The dark side of Dubrovnik

For decades, it has been the most visited tourist place in the Balkans because of all the beauties that this Dalmatian old town offers. Since recently, he has included a tour of the locations where the most popular series “Game of Thrones” was filmed in his rich tourist offer.
If you find yourself in Dubrovnik and want to experience it in a different way, you will surely opt for the “Haunted Dubrovnik” tour, whose creator is Marija Milovac, a tourist guide. She greets her tourists in the evening, dressed in a black cloak with a lantern in her hand, in order to bring the topic she is talking about even closer.
The tour includes a walk through the famous city cemetery – Boninovo, which is ruled by the spirits of famous and less-known citizens of Dubrovnik, each of whom is connected to an interesting story.The wider city center is known for villas older than 500 years, churches and chapels that are considered haunted by the locals or are associated with one of the local legends and instill fear in the bones. Indispensable is the famous legend about the curse of the island of Lokrum, which is not an integral part of the route, but is talked about when visiting the park Gradac, from where the best can be seen.

During the ninety-minute walk, is visited Skočibuh castle, the former hospital and Pucić Castle, the former monastery of St. Clara. These are all places outside the city walls because in the past it was customary to keep all the ugliest things, such as the shooting range in Graz, outside the center. Also all of these places spin dark stories about ghosts, mysteries and tails of the past.
The tour takes place in the evening, when the mysterious city gardens sink into darkness and awaken the imagination of the observer. It takes a little courage to enter some of them, but moving in a group that follows only the light of a lantern turns any fear into anticipation.
From this year, due to the global pandemic and the impossibility of gathering in groups, “Haunted Dubrovnik” can be visited online via the “Zoom” application.
Dubrovnik has been connected for centuries through Masonic lodges, conspiracies and intrigues that influenced political relations in the world, and all that is written in its stone walls, dusty books that you will get to know much better if you embark on this interesting adventure.

Tamara Roksandić

Photographs: pixabay