Dubrovnik – Sun, Stars And Silence
Falling in love with Dubrovnik is inevitable. It’s a soul-lifting jumble of red rooftops, steep passageways, hidden monasteries, piazzas, rocky coves and Italian-feeling cafes. Steeped in European history, it’s perfectly contained within ancient city walls, which span almost two kilometers, and hugged by the salty Adriatic Sea.
Less than an hour here – spent devouring gelato while celebrity spotting along the Strada, overwhelmed in the Modern Art Museum or passed out on the peacock covered beaches of Lokrum – and the worries of the modern world simply slip away.
But therein lies the irony. Dubrovnik’s modern history is anything but peaceful. Despite joining the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and demilitarizing itself in the 70’s, the city was besieged by Serb-Montenegrin forces, for seven months, during the Croatian War of Independence. Damaging 56% of Dubrovnik’s buildings the war left the city and its residents utterly transformed.
Every guidebook will warn you against discussing the war with locals. And this is completely understandable; the history is so recent. It only took me one slip up to realize this. During a friendly morning chat with a waiter I asked about an abandoned hotel overlooking the water just outside the city that I’d spied en route to Lokrum. He admitted that it had closed during the war, sustained structural damage and was never reopened. He then politely shut down the conversation.
What’s odd however, is the minute you turn your head away from the ‘stars’ (the marks shells have left on the massive stones lining the street that you might at first attribute to age), and face the water, you’re right back in paradise. And it’s a paradise loved by those who call it home. Most of the post-war repairs were made possible through the private donations of Croatians living overseas. Their motivation: merely seeing the city returned to its former glory. History, beauty and passionate nationals – this is a destination like no other.
