10. Dubrovnik: Silk, Brandy, and an Old City

24 July 2026

Another early morning and another day venturing out of the city. Today our bus will take us to the beautiful Konavle Valley to experience some aspects of traditional Croatian life. After a forty-five minute drive from the city of Dubrovnik, we arrive in Gruda, where Antonia Ruskovic has maintained the tradition of handcrafted silk production. Antonia, an artist is not in attendance today, but her assistant, an expert in wholly hand-crafted silk production provides a lively and animated discussion on the history of the silk industry in this region. Dressed in traditional costume, complete with a hand-embroidered silk collar and waistband to provide an example of how women in this region are dressed, Marija first offers homemade apple cake and mint tea to her guests. She points to the many framed silk collars that adorn the walls. We have seen the mechanised silk production in places like Vietnam and Thailand, but this is something very special. Silk production here is very personal and is not for financial gain. Silkworm eggs are kept on the human body until they hatch, then they are moved to special areas where they are fed at first with chopped up mulberry leaves and as they grow, full mulberry leaves. When the grub is fat and strong, they begin to spin their cocoon, emerging later as a blind and deaf moth, which after mating, will lay thousands of eggs. The silkworm spins cocoons of silk that, when measured in length, equals one kilometre of silk thread. To unravel the silk from the cocoon, Marija makes it look really easy. She collects a handful of cocoons and places them in a bowl of boiling water. They unravel naturally, and she starts winding the unravelling silk onto a plug made from a folded paper serviette. Within a few minutes, the silk has been wound onto the serviette and Marija passes it around the room for us to touch. This silk is later dyed using natural colours before being embroidered into the beautiful collars we can see around the room. Silk in this region is not sold, but is produced and used by girls and women to make all their own clothes. The patterns and colours used are unique and identify each individual woman in the village.

Marija also shows us how women spin wool. In my experience, we have always done this with a spindle, which spins the teased wool fibres. The wool is lumpy and looks homemade. Marija places a carved stick into her waistband, teases some wool and passes it through a carved hole in the stick, expertly twisting it into yarn with her fingers. She says that the women's hands were never still. Even when they would walk down the street, their fingers would be spinning wool. This beautiful workshop has opened my eyes to life in rural Croatian villages and I am glad we have had the opportunity to visit.

Our bus takes us to another village not too far from Gruda. Here we stop at an ancient fully functional corn mill. Upon arrival, we are presented with brandies made from local fruit or nuts. Tom tastes the cherry brandy, whilst I select the almond-flavoured one. There are also glasses of clear liquid, which is sure to blow our ears off our heads if we tried them at 11 o'clock in the morning. I don't think grappa with its overproof alcohol content is for me today. We are also given a selection of candied peels and nuts to taste.

Spring water from just 500 metres up the hill is used to operate the mill that grinds corn. The millstones are imported from Greece because the local stone is too soft and smooth for this job. Through a nifty adjustment, corn can be coarse or fine ground. This is one of only two traditional mills that are still operating in Croatia. But it wasn't always this way. The mill had fallen into ruin, but the owners decided to bring the traditional milling practices back to life to demonstrate life in the 15th century. It was a surprise to see an Australian leading the tour. Her husband had decided to return to Croatia to help with this business after the war, and his wife, who is of Serbian heritage, returned with him.

After the 45 minute drive back to Dubrovnik, we arrive in the UNESCO-listed old city, which is like the other old cities we have visited before, except that we could, if we were physically able in the extreme heat, walk the two kilometres around the wall. We opt not to, and decide to part from the tour and do our own thing for a while. Something that does not include anything too strenuous. In 1667, an earthquake almost decimated the entire city, destroying all buildings except for the first and last buildings on the wide main street and killed over 5,000 citizens. We spend a delightful hour exploring the city.

We enjoy this day in this popular destination of Croatia.

Tomorrow we return to Italy.