Dubrovnik

I was slightly concerned that my extra days spent at Vela Luka weren't going to leave me enough time to see Dubrovnik, but as it turns out, you really only need a day to see the major sights. Perched on a peninsula jutting into the Adriatic Sea, the Old Town is picture perfect. Massive limestone walls with numerous towers, built in 1466, encircle the medieval city. The wall around Dubrovnik's Old Town is the best preserved medieval city wall in the world. All of the rooftops have red clay roof tiles, nearly all of which have been replaced since the siege of Dubrovnik by the Yugoslav Army in 1991-92. Despite the entire city of Dubrovnik being a UNESCO Heritage Site, it suffered a massive attack from October to December 1991 which caused significant damages to houses, buildings, churches, and monuments. Now, when you take the 2 km walk around the city walls, few signs of the destruction caused by the siege are visible. Instead you see a simple, but eye-pleasing consistency in the buildings, the backdrop of the sea containing islands and a variety of boats, a nearby fortress, and the forested hill of Srđ. The walk around the walls is definitely the highlight of any visit to Dubrovnik.

I also visited a couple of the monasteries, a few churches, the Rector's Palace, and some museums. Dubrovnik is also the home of a gallery called War Photo Limited. My guide book said it was not to be missed. It was right. The goal of the gallery is to change the Hollywood style image of war and show the cruel reality of conflicts. The current exhibitions are on wars in Africa (Liberia, Sierra Lione, Sudan). Definitely not for the faint-hearted. These photojournalists do risk it all to get their shots. One of the two exhibiting now was seriously injured in Liberia. I wonder how they are able to take many of the photos in the first place. Why do people who are beating a man to death with sticks, or beheading someone, or something equally horrific, allow a photograph to be taken of them doing this? I suppose the answer has something to do with the fact that they do not realize what an atrocious act they are committing. This is war: all the rules of normal human behaviour are suspended. Seeing the children fighters was especially disturbing. There was a photo of a young boy who was so high on cocaine that he did not even realize that he had been shot in the chest. Besides the current exhibitions, past exhibitions cover wars in Israel-Palestine, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kashmir. The photos from these played on slideshows on TVs so you could see them as well. Some of the photos from both past and current exhibitions can be seen on the gallery's website www.warphotoltd.com.