Dubrovnik - Pearl of the Adriatic

  Dubrovnik, Croatia
Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Dubrovnik is definitely a city with an off season. We hear stories about Dubrovnik in the summer, people queuing in line to get through the old town gates, crushing crowds once you get in. People living here regaled us with stories about when the cruise ships pull up and drop tens of thousands of people off, every day. In December it just felt like a small town with a smattering of tourists here and there.

Dubrovnik in the Winter

The local government saw that this was a problem and started a "Winter Card" program where tourists get cards that allow them into special events and gives them discounts on different museums. These cards were a good idea and we ended up going to a free wine tasting. Croatian wineries have been around for a long time but they haven't caught on as much in the states. We thought these were very tasty so if anyone gets a chance to try one, go for it. At first it was a bit intimidating with all these men in thousand dollar suits (People in Dubrovnik appear to spend even more money on clothes than those in Split). However, everyone was very nice and two zany women retirees from Florida showed up and made the party very fun.

All over Croatia the way to stay is in the sobes. Sobes are rooms for rent, usually in a separate building attached to someones home. Some places share a bathroom, other places you get your own. Sometimes you can get a small kitchenette to cook your own meals. There are not enough hotels to manage all the crowds that come in the summer and it is a good way for families to earn income. We stayed at sobes the whole time except in the capital Zagreb and all of them were a great experience. In Dubrovnik we stayed with a family, an older couple, probably in their 70's, their son and his family. When people are sent to rustle up boarders at the bus and ferry stations they usually send the oldest female in the household. They are onto something there, because if most people are like me they would prefer to go with some cute little white haired old lady than some young guy in his 20's smoking a cigarette. So, the sobes are their domain. Our "sobe lady" was delightful. If she caught us leaving in the morning she would bring out sherry and "nut liquor" for a few drinks to send us on out way. The prices in December are probably 1/4 the price in the summer because there are a lot more Sobes competing for just a few tourists. Many close for this time of year, so I think we got good sobes because of it.

Many of the days we spent in the old town, wandering along the walls and and walking along the marble streets. There are at least three monasteries in the old town; Franciscan, Dominican and Jesuit. The Franciscan monastery holds the oldest continuously functioning pharmacy in the world. It has been functioning since 1317. The whole city of Dubrovnik is stunning but especially the old town. The "new" city climbs up a hillside so walking home involves steps. Many, many steps. We got used to it but I can say that I was happy to have the next few cities be a bit flatter.

Dubrovnik was the first city where we started to see signs of Christmas. People don't seem to go crazy over Christmas like in the States. What is nice is the lights that go up everywhere. Nothing glams up a city like lights on the palm trees and decorations on the light posts. On St Nicolas Day all the young kids in town got together on the steps of main church in the square and performed a play about the life of the Bishop. In Croatia, St Nicolas is still a bishop, not a magical man on the North Pole.

While we were in Dubrovnik we got together with Nina, the daughter of Nicola and Katica. She lives in Dubrovnik with her husband and three kids. She took us out to see parts of the city we wouldn't have seen and helped us with our family tree. It turns out we have quite a number of relatives in Australia. She has some addresses so we plan on looking them up when we get there. Her house is currently under construction (the reason we couldn't stay with her) but she has an open invitation to all family members to come and stay at their place. The house should be finished in a year or two.

Spending a few more days here was relaxing, no rush, rush, rush to see all the sites. Plus, with no lines to wait in, it didn't take that long to see everything. Unfortunately, most of the ferries to the surrounding islands were on hiatus for the winter so there was not as many activities to do. That will have to be done on our next visit. Now it is off to Zadar, a hopping off point for Pag island and the Northern part of the country.

See all the photos of our stay in Dubrovnik on our Smugmug Dubrovnik Page!