Saturday May 11 was a beautiful day. Blue sky all day- lots of sun and a high of 22C. We started our day with a late breakfast. I can't resist taking a few pictures from the deck each morning.
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| Blue water, orange roofs |
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| The Old City's walls where we walked on Friday (they walls are considered to be one of the greatest fortifications of the Middle Ages, having never once fallen to a hostile army during this time) |
I remembered to take a picture as we were leaving the apartment. We are on the first floor (in Canada, second floor) with the large and longest deck. People in the building are very friendly as the way to the higher floors are on an exposed stairway.
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| Allan in front of the apartment building |
We headed down to the other main Gate of the Old City (the Pile Gate) where we took a bus out to the Gruž area to visit the Red History Museum (RHM). RHM is a project founded by a team of young local designers, historians, journalists, photographers and archeologists, which was supported by Croatians who donated various items, photographs and some of their own life stories. It opened in 2018 and is located on the ground floor of the former TUP graphite products factory.
The Museum is divided into three parts- socialism in theory, socialism in practice and socialism in memory. The Museum outlines the history of the Communist Party in Yugoslavia, Tito's rise to power following the Partisans' victory in World War II, and the social history of the Communist regime. It briefly deals with the breakdown of Yugoslavia after Tito's death in 1980.
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| Entrance to the Red History Museum |
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| The creation of Yugoslavia after WWI and the founding of the Socialist Workers Party of Yugoslavia (Communists) -SWPY(C) in 1919 |
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The Communist Party had success in the 1920 election, but the government did not allow reps to take up their positions. Swetozar Delić, elected mayor of Zagreb had his election annulled three days
after he took up his office. |
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| Internal divisions and external repression. Josip Broz Tito took over the party in the late 1930s. |
During WWII, Tito commanded the Partisan Army and liberated the country mostly without the support of the USSR. He began to chart his own post-war course.
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| Tito with Partisan Army Leaders 1944 |
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| Election posters for the November 1945-- These elections were fixed by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY), but they were the first elections where women were allowed to vote |
The next part of the Museum (Socialism in Practice) is very engaging. There are several re-created rooms of a typical family home. Lots of products with nostalgia value today, including Jugokeramike (ceramics from Zaprešic, Croatia, which were found in virtually every home). The Jugokeramika factory was the largest porcelain factory in Yugoslavia. It began operating in 1953 and was one of the first factories to realise the importance of design in industrial production. Their designs won numerous awards. In 1975, 90% of its production of its catering dishes were sold to domestic hotels and became synonymous with the tourist industry.
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| Every household had these dishes |
There was a bowl of Bronhi candy, which we could sample.
The museum dealt with the tension between Stalin and Tito culminating in the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform (the Moscow controlled body of all communist parties), which condemned the conduct of Yugoslav leadership and ended all diplomatic and economic ties between communist countries and Yugoslavia. Tito sought help from the West, and in exchange for ending his aggressive foreign policy, Yugoslavia received over one billion US dollars in aid during the 1950s.
There were a number of posters with statistics about housing, health care, literacy and education in the late 1940s, which were very low. The standard of living vastly improved starting in 1953.
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| The Economic Miracle- from 1953-1963- Yugoslavia had the world's second-fastest growing economy (next to Japan's) and the standard of living improved dramatically. |
There was also an exhibit dealing with the 14-day "required vacations" for every worker, which spurred the creation of many Adriatic resorts (government run) that are still popular today.
One exhibit dealt with the 9th Chess Olympics that were held in Dubrovnik in 1950. Yugoslavia won the gold medal for the first and only time. The USSR and the Eastern Bloc had boycotted the competition. A new chess set was designed for the competition by Serbian sculptor Petar Poček called "Dubrovnik" with inspiration from the Old City Walls.
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| The 1950 Chess Olympics poster |
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| Typical living room-- lots of great items from the past |
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| Peyton Place was very popular in Yugoslavia |
The museum also deals with the dark side of the regime. The secret police were a powerful force and political freedoms were tightly curtailed. One room had an interview with a prison director from Goli Otok, the Alcatraz of Tito's Yugoslavia.
The exhibits finish up with a long corridor of old photos and individuals' memories- both positive and negative- of living under the Tito regime. For many, life was good as it was the only life they knew. The Museum does a good job of integrating political and social history during the Communist period. The good- there was increased standard of living, urban planning was a key feature of the regime, with a right of housing included in the Constitution. The new housing was well-planned with schools and greenery incorporated with a mix of building types. The bad-- it was a totalitarian regime with a Tito cult of personality. As Tito gained full control, he made efforts to both diversify the economy and ensure that the disparate people of Yugoslavia could work together. For example, every Yugoslav male had to serve in the People's Army and each unit had equal representation from each ethnic group. As a result, friendships were formed.
The last room of the Museum had some Yugoslav inventions, the K67 kiosk, designed in Slovenia and still often spotted on the streets of Europe.
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| Allan taking over the kiosk---"What do you want?"... |
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| The Yugo 45, designed in Yugoslavia that was aggressively introduced to the American market in 1985, only to become a punchline with its low price point ($3900) and dubious built quality) |
We really enjoyed our visit to the Museum. It was not a whitewash of the Communist era, but on the other hand, showed that life was not as all as bleak as Westerners might had imagined. Yugoslavia provided education, health care and social services at a high level, to the citizens during this period. The cultural side was also explored in the museum, including film, pop music (a wall of albums) and sports--- including a number of basketball stars.
After our visit to the Red History Museum, we took the bus back to Pile Gate. We then decided to get a late afternoon bite at Barba, located in one of the small streets off the Stradun. We shared an "Octopus Menu"- with one fried Octopus sandwich, some onion rings and fries. We also shared a bottle of a local beer. We had the window seat and could watch folks on the narrow street.
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Counter with an opening to the narrow street
Fried Octopus sandwich, fries and onion rings
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We then went to Peppino's for an ice cream/gelato. Such a beautiful small store. The line up was not bad. Allan had " Wolfgang
Almondeus Mozart"- Rich Almond gelato swirled with dark chocolate paste and pistachio chunks. I had the "Merry Chia Raspberry" sorbet. Both were excellent.
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| Outside of Peppino's |
We decided to check out Banje Beach on the way back to the apartment. It was already around 5:00 p.m.
I love this shot of the Old Port, just as we leave the Polče Gates.
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| Heading out of the Old Town |
Definitely springtime in Dubrovnik--- lots of beautiful flowering plants all over the city.
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| Allan taking time to smell the flowers |
Banje Beach is the closest beach to the Old City. It is mostly a pebble beach with some sand mixed in. The water was very nice and there were people swimming.
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| View before we walked down the steps to the beach |
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| Great old Coke ad at Banje Beach |
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| I had to check out the Adriatic-- very nice for swimming |
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| Folks enjoying the beach-- very close to Ploče Gate and the Old Town |
We walked up a steep set of stairs to our street. We sat out on the deck until sunset. The Old Town's Walls were beautifully lit up.
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| Sunset over Dubrovnik from our deck |
We went inside for a light charcuterie dinner with a salad and a glass of wine.
On Sunday, we head to Lokrum Island, a quick 15 minute boat ride away. We can see the Island from our deck. Looks like it is going to be another beautiful day.
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