Black Mountain – Part 3

In and around Dubrovnik

By James T. Carney

Photos by 

Detmar Straub

The next day, the rest of the tour group went to the Dubrovnik airport to return to London, but Det and I had arranged to spent two days in Dubrovnik (formerly known as Ragusa). It is Europe’s best-preserved medieval wall city. For a number of centuries it was an independent political entity and opposed Venetian attempts to dominate the Adriatic (though it did pay tribute to the Ottoman empire).

    Dubrovnik became quite wealthy as a major trading center, but it was devastated by an earthquake in 1667 and never recovered its economic importance or its political viability. After the Napoleonic wars, it was incorporated into the Austrian empire (despite promises by the Hapsburgs that it would be independent). Founded by the Romans, Latin remained its language until 1472, when it was replaced by the Serbo-Croatian tongue. After World War I, it became part of Yugoslavia and was included in the Croatian state. It became a UNESCO world heritage site (and a major tourist site) in 1972.

Jim before an old church

Native Croatian dress

    During the Balkan Wars, it was attacked by Serbo-Montenegrin forces, which rained artillery fire on the city in a possible attempt to destroy the major cultural center of Croatia.  

The hill from which the Serbs bombarded the city

Dubrovnik from the hill

    Detmar and I climbed the hill above Dubrovnik where the Serbs had placed their artillery pieces. We also visited a museum dedicated to displaying the valor of the Croatian defenders and the atrocities of the Serbs. Of course, there is no mention of the atrocities committed by the Croats or of the fact that Croatia allied itself with Serbia in an effort to divide up Bosnia and massacre the Moslems there.

    In case I seem to be anti-Serb, I will point out that Croatia in World War II was allied with the Axis and set up concentration camps in which thousands of Jews, Serbs, and anti-Axis fighters were massacred. Croatia is Catholic and has always received a great deal of support from the right-wing part of the Church of Rome. Even today, right-wing Croats often in the uniform of the Ustaše, the pre Nazi party that governed Croatia during the war commemorate the massacre of Ustaše and others at Bleiburg, Austria, where a large number of Ustaše, pro-German Serbs, and others tried to surrender to the British but were “repatriated” to the Yugoslavian partisan forces, who massacred a number of them. The Church of Rome leads these commemorations.

The Red Keep – Game of Thrones site

    Today, however, Dubrovnik has achieved fame as the “Kings Landing” of Game of the Thrones. Indeed, one can take a “Game of Thrones” tour of Dubrovnik to see all the sites shown in the drama series. I am sure that in a couple of years Dubrovnik will mirror Williamsburg, Virginia, and the Tower of London and have staff dressed in Game of Thrones costumes explicating on the significance of each location.

Looking out to sea from a Game of Thrones site

    Detmar and I had more interest in the historical side of Dubrovnik and walked the entire length of the city walls as well as explored the various streets. We had rented an apartment for two days in the old section of Dubrovnik, so we had ample opportunity to explore the city and eat in various restaurants.

On our second day there we took a boat all around the city, giving us an entirely different view of it and enabling us to watch the sun go down over the Adriatic – a beautiful sight.

    We thought we had got to see everything there was to see in Dubrovnik, so the next morning we took a plane back to London and came on home.

Copyright © 2020 by James T. Carney & Detmar Straub