Dubrovnik is delightful - 2

 

Mavis / Wallace

Our apartment had a little front garden. With a squeal soon after arrival (4.2 seconds), Drew runs down and calls out "we have a tortoise". Odd thing to say except in the one circumstance that is true. It was, and we did.

Wallace as he came to be known (he was Molly Mavis until Zoe found the tail and he was redefined as a male) was a pretty cool pet. He had been there 7 years and to us at least, seemed very content. The kids got into the garden and built him a shelter out of wood with tiles on the floor.

They fed him lettuce and fruit (he liked apples a lot). When he had his neck stroked he would crane forward and extend his neck. Hard to think of a tortoise "enjoying" things but he did seem to gravitate to a good neck rub (who wouldn't?).

We even saw Wallace eating a snail which sorta makes sense - not too many creatures the tortoise is the natural predator of, but its relative formula one speed as compared to the snail makes it a winner in that race

 

 

 

 

Full speed ahead. Note ashtray now being used as lettuce leaf holder

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cats come to visit. This fella had clearly run into a bus as a kitten. Face flat as a pancake that had been run over by a steamroller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Imperial, a splash of colour and an album cover?

 

We took the cable car to the top of Mount harrumph (ok so couldn't remember its real name which was mount srdr or something like that) which overlooks the old city. Fort Imperial was constructed in the early 1800s by the French to honour Napoleon and became a symbol of the defense of Dubrovnik in the "Homeland War" of 191-1995.

Even the name of the war is framed in terms of National Pride. "You cannie take away our homeland". Similarly, many of the tourist brochures are framed in terms of Dubrovnik's long history of essentially trading (aka paying a tribute) to remain independent without having to fight wars.

Dubrovnik was born in the 6th century and became "Dubrovnik" in the 12th century. Before that it was called "Ragu" or something similar and is still called that by Italians today. Dubrovnik prospered due to its port location and became a maritime power based mainly on trade. The Croatians were good at being everyones friends and had many consulates around Europe before that became the smart thing to do.

The city was quite left leaning and abolished slavery in the early 1400s. The motto inscribed on the walls of the large fort by the old walls reads "Liberty is not to be sold, not for all the gold in the world". I think it's nice but redundant. If liberty is not for sale, then thats all you need to say isnt it? No need to define what you aren't going to take in exchange - no gold, no platinum? No Frankincense or Myrrh? Anyways, the idea is sound and to be respected. (Ree thinks I am missing the point and that its better marketing to include the gold metaphor to add imagery and scope.

From the 15th century the motto of the Republic was "Forget private affairs, take care of public ones".

One example of their politic was their Jewish solution. When the Jews of Spain were being persecuted and running away (including the Count De Dembo, ancestor on my paternal side - oh yeah baby, royalty"ish"), the Croatians took them in. It was a good move as the Jews were mostly professionals (lawyers, Drs, engineers) and also relatively rich (the ones that escaped that is). Problem for the Croatians was that they were doing a lot of trade with Rome and pretty chummy with the Pope. So to appease the Catholics, the Jews got a street in the old city and a synagogue, but weren't allowed to drink from the same water fountains and were locked in to their area at night (probably not too much of a problem - not too many Rabbi nightclubbers).

By the mid 1600s Dubrovnik was a powerful merchant nation but in 1667, a massive earthquake hit and wiped out half of the inhabitants of the city and much of its architecture and port. The city never really recovered. Its income diminished rapidly and suddenly without the tributes flowing to the Ottomans, protection also diminished and the city became vulnerable.

The French came along in the early 1800s and Napoleon said "ummmm, I can just take your (now meagre attempts at a tribute and have your city".......and he was correct. The Croatians didn't put up much of a fight because the Russians were coming and they didn't like the thought of a Russian Invasion (the Russians are revolting), so essentially chose the lesser of two evils (and the French have nicer food than borscht).

 

 

But back to the cable cars (and thanks to our walking tour guide Anna for the potted history above which I have remembered as best I could with help from the other 3 Dembo memories traveling in the party).

When you get off the cable car you see this little sign (see Italians, a sign. It can be done. Doesn't have to be a biggie).

 

 

 

View from aforementioned "panoramic terrace"

 

 

 

View to the South - Hill in the background is where the old city was bombarded from

 

 

 

Looking North

 

 

 

View to the West

 

 

 

Northwest

 

 

 

The wonder of Apps

I took this photo of Zoe leaning against the wall of the fort. Looks like an album cover to me. Below is the original and then a slighlty ehanced image Ree made using her new favourtie app "Photogene".

Makes me a bit melancholic actually. Can still see the little girl who is growing up, it seems, very quickly.

 

Original

 

 

 

Photogene

 

 

 

Ree also took this photo of Drew as the sun set on the hill of the fort. The light makes his hair very red. Using coloursplash, I have taken out all the colour and left only the hair and the flower colour. No adjustments to colour other than the removal - his hair really was that colour in the light.

 

 

Original

 

 

 

Colorsplashed

 

 

 

 

LD out