Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik is a beautiful walled city overlooking the Adriatic, a popular summer beach vacation destination for many Europeans.

Our trip to Croatia in November meant the city was neither beachy nor bloated with tourists. In fact, our stay in Dubrovnik was really quite chilly and many of the historic landmarks and museums were closed when we arrived.

Many of our students headed north to the town of Split or even further north to the popular Zagreb region, tired of Dubrovnik in only a day or two. I had neither the inclination nor the restlessness to leave Dubrovnik. Even in the cold and the rain, the city’s status as a historical and cultural gem was apparent.

Many of the streets were made of cobblestone, the squares with marble and the main thoroughfare of the old walled city was lined with baroque buildings and beautiful churches. It was hard to imagine that the city had been hit by some 2000 shells in the civil war raging the former Yugoslavia (1991-92), but off the beaten path, piles of rubble, presumably from decimated homes and churches, were undeniable.

We visited Saint Saviour Church, constructed between 1520 and 1528, one of the few structures to survive their major 1667 earthquake;

viewed the Clock Tower, which originated in 1444; and the beautiful Onofrio Fountain, built in 1438. We even observed a candlelight processional by hundereds of town children to the St Blaise’s Church, which was a memorial to war victims. By far my favorite experience was a walk on the city’s walls, built around 1200, modified with 15 forts in the mid 13th century, and then modified in the 1400s to prevent attacks from the Turks. The walls, which stretch 2 km around the entire Old City and stretch up to 25 meters high in some places, are quite impressive.

They are larger on the land side, 6 meters, but run between 1.5 and 3 meters on the sea side.

We entered through the Plie Gate, which acts as a drawbridge and was constructed originally to be pulled up and the key handed to the prince every night. The views of the town and the Adriatic were breathtaking. It was so peaceful watching the waves crash into the rocky coast, look down at all the little red roofs, the nuns tending their gardens, and taking tons of photos.

And, of course what vacation stop would be complete without good food? We ate our way through Dubrovnik….stuffing ourselves with gelato, delicious seafood, including the world’s best calamari (Katrina this would be your favorite!!), pizza, and garlic. One of the professors on the voyage and his wife love garlic so much that they host a garlic themed party at their home every year, for the past 27 years! Since the weekend Professor Budd and his wife, Suzanne Sherber, normally host the soirée they were in Croatia, they invited many faculty and staff members for a dinner at a special restaurant that promised (and delivered) tons of fresh garlic.

Our last day in Croatia was spent on a leisurely walk with Lara. Both of us brought our laptops--me to work on the dissertation and her to work on cover letters. After we found a secluded little spot near the sea, we ran into my work neighbor (he works in Information Technology in the Computer Lab and my office is right next to his). His reaction to me doing school work was akin to Abby and Sarah's when they discovered I had once spent a large portion of a weekend on a visit to see Pauletta at Duke at Duke's library. Listen!!! I never claimed to be cool!