Hi guys! This week here in Germany has been crazy, but you'll hear about it later. I'm actually planning on getting out multiple blogs in the next 24 hours to try to catch up, but we'll see how that works.
ANYWAY so back to Dubrovnik. So on May 24 I asked the people at my hostel what I needed to do in Dubrovnik while it was sunny, and then I did all those things. This is because the weather forecast was said it was going to rain and when I woke up on the morning of May 25, it wasn't raining, but it had that look that told you the rain wasn't far off.
My plan for May 25th was to do a Wine and Bike tour through the countryside south of Dubrovnik. You drive outside the city, get on bikes, go swimming in a river, see an old monastery, and then do a wine-tasting at the end of it. So I got up early enough on the 25th to get ready for the tour and went to the main street to eat a good breakfast before a day of biking. While sitting at breakfast admiring the view and reading some articles on my phone, this happened:
Now I'm sure you can't see a ton of the actual things going on in this picture, but if you look closely, it's raining very hard and the entire street is covered in water, but more importantly this is the MAIN TOURIST VEIN OF DUBROVNIK. And there is NO ONE. That's how hard it was raining: everyone deserted the main street at 9 am. But it was fine and I went ahead and met up with the tour group after breakfast for the alternative rainy weather tour, which was basically the same tour, but without the bikes.
There were only 7 people on the tour, and all but two were Americans, and it wound up being a really pleasant few hours. The Croatian countryside is absolutely gorgeous and it was so different from Dubrovnik that it was really fascinating to see the changes in somewhere so close.
Our first stop on the Bad Weather tour was a viewpoint overlooking the city of Dubrovnik, and this sort of shows you the difference between Dubrovnik and the area we were in. You can see the city pretty clearly here
but then in the foreground it really changes to a green, more rural and agricultural feel, which was what we were really seeing.
So back in the day, Dubrovnik was actually an independent republic and as an independent republic, it needed somewhere to grow food, which is hard to come by as a city-state. So they bought this valley south of the city from some Lord or other
that was right along the river and the flooding created a rather large space that was INCREDIBLY fertile. For many centuries this was where the people of the republic got the majority of their food, and they actually planned the whole thing out with remarkable efficiency to ensure that every meter of the valley was used. Because while it felt large for a valley, it wasn't THAT big. Then, when tourism became popular in the region (as early as the 1960s) the people started to move away from their homes and towns in this valley and into the cities, where the growing industries were, so it is not nearly as largely cultivated as it used to be. The region also suffered under communist rule, as did most places under communist rule.
Interestingly, the communists actually loved this area. We drove through an abandoned little beachside resort that used to be the vacation spot of the communist leaders. There were villas everywhere and one of the nearby mountains even housed a nuclear bunker for the President of Yugoslavia when he was visiting the area.
But after the communist bunkers we got to what we really wanted to see
idyllic country scenes. This is a picture of a water mill, actually. The mechanism for grinding grain is inside, but there are these little shacks all over that were used for a long time by the local people.
This is the inside of the mill and the 700 year old millstone. This house is no longer used. In fact, only one of the mills are still in use, but we were able to go inside this one and see how things used to work.
The irrigation system is also pretty impressive, and it runs throughout the whole valley and makes sure that all the farmers can get water for their crops.
Honestly, a lot of this day was just walking around pretty countryside and learning about history and Croatian culture. Which I loved. But you may not. To each their own.
So when I say fertile, here's what I mean
Anybody think the leaves on this tree look familiar? It might be hard to see, but that is a bay tree, and all those leaves are bay leaves. Like the kind you put in spaghetti. That's basically what the forest is made out of. At one point stood in a little glade while we were exploring the area (it actually didn't rain most of the morning, it was just cloudy and wet, so we were able to get out and walk around), and our guide stood in one spot and pointed to: a pomegranate tree, a walnut tree, mint growing in the water, mulberries, and an entire tree full of bay leaves. As he put it, "if you plant it here, it grows." It was incredible.
