Boat trip to Cavtat and Walk on the Dubrovnik Walls

Friday May 10 was a beautiful day. Sunny with a very blue sky in the morning. High of 23C and just a bit cloudy at the end of the day. We had a lazy start to the day and had breakfast out on the deck with the magnificent view.

I remembered that Marin, our Guide from the Free Tour told us that Dubrovnik and southern Croatia was heavily influenced by Italy over the years and the language incorporated many Italian words. He joked that some say that people from Dubrovnik and southern Croatia sound "like Russians speaking Italian". In the northern part of Croatia, there are more German words in the vocabulary as Austria had more of an influence. The architecture also reflects these different influences.

Brecky on the deck

Lots of sailboats out in the late morning

View of the Old City from our deck- blue water and blue sky

Our large deck

Getting ready to head out. Decorative clock that says Grand Central Station (doesn't work though)

The garden next door

We headed down to the Old Port. We were planning to walk the City's Walls and also take a boat to Cavtat, a small quiet town located within an horseshoe-shaped harbour between a pair of peninsulas. Our friend Wayne, an artist from Victoria, had suggested a visit to the home/museum of one of the most important Croatian painters of the modern era- Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922). We decided to go to Cavtat first and then climb the Dubrovnik Walls in the late afternoon when it would be a bit cooler and less crowded. This turned out to be the right move!

We caught the 1:00 p.m. boat, the Toni Mali, for the 45 minute trip to Cavtat.

The boat

Passing the town's closest beach which is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment

Arriving in Cavtat-- lovely harbour

Cavtat is basically a one-street town- a lively pedestrian promenade running along the harbour, with a number of narrow, steep lanes winding up into the hills. There are a number of cultural spots in the town.

We walked along the promenade until we got to Bukovčeva Street and then headed up to Kuća Bukovac (Vlaho Bukovac House).

Signage for artist's home

The Bukovac House is the birthplace and museum of Vlaho Bukovac, the most important Croatian painter of the fin de siècle, who enjoys an international reputation. He was born in Cavtat in 1855 and lived in this house until he moved to New York with his uncle at age 11. After the unexpected death of his uncle, he returned to Cavtat at age 15 and then, so as not to be a burden to his parents, he became a sailor. After a dangerous fall in a boat, he convalesced at home and began painting the walls of the house, including a number of animal murals and portraits. He was seen as being very talented.

In 1873, he went to Peru and then San Francisco, beginning his amateur career in painting. He moved to Paris in 1877 and was accepted at the École des Beaux Arts. He regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon. Between 1893-1898, he worked in Zagreb where he gathered a group of young Croatian painters and strongly influenced the formation of modern Croatian painting. He returned to Cavtat from 1898-1902. He then had a short stay in Vienna and finally became a university professor in Prague at the Academy of Fine Art. For his last 20 years of his life, Bukovac spent his summers in Cavtat. He died in 1922.

The house was bought by the painter's grandfather, Giuseppe Fagioni, an Italian seaman who married a local girl after a shipwreck near Cavtat. In 1877, Vlaho decided to change the family name "Fagioni" into the Croatian translation, "Bukovac". In 1892, Vlaho married Jelica Pitarević, who came from a wealthy Dubrovnik family.

They had four children: a son Ago and daughters Marija, Jelica and Ivanka. Jelica (1897-1967) and Ivanka (1899-1978) painted in their father's studio from a young age and in 1921, they began studying in their father's class as some of the first female students at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. According to the ticket taker at the Museum, the two daughters were told that even though they were very good, they would be eclipsed by their father! Maria (1895-1975) was a pianist and Ago (1893-1961) was a diplomat.

Bukovac's father, Agostino, had made additions to the house, and in 1900, Vlaho added a floor as his atelier. Shortly after his death, his daughters transformed the atelier into an exhibition space. The house was bought by the Yugoslavian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the 1960s and in 1976, it was ceded to the municipality of Dubrovnik, which turned the administration of the Bulkovac House over to the Art Gallery of Dubrovnik. It was reopened to the public in 2004.

Near the entrance was a small room with painted murals on the wall from Vlaho's youth

Furniture and one of the painted walls on the first floor- formerly Bukovac's bedroom

Konavle Weavers, 1920 -- purchased on the 100th anniversary of Vlaho Bukovac's death. This was most likely painted during his last visit to Cavtat in 1920.

