss. There is a monstrous lighting gantry going up and the main stage is literally about 20 feet up over one of the piers. The only good view will probably be from the fortress wall. The ferry from Lopud should be due back any moment, that’s when the port starts getting busy again as soon after all the pleasure boats and tourist trips return from the “three islands tour”. I cannot think of anything worse than one of those organised tours with the islands and the fish picnic, one prawn and a squid. Today is, in fact, one of the only days I haven’t been on a ferry apart from the taxi boat from Lapad over to the market at Gruz. Right on cue, here’s the ferry Postiva back from another trip to Komolac, Lopud and Sipa, only ever did Lopud in the end.