24 Hours In Dubrovnik

The Sunday Age

Sunday September 16, 2007

Alistair Smith

Most of your day in Dubrovnik will be spent in the old town, a World Heritage-listed, medieval, walled city, once called Ragusa, that was a major port and trading centre for more than 500 years, originally under the control of Venice, but later flourishing as an independent republic.

7.30am

As you're on the famed Adriatic coast, why not start your day with a swim? Most tourist hotels around Lapad Bay, such as the Grand Hotel, have beach access, where you will stroll through Mediterranean gardens on your way to a private pebble beach. (Sand beaches are few and far between in this part of the world.)

grandhotel-park.hr (Tel: +385 20 434 444)

9am

After breakfast, grab a No. 6 bus (buy a ticket in advance at a street kiosk). Ask for Pile Gate (pronounced "pee-lay") and you'll be dropped off at the western entrance to the old town. You cross a drawbridge before descending to the gate. On the right, beyond the large Onifrio Fountain, is a souvenir shop cum tourist bureau, where you can pick up maps and information.

10am

Experiencing the old town, the Stari Grad, is mostly a case of strolling around, absorbing, admiring and exploring. But don't start yet. First, head down the main "street", the Placa or Stradun, turn right at the Orlando Column (it's obvious) into Pred Dvorum, and when you have the Rector's Hall on your left, duck up a narrow side street. This opens into the morning market. However, don't despair if you miss out. For the rest of the day you'll find plenty of women selling home-made embroidery, an ideal souvenir/gift, in the shade of the walls near the old port.

11am

Best to walk the exposed city walls before the sun gets too hot. Head east, behind the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, keeping the harbour to your left. Ahead of you is the bulk of Fort St John, where you will find an entrance to the wall. There's a charge of about $10. As you stroll these fortifications at rooftop level (the wall rises to 25 metres in places), you will see how compact the old town is. Notice the variance in hues that indicates many of the red tiled roofs have been restored. This place took a terrible shelling during the strife that followed the collapse of the old Yugoslavia.

12.30pm

Your gradually ascending walk has taken you back above the Pile Gate, so descend a steep flight of stairs and start thinking about lunch. There are scores of places offering pasta, pizza, or local dishes with an emphasis on seafood. Mussels or sardines washed down with icy cold beer is the go. Popular and well recommended is the Proto restaurant, up the narrow lane called Siroka about half-way along the Placa on the right. esculap-teo.hr/proto.shtml (Tel: +385 20 323 234)

2pm

Time to explore, wandering the canyons of alleys and lanes that separate three to four-storey centuries-old buildings of grey limestone. Look up, and the lines of washing and satellite dishes indicate that this is still a living city, not some sterile museum.

Several of the larger buildings, from the 16th century or earlier, are open to the public. Fees vary from $2 to $5. The Franciscan Monastery and museum includes a pharmacy dating back to the 1300s; the Museum of the Orthodox houses splendid 15th and 16th century icons; the Domincan Monastery is filled with paintings; and the state archives are housed in the Sponza Palace. Between them you'll find a host of boutiques, jewellery and craft stores, and souvenir outlets (where some operators seem to work on the theory every tourist is a rushed American millionaire from a cruise ship and therefore prepared to pay anything).

4pm

Exit at the old harbour, the Stari Porto. Turn right towards a small wharf. Here, a number of boat operators offer a sail along the outside of the city walls. They drink coffee together at a nearby bar-cafe, share the work around, and will negotiate prices depending on the number of customers. Five on a boat, for example, will cost about $10-12 each for about 40 minutes.

6pm

From your hotel, grab a taxi to take you to Gruz Harbour, the new port, for a sunset cruise (booked through your hotel or in one of the many booking agencies in town). A traditional, family-run, wooden boat is nice (well, I prefer it to a replica galleon). Allow a blast of herbal brandy to stir your stomach juices as you motor beneath a barren, rugged coastline, before cutting the motors in Sunset Bay to drift and enjoy grilled sea bass with a crisp salad and a glass of local red. Then, as they used to say in travel documentaries at the cinema, "as the sun sinks slowly in the west, it is time to say farewell to Dubrovnik". But don't forget to take plenty of sunset pictures.

General websites

dubrovnik-travel.com

tzdubrovnik.hr

croatia.hr

(You might sometimes have difficulty in connecting to Croatian websites).

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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