VACATIONS FROM HOME: DUBROVNIK

Friday, July 12, 2019

DUBROVNIK

FROM BUZA TO BUZA

BUZA GATE

Our first day in this city was successful. We finally reached our apartment for our short two-day stay at the “Dubrovnik Interlude”, a Sobe or apartment we rented for the time. The cab dropped us off right at the gate and our host greeted us there. We must have walked all of a couple of yards to reach the apartment doorway. Getting our bags up the narrow spiral staircase was harder. Right on the corner of Ulica Peline and Ulica Boscoviceva, the apartment is in a great location, but Dubrovnik is small and everything is close. The convenience of the close proximity to the Buza Gate and not having to climb any stairs was wonderful.

Buza means “hole” and it is a “modern” gate that was opened in the early 1900’s, when Austria ruled the area, to allow its officers easier access to tennis courts that were built in the trench works of the city. I had heard stories that it was Napoleon Bonaparte who commissioned the hole, and though that does sound sexier, I can’t confirm that. Anyway, the walls were first erected by the Republic of Ragusa, Dubrovnik’s original name, in the 1300’s, to protect the city and her trade interests from first Venice and then the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Today the wall of Dubrovnik continues to serve the city well as its greatest tourist draw.

OUR VIEW OF
U. BOSCOVICEVA

After freshening up we descended the very steep steps of the picturesque Ulica Boscoviceva, marveling at the worn stone steps and flinching at the incessant hordes of people clamoring up and down this incline. We had a wine at the very sedate quiet Primo bar on this street. Janet tugged on my shirt sleeve when she saw Primo and insisted that we stop. We drank wine. My red looked like it came from a home brewed bottle with no label. Janet had a white. The only other patron in the nautically themed bar was a man who was sullenly smoking a cigarette in one corner when we entered Primo and left shortly after he finished it. The world swirled outside, oblivious to our eddy, for which we were thankful. It was a good local stop for a glass of wine.

Sitting pretty at Primo, Dubrovnik

Conversely, the Stradun is a beautiful thoroughfare that extends through the town all the way to the Pile Gate. Its paving stones are smooth almost glazed in appearance; that is if you can see it at all. Wave upon wave of tourist waddled and selfied and weaved their way along the length of the Stradun. A Babel of voices and a lack of common courtesies within feet of our entering the Stadun and we were done. Evidently the show Game of Thrones shot a lot in Dubrovnik and the city’s popularity has soared with visitors and has threatened to burst through the walls. We’ve never watched the show so the enormity is lost on us, although the beauty and history of Dubrovnik is very appealing.

Resolving to return early the next day to see the Stadun without a lot of tourists we made it out to the harbor and walked the wall there for a bit as the cool sea borne breezes cooled us. It was already mid-afternoon and the day was hot. In the narrow streets of the Stari Grad or Old City of Dubrovnik, where the sun really doesn’t reach, it can be cool, but along the sun-splashed Stradun or atop the City Walls it can be blistering.

BUZA BAR SCENERY

Another cool place was at another “hole” in the wall, the Buza Bar. To reach this cliffside aerie that throbbed with a unique excitement we had to search for a carved notch in the seaward wall with a wooden arrow on the wall opposite it that read “cold drinks”. A series of hand railed steps lead you to a rustic collection of tables and umbrellas on several perches leading all the way down to the Adriatic. If you’re lucky to get a table, as we were, you are graced with beautiful views of boats and kayakers plying the Adriatic before Lokrum Island, an entertaining array of characters and cooling breezes. Attentive waiters fetch drinks but you never feel rushed. We had wine and the bottles and our plastic cups were put in little cradles to prevent the wind from lifting them away. We sat, legs on the railing happy with this perch. Janet hadn’t heard of Buza Bar before and was thrilled we had stopped here.

BUZA BAR SCENERY

We took our dinner along restaurant row on Prijeko Street of the Old City. Table after table, block after block, were restaurants stretched the entire length of the narrow street, all with menus displayed and hucksters trying to cajole patrons into dining at their particular place. After reading menus and determining prices and fare were fairly identical Janet decided we eat at the next restaurant, which happened to be a place called Zaduzenje Stola. The food was okay, I had pork medallions and Janet had fish and we shared an appetizer of meats and cheeses, but we had a nice conversation with a couple and their young daughter who sat next to us at the outdoor tables. Both now work in the U.S. as economists, but originally from Kosovo. They wanted to bring their daughter here enough to help her understand and appreciate their roots. They were off to Mostar and Sarajevo the next day. Until our planning for this particular trip, Janet never ever considered the Balkans as a place to visit, now she’s talking about seeing Montenegro and Kosovo… what’s next … Sofia?