Balkans 2. To the southern tip of Croatia

 

- this blog covers Saturday 30 March to Monday 2 April 2024

In which your intrepid correspondents explore two fascinating medieval walled towns and enjoy an adventure.

Dubrovnik old town from the upper cable car station

From our (still empty) campsite on the Peljesac peninsula we could see a town across the 2 km channel of sea separating us from the island of Korcula. It was Korcula Town containing the walled Korcula old town, the first of the medieval walled towns we were visiting in Croatia. We cycled to Orebic which was about four miles away because that’s where both a passenger ferry and a car ferry went to the island. This was Easter Saturday but the passenger ferry does not run on weekends. To be fair this is what it said on the website but we took a chance that Easter Saturday would be different and would have a ferry running anyway. We were wrong. So we took the car ferry which docks annoyingly four miles of hilly roads outside of the old town.

Korcula old town from the ferry

Korcula old town - compare the size to Dubrovnik

Korcula old town turned out to be an absolute gem of a place. The old wall exists for a little over half of the circumference with a couple of round defensive towers left. It was traffic free for two compelling reasons, the streets were too narrow for even the smallest car to drive along them and the place was full of steps. It is basically a town built on the top of a hill, everything leads up to a sort of peak and then it slopes down again. Inside the town walls it was quite dark and shaded which must really be a blessing on hot summer days, there were apparently no shops and we only saw one restaurant inside the walls. There were very few visitors, the whole place was delightful and tiny at approx. 150m x 200metres being more of a walled village than a walled town. Korcula has a dubious claim to be the birthplace of Marco Polo and even has a Marco Polo’s house. Mind you, Verona has Juliet’s balcony and she was a fictitious 13 year old. I understand the balcony was identified as such by the diligent historians in Verona’s Tourist Office even though it was only added to the building in the 20^th century. Back in Korcula, we went into the cathedral which is delightful but quite small and lies at the peak of the small hill. The cathedral has carvings of Adam and Eve on each side of the main door which really are quite bizarre as they are both in squatting positions and the view is of course from below. The enquiring mind might well ponder why Adam and Eve have navels. We wandered out of this tiny delight of a village, found a cafe for lunch and cycled back to the ferry. Korcula was a lovely little place to visit on a sunny day although with so little activity it was somewhat soulless.

Eve and Adam outside the Cathedral

It does seem that everything closes over Easter here in Croatia, even outside Korcula old town we only found two or three restaurants and back in Orebic only one cafe was open. The big difference for us was that there wasn’t an Easter egg or hot-cross bun to be had, not even for ready cash.

another of those Korcula narrow streets

I suppose half a defensive tower is better than none

the entrance and exit from Korcula old town

 

We left our lovely quiet site on the Peljesac peninsula with the owner coming across to thank us for staying there and handing over a bag of wild oranges. Apparently they’re stuffed full of vitamin C but are too sour to eat raw. I can confirm that when raw they could take the enamel off your teeth but cooked up with some sugar and mixed with Greek yogurt they’re just fine.

Dubrovnik's northern ramparts with Minceta Fort to the right 

It was only an hour or so to drive south to our campsite on the edge of Dubrovnik. The site is set on a promontory 100 feet or so high, overlooking the sea to the SW and west. From the side door of our van we look across the Adriatic and a few of the many wooded islands dotted across it. In the distance greyish peaks of other islands are visible peeking over the nearer ones. It is an idyllic view.

The old walled town which we and everyone else visiting the area has come to see is about 4 miles away and not a place to drive to in a motorhome, expecting to park. It’s very hilly and we were warned not to cycle but it turns out that Dubrovnik has a great bus system. A bus runs daily from near our site to the old town every 15 minutes from 05.30 to 23.55. On weekends and holidays it’s far worse with the bus running only every 20 minutes from 05.40 to 23.55. It costs 2 euros.

Stradun at 7.40 in the morning from the Pile Gate

Stradun at 7.47 looking back to the Pile Gate 

It was Easter Monday by now and due to our expectation of lots of tourists we went in early and arrived at the western Pile Gate at 07.40. This is the main way into the walled city and the walls at this point are huge, at least 50 feet high I’d guess. The old town has one major road called The Stadun running west to east right through the centre from the Pile Gate. It is wide, probably 40 feet or so and covers what was the sea channel separating the mainland from a small island that is now the seaward half of the walled city. The sun was still quite low and shone brilliantly off the highly foot-polished limestone/marble paving, miraculously unsullied by lots of people. It was virtually empty. Many of the buildings of the city were badly damaged in an earthquake in 1667 and the rebuild explains the Baroque architecture. Even as far ago as the 1660’s the civic authorities were very careful about the rebuild of the buildings along Stadun, laying down some rules still observed today. All the windows and doors are the same design and are all painted in the same colour, a bit like National Trust dark green. Shop signs and advertising are not allowed. Outside each shop is a simple lantern and the shop can have it’s name on the lantern. It looks wonderful, no neon, no MacDonalds, no gare (a word I think I may have just invented, as in garish). Apart from the shops being mostly aimed at tourists it is as close to seeing it as it was in the late 1600’s as anywhere you’ll come across outside of a museum. Nearly all the shops was shut, it being Easter Monday. Oh and it was clean, no litter anywhere with the air infused with the mixed scent of fully blooming wisteria and orange blossom. There’s a big thing about the bitter ‘Dubrovnik Orange’ here which I think is what we given on our previous campsite. Nothing provides a scientific name for this ‘magical’ fruit but having read what I could find I think it’s almost certain to be what we would all call Seville Oranges.

