A lot happened today. Having left the place we were staying at and taken the ferry back to Dubrovnik, we drove to the Old Town. Today is the culture day (its popularity varies from person to person). The Old Town in Dubrovnik is hotspot for any sight seer and an essential destination for any tourist and believe me when I say that there are lots of them round there. The largest single part of the Croatian economy is all around you when you are there.
We all went off in groups of three to explore. Opinions varied over what to do. The gold group found a nice high cliff by the beach and spent the afternoon jumping off it, three of the silvers spent the afternoon in a restaurant and Major Billington chose the sun tanning on the beach option. As for my group of three, we had lunch and then chose to tour the Old Town.
We started by going through the Pile Gate. The draw bridge which you cross to enter the town was once lifted u every night and the key given to the Crown Prince. We shuffled through the crowds of tourists to the War Photo Gallery. This gallery seeks to “expose the reality of war...and the injustices committed to combatants and innocents alike”. They have a permanent exhibition on the Bosnian War and also had an exhibition on the Arab revolutions taking place at the moment. No photo will ever fully reflect the turmoil and suffering war creates I don’t think. A photo of a line Libyans praying with tanks surrounding them can only move you so much. However, if you take the time to look at it, to put yourself in their shoes, you can begin to appreciate the not so obvious truth that wars are always bad. The Bosnian man smoking a cigarette outside what remains of his shelled home reminds you how insecure what all are and easily everything you hold dear can be snuffed out. The Serbian soldier kicking the defenceless Croat in the head while the child looks on crying reminds you that even if you did nothing wrong the devil aint a loser and actually we have it all. The soldiers fighting in the rubble while above them “Welcome to Sarajevo” has been sprayed on like graffiti reminds you that this was once a great city before the fighting broke out, it reminds you that this could be happening here...
The walk along the walls of old Dubrovnik could not be more different. For one thing, the museum was air conditioned while up on the walls it was boiling! And yet, twenty years ago it was these walls which were being shelled, these walls which received 155 direct hits and it was 68% of the buildings within these walls which were damaged by it. However, walking along the top of them and looking out over the red tiled roofs of the old town and beyond that the turquoise sea, it looks like anything but a war zone. Repairing Dubrovnik cost a mere $10 million and it really makes you wonder what we could achieve if we were not spending literally trillions of pounds a year on “defence”. However, the walk along the walls is definitely worth the money and you can do a lot worse than gazing out over a UNESCO world heritage site for an hour or longer.
Unfortunately, we only had an afternoon to look around Dubrovnik which is a shame because there are so many places that are worth visiting. However, when all is said and done, not many people are too concerned about comparing the differences between Franciscan and Dominican monasteries and such like. Interestingly enough though, there was a wedding going on in one of the churches and two of the musicians performing were the same ones as had performed for us at the restaurant on Lopud on Tim’s birthday.
Tonight we are camping at the same place we spent the first night at. Apart from certain individuals getting lost on runs (not me again), the day has run smoothly and I feel a good night’s sleep may be in order as we have a fairly early start tomorrow. It is a shame as I was just about getting used to the hot weather round here.
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