So the entire valley is brought water by one spring, specifically, this one.
Somebody told me that if I cropped the people out of this picture it would look like a default computer background. I'm taking that as a compliment. Because it was just stunningly beautiful. So the water springs up from under the rocks here and it is potable and fresh and clean. Trust me
I checked. And it even tasted good. It was really cool. I also got water up my nose, because it is surprisingly difficult to drink water straight from a river.
Who knew?
So then we went and picked up some absolutely delicious sandwiches from a little traditional restaurant in the middle of nowhere. There was actually a restaurant we passed but didn't go to that was used as a meeting place during the communist era because it was out of the way enough that the chance of being spied on was pretty low. But our restaurant gave us prosciutto sandwiches on homemade bread.
Actually probably the best food I had in Croatia. Now, I have not been very kind to Croatian food, and I'm going to continue not to be. The only food on my travels that I have ordered and then after a few bites decided I actually COULD NOT EAT was in Croatia. Normally, I just suck it up and eat it because it was my mistake if it's not what I wanted and I'm usually so hungry due to an erratic eating schedule that I don't even care. And I've actually talked to someone else who spent time in Croatia and they agreed that the food was not great.
Because here's what I think happens: Croatia is trying desperately to build its tourist industry. It's cheap, it's beautiful, it's on the Mediterranean (technically the Adriatic, but that's also true of half of Greece and Italy), and it still has that slightly undiscovered, out of the way feel. (please note. None of this is meant to dissuade you from going to Croatia. All of that is incredibly true. I loved Croatia and HIGHLY recommend it for all kinds of vacations. This is just a meditation about some things I experienced while I was there.) So as Croatia tries to build this industry they look at Italy and their world-renowned food and they try to give the tourists that, because when you think Mediterranean, you think pasta and sauces and seafood and so that is what most restaurants will serve and it's terrible, because that's not their actual heritage. They may live along the Adriatic, but the people are Slavic. Their traditional food involves a lot of potatoes and lamb. Actually, the traditional Croatian food I heard about on this tour involved shoving lots of spices and vegetables and meat under a metal covering and slow-cooking it in the coals. It sounded amazing. And the sandwich I had from the traditional shop was pretty dang good. Simple, but delicious.
So we stopped for lunch at this monastery
I swear everything looks more dramatic with mist and mountains.
But the monastery is Franciscan (the Croatians REALLY like the Franciscans. There's some history there I'm not totally clear on.) and about 700 years old. It was damaged during the war and the roof had to be rebuilt, but it is a still-functioning monastery that we couldn't go inside because the monks would yell at us. Or we'd disturb the monks. Or something like that. So after a lovely lunch stop we got back in the van for the final part of the tour: the wine-tasting!
So the tasting took place in what will henceforth be referred to as the ugly communist winery.
You think I'm joking?
But I have to hand it to the commies, this monstrosity is also functional. The latticed outside makes it so there is still natural light inside, but it isn't direct light which could harm the wine.
Like so.
So wine in Croatia is actually a big thing. They made wine for thousands of years, and it was actually a pretty big name in world wines and then... communism. This winery (which has existed since 1877. Though obviously not that building.) became basically a wine-producing factory for the government. They shipped in grapes from all over and just made wine without much thought to the quality of that wine. Then, when communism was no more, the winery decided that it was high time they started making good stuff again. And now they only produce a very limited amount of wine and only using regional grapes. Which are not hard to come by. Every house we passed seemed to have vines in front of it. Our tour guide told us that most people who live there actually have enough grapes to produce at least a couple barrels of wine just from their property.
He also gave us some great future wine advice, which I will pass on. 2013 was a really terrible wine year in the Mediterranean (not just Croatia, Italy and Spain too). It was a very wet summer and by the time they harvested the grapes many of them had rotted on the vine. Obviously, they did not make these into wine. But they had fewer grapes to choose from and therefore could not be as discerning about which grapes went into the wine. There is also less of it. So don't buy 2013 Mediterranean wine.