one of the wider southern side streets showing the acceptable shop signs

and one of the narrower northern side streets

Sponza Palace

across the city to Minceta Fort

the Old Port

Compared to Korcula it is a big place, roughly square and about 300m x 400metres. Any guide book will recommend going up on the walls which are complete and encircle the city, so we did. I was surprised that it cost 35 euros each but it was well worth doing with great views over what looked like a giant model town laid out below us. We took two hours to walk the whole way round, the views across the city were stunning and very photogenic. We had to stop a couple of times just to let the camera cool down. With the numbers of ups, downs, steps and stops, taken so slowly it was tiring. There wasn’t any real special focal point for me in the town, no Taj Mahal or St Pauls Cathedral as a stand out but taken all together it was stunning and a great place to visit.

the walls walk leading up to Minceta Fort

 

and us standing in front of it

panorama from the same spot as the last two photos looking over the south of the city

As part of the Balkans conflicts when Yugoslavia broke up and when ancient and some not so ancient enmities flared up, Dubrovnik was thought to be outside it all being of little strategic importance. However it was considered to be worth conquering and an easy victory as a way to sap Croatian morale. That and easy looting opportunities. So from late 1991 for six months or so until May 1992 the town was bombarded by artillery from the high ground just inland by a joint force of Yugoslav People’s Army, volunteers from Montenegro and Serbs from Hercegovina. It wasn’t an easy win after all and the siege was broken in July 1992 in a counter offensive by Croatian forces coming south. From the town walls it was very obvious that many of the buildings have much newer terracotta tiles than others which to us showed very clearly how much damage was caused during the six month attack. Rather pleasingly though, the medieval fortifications held up well under bombardment by modern artillery.

the whole of the old town from the top of Minceta Fort

Pile Gate, the main entrance to the city

on the other side of the camera for a change

The following day we headed the 30 miles or so south to the Montenegro border. An adventure awaits because we’re leaving the European Union for a third country which isn’t the UK. Apart from joining the wrong queue at the Croatian border control, being followed by another vehicle and then having to get a lorry to back up so we could join the correct queue, we left Croatia and the EU very easily. We drove past the Welcome to Montenegro sign, Heather said “well we didn’t need all those documents after all”, we rounded a bend and there was Montenegro Customs. We sat in the queue and watched an Albanian car heading out of Montenegro being searched while inching (is it even possible to be centimetre-ing) our way to the control point. Passports fine. “Papers for the vehicle please”. We handed over our International Driving Licences, the Green Card for Insurance and a photocopy of the Van Registration Document. “Have you got the original?” No, we haven’t. You can’t enter the country without the original. Well we do know there’s no point in discussing such matters with customs officials. It’s like wrestling a pig in mud, they enjoy it. So we sat there looking glum. “Pull over there and my colleague will see you”. OK. Five minutes later, said colleague appears, asks us what the problem is, goes over to where our papers still are and comes back. “Just pull round to the other side”. Ominously this is pointing back towards Croatia. He wanders around, gives us our papers and says “you can’t come in”. We had to send him back to get one bit of paper which had not been returned and having just dipped a toe in Montenegro we headed back towards Croatia. 

The immediate potential problem was that we had left the EU and now wanted to enter the EU without the original Van Registration Document. Were we up the (insert the name of any English river you choose) without a paddle ? As it happened no, we got into Croatia with no problem at all. Well I actually did laugh out loud because it was so ridiculous and then we stopped for some lunch. We do have a rather sanguine outlook on these sorts of things, it really isn’t much of a problem, it’s just a nuisance and if we can't get in we'll just adapt.   As our friend Newt would say “we got the story”.

We first went overseas with our old VW T2 (HAA 365K) in 1978 and we’ve been many times since. We’ve never taken the original Van Registration Document with us for security reasons because we wouldn’t want that to be in the van if the van was stolen. Our solution to our little hiccup and following some internet searching and vital help from our daughter Louise and unofficial son-in-law Kev is that the originals are being couriered out to us. Whether they arrive and if so, when is a question which as yet has no answer.

this has to be the oddest Basketball court you've ever seen.
It's in the old town but I doubt that it dates from the 1660's