Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik has gone from being the site of a seige of atrition to the pride of the Adriatic in less than twenty years. The massive walled Old Town is incredible and people are swarming to experience it for themselves, and prices, unfortunately, reflect the massive influx of tourism, making it one of the most expensive places I've been. When I arrived, there were masses of people offering their spare rooms as private accommadation and luckily, a guy I have been traveling with since Tirana had friends waiting for him there, with room to spare for the both of us. The lady who owns the house is such a great host, heaping bread, meat, and cheese on us at the mere mention of hunger and offering shots of grapa, the local liquor, upon arrival. And so far, I've found that to be typical of Croatians: friendly, welcoming, and helpful. It really makes for a nice stay, if only it would stop raining for more than 5 hours at a time (which apparently is appalingly unusual for this time of year). We did get a few gorgeous half-days during which we explored the Old Town, walked atop the entire length of the walls surrounding the city, and climbed up to the Imperial Fortress on Srdj Hill (built in 1808), the site where the only Croatian military troops were stationed during the siege while almost every other hill was controlled by the JNA, the Yugoslav army. The fort was eerie to look at, abandoned, overgrown, and decrepit, but had great views of the city. Here are the pictures from the city wall:

Here are the photos from the viewpoint above:

Despite the rain, we managed to have a great time enjoying the atmosphere of the place and eating some of the unbelievable ice cream (never tasted kiwi ice cream so amazing). At night we had great fun cooking our meals with our Croatian mama and later checking out a few bars in the city, which all seemed to be Irish pubs for some reason, before heading to the "Fuego Latino Club" that never played any Latino music (just House Electro). We ended up spending three nights having a blast here before heading up to Hvar Island. The three people I'm with now are some of the coolest I've met on the trip, two guys from San Diego traveling for two years who both DJ and know tons about music and a teacher from Canada who teaches at an international school in Amman and has been abroad for the last five years, living it up every summer break in Europe.

For some contrast, I found a picture of the main street in the Old Town, Placa, during the siege in 1991. For more information on the siege of Dubrovnik, look here, a thorough account of the history, politics, and details of the siege from a former member of the Croatian army.

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Details:

There are several daily bus departures from the Montenegran coast to Dubrovnik, but the times vary with the day of the week. There are morning departures M, W, Sa at 6:20 and T, Th at 7:30. There are afternoon departures at 14:15 everyday and at 16:25 on Friday. The fare is $22/15.50€ but they will charge you an extra euro for your bag to be put underneath as well. It takes about 3 hours, depending on how slow the border is going at the time. When you arrive, you'll be greeted by loads of people offering their spare rooms to tourists. This type of private accommadation is probably the best bet in Dubrovnik, as the hostels here apparently suck and are expensive as well. I paid $17/90kn for my part of the two bed room that I shared with a guy a met in Albania. It is about a 15 minute walk from the Old Town. In the high season, July and August, expect to pay much much more. I would highly recommend the lady we stayed with, Slobodanka Vukanovic. Free wireless at the house, so friendly, and the best price around. Here is her contact info: address, Ul. Iva Vojnovica br.25, tel., +385(20)332075, email, vviki@net.hr. The best ice cream place in town is by far "Kiwi." While not the biggest portions, they are close and have far and away the best quality and about the same prices ($1.50/7kn per scoop). Seeing the Old Town, city walls, and the viewpoint are obvious, just head in the direction of the place and you'll find the entrance pretty easy. For the city walls, though, there are only two entrances, one at Pile Gate and one at the harbor gate (student price is $4/20kn and I think the adult price is $10/50kn).