Another painted room on the first floor

There were a a number of paintings from the permanent collection along with some furniture and personal items displayed in the second floor atelier. The paintings are from all periods of his life.

Study of the hand, 1877-- Bukovac used this painting to get into the Paris Academy

The Girl with a Letter I- c. 1901, Cavtat

The Smile, 1915, Prague

Portrait of Branka Radulović, undated, Prague

Portrait of the artist's wife and self-portrait, (both parts of the diptych), ca 1914, Prague

Fantasy (Heads of the Family members), 1906, Prague

View through the window, 1888-89, Paris

Lots of animal drawings on the walls from his childhood-- great rabbit

Self-portrait, 1877, Cavtat

Portrait of father with a cane, 1877, Cavtat

The artist's mother, 1876, San Francisco

The artist's children, ca 1900, Cavtat

Our Ago in adulthood, 1917, Prague

Self-portrait, Ivanka Bukovac, 1921

Self-portrait, Jelica Bukovac Radosavljević, 1934

After our visit to Bukovac House and Museum, we headed back to the waterfront.

Young paddleboarders

Allan making friends

We stopped at the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, commemorating a freak midsummer snowstorm in ancient Roman times, believed to have been a sign sent by the Virgin Mary.

Church of Our Lady of the Snows

Painting by Vlaho Bukovac from 1909 of Mary and the Baby Jesus watching over Cavtat

We caught the 3:30 p.m. boat back to Dubrovnik. It was a very enjoyable excursion.

Picture from the boat-- church on left-- high in the hills is the Račić Family Mausoleum with sculptures by Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović. We took a pass on the very steep climb.

We had a very nice 45 minute boat ride back to the Old Port. Just inside the Polče Gate, we bought our tickets to climb the famous Dubrovnik Walls. The Walls were constructed in the 13th century and underwent several modifications over the centuries. Today they stretch for 1940 metres and have incredible views of the city and the Adriatic Sea. It costs 35 euros each to do the walk, which we did in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The views are spectacular.

Heading up with a view of the harbour

Heading up the wall

More roofs, the Cathedral in the distance and Lokrum Island

Climbing up....

The orange roofs of Dubrovnik-- one can see that nearly two-thirds of the roofs were replaced after the 1991-92 siege. The new ones are a brighter orange.

The Old Town was rebuilt using exactly the same materials and methods with which it was originally constructed.

Another Tower

Looking down at the Stradun (Main Street)

View down to the Onofrio's Big Fountain

View of the Fort of St. Lawrence (Lovrjenac).

The St Lawrence's Fortress was mentioned in 1301, though it is believed its construction began earlier. It was built to protect the harbour. Above the entrance to the Fortress is an inscription Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditur Auro) (Freedom is not to be sold for all the world's gold). It is one of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival's open-air stages and many actors have performed the role of Hamlet there.

Allan under the "Anno 1834" gate

A lazy cat

Looking down at some gardens and clotheslines

Lovely orange trees among the orange roofs

Guarding Dubrovnik

Near the end of the walk--- beautiful sky

Iron Bell Ringer

We exited at the same place we entered and then headed to Peppino's a minute away for a gelato/sorbet. There is a debate about whether Peppino's or Gianni's is the best gelato place in town. We give Peppino's a slight edge.

Just inside

Wonderful flavours- Allan had a Golden Ticket Chocolate gelato and I had a Merry Chia Raspberry sorbet

Yum!

We walked down to the Stradun (the Main Street) and stopped at St. Blaise's Church, dedicated to the patron saint of Dubrovnik. The Church was build following the 1667 Earthquake. A Venetian architect designed the Church.

St. Blaise's Church

Inside the Church

We did a bit of browsing in some of the side streets and then located the restaurant where we were going to have dinner. It was also down one of the narrow streets running off the Stradun.

One side street with a number of jewellery stores- lamps identify the stores.

We had dinner at Forty-Four, a restaurant owned by Bojan Bogdanović, who now plays for the New York Knicks (though he's been injured for the playoffs). Forty-four is his jersey number- and there is a framed jersey from the Croatian National Team of which he is a member. Our friend Nancy had been there in March and highly recommended the restaurant. It is a relatively new addition to the Dubrovnik dining scene- beautiful space and the food was amazing. We had a very nice older waiter with whom we chatted. He brought over a little dish with special olive oil with parsley and spices that he insisted was a "must" with my calamari. We also had a lovely pear liquor on the house, after our dinner.