After having seen the reports from the Serbian/Croatian border during the mid-1990s, and having seen the awful ethnic cleansing that happened there, I expected Dubrovnik, Croatia to be about as shabby as Athens, if not worse.
But I was absolutely wrong. Dubrovnik is absolutely gorgeous, with mountains near 2,000 feet high slopping down directly to the clear, blue mediterranean. The mountains are filled with evergreen and palm trees and the center of the town is a medieval walled city with cathedrals and cafes and polished sidewalks and friendly locals. The harbor is lined with expensive yachts and old fishing boats, and everything in the city is as inexpensive as it gets in Europe. I spent the whole day in town, paid a ticket to climbed the wall and walked around most of the city from that height, climbed back down for some ice cream and cafe time by the harbor…and I only spent $10. Try doing THAT in London or Berlin.
Out past the harbor was a great big tallship with 3 masts and all wood trimming, like one of the bigger ships that might have docked here in the early the 19th century – full of tourists now; and past the ship were big, green lumps of islands and more a hazy, jagged coastline farther along.
This city is absolutely a gem and is, for the most part, much less crowded with tourists – even with THREE full cruise ships sitting in the harbor for the day.
Because of rehearsals this morning, I was only able to see the sights for 3 or 4 hours today, but when when we return in a few weeks, I’ll be getting up very early to see this town again. Put it on the list of places to see before your too old
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
