dubrovnick flood

Rick Steves claims that Dubrovnik, Croatia is a ˝not to be missed fairytale of a town!˝ True as that may be, with its perfectly preserved walls and compact layout, I doubt he was here during the rainy season. I ventured out early this morning to set up a day excursion. Only to be told there are no excursions going out today on account of the weather. So I went off to explore the town, thinking that the locals seemed quite wussy. It’s just a bit of rain and wind. I checked out a couple of churches, the local monastery and learned how recently the town had been destroyed by war. It was raining a bit more, so I ducked into a cafe for espresso and cornetto. Perfect timing!

The sky opened up. Lightening! Thunder! Pouring rain! For hours! The lightning and thunder were coming so fast that the sky was still lit up as the thunder started. The electricity went out, the street flooded (luckily I was on the high side of the street, the shops on the other side weren’t so lucky) and everyone stood on their doorsteps looking out. The water got to about 8 inches before the police came around and started clearing the storm drains (wading around in plastic bags, mind you).

A couple of hours later, the rain slowed, the water went down enough to for people to wade about their businesses and I ventured out again to explore the tiny fairytale town.