Cavtat Things to Do

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There is a footpath that follows the coastline around the headland that Cavtat old town is built on. Maybe 30 minutes could get you around it but take your time stop on some of the shady benches, buy an icecream, and enjoy the magnificent scenery along the way.
Fantastic.

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Behind the harbour front and promenade is a thin squash of cream shaded Greco-Venentian houses that clamber up the small hill towards the mausoleum. It's an incredible change of pace. One minute you are on the busy, noisy promenade. Two steps later you are lost in the narrow back streets of a mediterranean fishing town.

Here sits one of the great men of Cavtat. I was intrigued by the abundance of information about what he did, partly contradictory, but nothing about who he was. Searching the web I have found no information about wife and children, which either means he did not have any, or the historians don't find such information interesting.

Bogišic was born in Cavtat 7 dec 1834. He left Cavtat at the age of 22, and never came back to live there. He studied and / or worked in Venice, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Giessen, Odessa, Kiev, Cetinje and Paris, was a member of several academic and scientific organisations. His main field was law, and his most known work is the civil law of Montenegro; Even though the law was autoritarian and patriarchal, it was a great step forward in Montenegro at the time.

Bogišic was a collector, who left his collections to the community of Cavtat. I get a little confused by the sources about Bogišices collections. One claims his letter collection consisted of private correspondence (10,092 letters!). Another source refers to letters exchanged between turkish and coastal lords concerning smaller and larger controversies at the time of the ottoman empire. These letters are written in the local language and are of great importance for researching cultural, legal and social history of the 16th and 17th centuries (http://www.almissa.com/povijestomiskekrajineipoljica_.htm).

The latter would be in accordance with what is else known about Bogišic (and who would write 10,000 letters in a lifetime!); He collected coins from Serbia, Kotor (Cattaro), Dubrovnik (Ragusa), Poland, Russia, Bohemia and other countries. He did sociological, ethnological and demographic research. He collected and got printed 76 "bugarštica" from the coastal area of Dalmatia, a very old and very special kind of folk songs. And he was an active contributor in the "zadruga" (slavic term for "compound family") debates.

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Take a walk up to the top of the hill to St. Roko cemetary. It is a bit steep, but not very long. A beautiful place for the eternal rest!!! (Pics. 1 and 2) And the view of Cavtat from above is lovely (pic. 5).

The Racic family Mausoleum is situated at this cemetary (pics. 3 and 4), created by the fameous croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic Cavtat has a long tradition of sailors and shipowners, and The Racic family owned a steamboat company founded in 1910. Rumours has it that Marija, the daughter of the family, had a love affair with Mestrovic (others claim that it was the mother Mare who was his mistress!). The whole family of four died within a short period of time around 1920.

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Perched on the top of the highest hill in Cavtat, the Mausoleum can be seen from all over, and offers fantastic views across the waters and back to the Dinaric Alps. It was built by one of Croatia's most famous architects, Ivan Mestrovic, for possibly Cavtat's most famous family, the wealthy shipbuilders Racic.

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Cavtat's southern peninsula is much more rugged. There's a path leading around it, but it's rougher and harder to follow than Rat. There's little in the way of life out here, and the path is not lit. You'll be fine if you head back within an hour of sunset, and you can just wander around the entire peninsula, but you might feel a little lost. If you do walk the full circle, you'll eventually find yourself in a small playpark. Cross it and head towards the hotel and back down to the harbour.

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Cavtat squeezes out of the mainland and along the narrow strip of the Rat peninsula. This is the most developed side of the harbour, and you can walk the entire circumference of the peninsula in about half an hour along well kept paths.

The sunsets looking west are spectacular.

Make sure to set off at least 30 minutes before sun down to get the best views. There's a small hideaway bar where you can stop for a beer to enjoy the last moments of the smoldering summer sun. But bring some insect repellent: the mosquitoes can get quite wild outside the town.

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Along the west side of the harbour, there is a long palm tree lined promenade. On the land side you'll find a string of chilled bars and restaurants, and on the water side you'll find a billionaire's row of expensive yachts. It's just the perfect place for relaxing after a long day's slogging through the crowds in Dubrovnik. Even the planes coming in to land at Dubrovnik airport add something to the spectacle: Their landing lights cutting powerfully and silently through the darkness and streaking across the waters of the harbour.