Today we had a final morning to explore the Dubrovnik area before heading north to meet up with Rowan. Unlike our previous two days, the weather was clear and sunny — a perfect day to visit Lokrum Island just off the coast. Once the personal property of Archduke Maximilian of Austria-Hungary, the island is now set aside as a tree preserve. As a result, the hiking trails on the island are marked every hundred meters or so by a blue hydrant standing ready just in case of fire.
Besides clear views of the city itself and southeast along the coastline, the island boasts a military installation at its highest point, plus the ruins of a former monastery. Its inhabitants include a range of bird life, the largest of which are a flock of peafowl that must be a relic of the onetime royal occupation.
The rocky coastline includes a number of unusual rock formations, and towards the southern tip is an enclosed lagoon entirely separate from the ocean, yet connected to it via some sort of subterranean plumbing system. Normally it is perfectly calm, but today the waves were active enough that the surface of the pool also rose and fell in time with the swells of the open sea.
After seeing all that Lokrum had to offer, we made our way back to Dubrovnik for a quick lunch before catching the airport bus. We had a few more moments to explore the maze of alleyways in the city and a few more of its hidden secrets, like the tiny door in the wall that opens onto a cliffside bar.
For reasons not worth relating here, the last part of our day involved a somewhat convoluted sequence of travel: bus to airport, hopper flight from Dubrovnik to Zagreb, rental car at the airport, then a 300km drive to Zadar. The highway passed through some beautiful mountainous terrain, and featured a series of long tunnels, one more than 5km. All the travel was worth it in the end, as we reached the apartment where we will stay tonight, and were greeted there by Rowan, who is on break this week from their study abroad program. Reunited at last!
Dubrovnik functioned as an independent city state for centuries, building heavy fortifications to protect itself from Venice and other nearby powers. Continuing our tour of the local military infrastructure, we planned to visit several of the outlying structures that helped keep enemies at bay. First up was Fort Imperial, perched on the summit of Mount Srd overlooking the old city. There is a cable car that was out of commission today due to high winds. Luckily we had planned to take the hiking trail anyway.
In concordance with its long independent streak, Dubrovnik’s official city motto is “Libertas”. One can still find small odes to liberty and independence displayed around the city, like these trailside pieces.
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The trail to Fort Imperial features numerous switchbacks on the way up. Around 15 years ago they installed a series of bronze panels depicting the 14 stations of the cross, one at each turnaround.
As we gained altitude, we could see the newer parts of Dubrovnik and islands farther to the north. From the top, we could also see the ranges of mountains further inland.
Fort Imperial is quite new by local standards, built by the French in just a few years after Napoleon’s armies ended the city-state’s centuries of independence. With powerful modern artillery, massive city walls became less important and instead it was necessary to control the higher ground nearby. This truth was confirmed anew during the 1991-92 Balkan war. Local residents had assumed that their status as a UNESCO heritage site would protect them from any aggression, and were unprepared for war. This confidence proved hollow when Serbian army units moved into the area, pursuing their dream of a “Greater Serbia”. A small band of just a few dozen men managed to hold Fort Imperial in the face of their attacks, stopping their advance outside the city and turning the invasion into a siege. You can still see the craters left in the fort’s walls by modern high-explosive shells. Cut off from the outside by both land and sea and under fire from the opposing forces, the city’s residents endured a difficult year before negotiations brought an end to fighting in the region. Information boards in the old city detail all the structures that were damaged during this period.
Our second fort of the day is named Tvrdava Lovrijenac (or the Fort of St. Lawrence in English). It sits on the coast next to the city, separated from it by a small rocky cove. Originally built in the 11th century, the structure as it stands today is a massive bastion built to support heavy cannon. From the parapets at its top you can find excellent views of the seaward city walls — but the best views are to be had from still one more headland over, where you can see both the fort and the city in one sweeping vista.
Note Nick on the walkway in the bottom left (blue coat)
On our way back we stopped at the Wine Museum located just outside the Pile gate. It contained informative exhibits on local winegrowing, including the many grape varietals native to the region (including the once-unknown ancestor of Zinfandel grapes in California) and all the traditional machinery used to harvest grapes, process them into wine, and transport the final product.
A local company makes wine called “Navis Mysterium” that they age in either bottles or amphorae for several years under the surface of the Adriatic Sea. They come out covered with picturesque debris, and (reportedly at least) perfectly aged in a constant temperature environment.
On our way just inside the Pile gate is a sight that Nick especially liked: the city fountain, a circular structure with spouts around on all sides.
We had a nice dinner with local wine at a vegetarian restaurant not far from our lodging (on a picturesque pedestrian street replete with outdoor seating protected by retractable awnings and dotted with lanterns, before walking to our third fort of the day. For the evening, we had tickets to the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra concert held within Fort Revelin overlooking the city harbor. The concert hall was a massive vault within the structure. We had bought two of the last four seats available, numbered 99 and 100, assuming they were all the way at the back. Imagine our surprise to find that we were in the second row, with a clear view of the players! The symphony here has a tradition dating back seven centuries, and the music was quite enjoyable.
Howes' Doings 