Dubrovnik City Walls and A Small Town

Today was a full morning boat ride and tour of the walled city of Dubrovnik.

Our guide “Tom” is excellent with his detailed knowledge of the history and background information about the city, art works, churches, etc. The morning started with a boat ride from the inner arm of the water around to the seaward side. There were 2 passenger ships in today one carnival and a viking. Needless to say the old city was wall to wall with tours ship tours! The view from the sea gave a very good perspective of what an invader might have to face if attacking the area. Interesting enough the city was attacked during the Bosnian war and we did see some a shell hole in the wall in one of the buildings.

All of the city has been rebuilt from a very early (centuries ago) earthquake and fire and the last war damage. The city has a relatively “new” feeling. We did have a very good look at the churches and government buildings. We were in the Franciscan Monastery which houses Europe’s oldest apothecary. There was a book on display that had formulas for making medicines from plants. It was 500 plus years old.

We did have a few hours free time in the afternoon. It was an opportunity to pay for our optional tour for tomorrow. Later we travel by coach to the region of Konavle with a stop at the little mountain village of Gruda to see the mills and enjoy a tasting of local ham, cheese and grappa. This was a very interesting stop to actually see an old small working a corn/wheat grinning mill. There use to be 5 mills along this small stream but only 2 are still “operational”. The second mill was to “fool” the cloth which I think means to soften it. A very interesting demo with a local drink (or 2).

From there we proceeded to a “farm house” for our welcome dinner hosted in a local family. It was a great location. Local musicians entertained us while we had more wine, dinner and dessert. By 9 when we got back to the hotel we had had a full day. Tomorrow is the optional side trip to Montenegro.