So anyway, we tried three of the local wines, and they were all pretty good and it was nice to be able to drink them where they were produced and learn about them from someone involved in making them. One of the wines (my favorite) actually won an award. It was all very impressive, and I learned a lot.
On the way back towards Dubrovnik our tour guide bought fresh local strawberries from a roadside stand and we ate those on our drive. Before we got to Dubrovnik, however, we got to explore the town of Cavtat. It's a smaller town, but it's still got a pretty good tourist industry and it's close enough to Dubrovnik that people staying there can easily get to Dubrovnik. It's also quieter and cheaper and not nearly as crowded with tourists.
In terms of its own attractions there is a really lovely mausoleum on a hill in a cemetery
and a lovely harbor. Rich people park their yachts on the other side of the harbor.
There is also a beautiful little church, which I don't have a good picture of.
So then we went back to Dubrovnik. I had a great time on my tour: bad weather or no, and I'm really glad I got the chance to get out of the city and see something new.
I got back around 3 and so still had some time to do things. I decided to use that time going through random churches, most of which I was not allowed to take pictures in, so sorry.
But I went through the Serbian Orthodox Church (Croatia is actually Catholic, since they were the easternmost point in the Western Roman Empire when that split happened), which was small, but beautiful. (Also, probably used for something in Game of Thrones). And the Cathedral, which was bigger, but still a fairly humble cathedral as they go. I really love going to churches, and the ones in Dubrovnik were no exception. Then I went to the old palace and judicial buildings of the city (where it was ALSO forbidden to take pictures) and looked at the art and learned something about the history of Dubrovnik.
My ticket for that museum also got me entrance to several other museums, so I went to find the Maritime museum, which was surprisingly difficult.
but I got to walk around the harbor and see interesting things while I was looking.
Speaking of which, that statue is of St. Blaise, who is the patron saint of the city, because he appeared to someone in a dream during the time of the republic to warn them that Dubrovnik was going to be besieged and that allowed the people to prepare and in gratitude they carved statues of him and put them up everywhere in the city.
I did eventually find the museum only to discover that it was closed on Mondays, so I finally gave up and ate an early dinner at this sushi restaurant overlooking the cathedral. Which was also pretty good, actually. And it was a nice, quiet dinner after a busy day.
And then I was boring, so I went home, packed up, and went to bed, ready to head out to Split the next day.
I woke up the next morning and decided that I should go do things in Dubrovnik before I had to leave for Split at 10 am. I planned to go visit more churches, but most of them were still closed when I started my day, so I decided to go to this fort
that I took pictures of the other day. But then I got lost. So I wound up in a forest with some really beautiful views
Because it doesn't matter where you go in Dubrovnik, it's just beautiful.
Also, this park forest thing was where part of the Purple Wedding of Game of Thrones was shot. Because everything in Dubrovnik has been used for Game of Thrones.
I wandered around the forest for a while, before I found my way to the fort I was trying to go to
I walked up to the entrance to the fort, but since there was an admission fee and I didn't have time to properly explore the fort before I left for Split, I just took some cool pictures of the Old Town
Which kind of looks like a dragon this perspective, just a little bit.
So I walked back down the fort, over a beach (location where Stannis lands during the Battle of Blackwater in Season 2) and back into town. I made a very brief stop at the maritime museum, which was nice, but rather small. Once I was done there, I got my luggage and headed out to Split.
I spent two days in Split, which I think will be one blog post, and then to the Plitvice Lakes National Park, which will be another (with LOTS of pictures) and that'll get me through Croatia, which is where I was really doing lots of traveling, so that's the part it takes a while to write.
Like I said, I'm going to try to go for another blog or two tomorrow. We'll see!
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