Karaka, Pirat Ship

When seeing Karaka most people think it is replica of Pirat ship. But KARAKA is the largest merchant sailing vessel from Dubrovnik.
 
KARAKA (KHA-RAH-KHA) – a word probably comes from Arabic – karrâka, meaning easy Vessel; English - carrack, French -carraque, Dutch - kraeck, Spanish - carraca, Italian - caracca) is a large sailing vessel used between 14-17th century, was intended for cargo transport.
During the 16th century, when the Dubrovnik Republic was at its peak, its shipbuilding industry produced almost 200 ships for the seas of the world. The citizens of Dubrovnik had earned a reputation as very distinguished builders of great karaka and galleon ships. That’s why the name “Argosy” (derived from Ragusa, as Dubrovnik was formerly known) became a synonym for a great trading ship, likely referring specifically to a karaka ship. It is even mentioned by Shakespeare in his play “The Merchant of Venice”.

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, a karaka ship was normally quite large, one of the largest ships of that period. With its typical trading activity, it was also one of the most important sailboats of the Mediterranean Sea.

6th Festival of Jam and Marmalade

Over a hundred kinds of marmalades and  jams – made of oranges, lemons, figs, cherries, strawberries, plums and everything you can imagine, domestic liquors and cakes are exposed at Stradun in front of the St. Blaise’s Church, on Croatian Festival of Jams and marmalades. The Festival of jams and marmalades has grown into a traditional event that additionally enriches the tourist offer of Dubrovnik in October. It is organized by NGOs DEŠA-Dubrovnik and ‘Dubrovnik orange’, in cooperation with Croatian chamber of economy – branch office Dubrovnik.
During the course of two day exhibition, with its sweet and colourful offer from the Croatian producers, the Festival attracts numerous foreign and domestic tourists. Numerous exhibitors from all over the Croatia participate in this Festival, and its goal is to present quality products and abundance of Croatian cultural heritage. Last year there was the “delights with pancakes,” which thrilled all visitors.

The Dubrovnik gastronomy of Drzic’s time

The diet of the contemporary Dubrovnik people does not differ significantly from the diet of continental people. An analysis of lipid values, performed several years ago on the healthy Dubrovnik population, revealed no significant difference compared to people from Continental Croatia. That study revealed that only people from Blato on the island of Korčula still eat in the “old fashioned” Mediterranean way; fish, olive oil, garlic and a glass of wine, together with an HDL increase through working in the vineyard, olive groves or on a boat, are still the predominant way of life, although it is also decreasing. This Mediterranean diet, was the diet of common people in Dubrovnik of Držić’s time. The food of the poor or fasting food consisted of broad bean and lentil, fritters, plain soup (Ukrop) and sardines. The most revered vegetables were green cabbage, fennel, onions and lettuce. As spices, Dubrovnik people used pepper, saffron and clove. For throat they used honey, butter and jam, and for special treats they ate sausages, mortadella and aspic. They prepared fish by sautéing it on onions and garlic.
They preferred mullets and picarels. Although they did not know much about omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids in a daily diet, the significance of fish in the diet, especially for common people, was great, so that even soups were often made of fish and with a lot of garlic. Maidservants of the rich Dubrovnik aristocracy were satisfied with “Ukrop”, water used to cook vegetables, mostly cabbage. It is not advisable for people with hypercholesterolemia, but also for healthy individuals, to eat food high in saturated fats. They are present in red meat and dairy products, but also in rabbit meat even more than in pork, beef, veal or lamb. The smallest amounts can be found in turkey or chicken meat. The Dubrovnik aristocracy ate a lot of meat meals (they especially revered mutton and goat meat).
Sweets were eaten rarely, mostly for holidays because sugar was very expensive and was given as gift to the Bosnian Beylerbey, just like expensive fabrics. Sweets in those times were fritters, Makaruli or Mantala, a sweet dish made from young wine, hard-grained wheat flour and herbs (today it can still be found in Konavle). Marzipan was made in pharmacies and was a real luxury. The prevalent drinks
in Europe of those times were wine and beer. Wine drinking, or Bevanda (wine and water) among the poor, was related to a wide-spread belief that water was harmful. Malvasia and Muscat were especially appreciated. The City population mostly died from infectious diseases that swept Europe in those days. Nobody cared about cardiovascular diseases. Common people certainly en vied the rich aristocracy that imitated feasts in their neighboring Italian cities, although much more modestly because Dubrovnik Republic and their citizens were famous not only for diplomacy and patriotism but first of all for moderation, which also applied to eating.

Short history of Dubrovnik

The Croatian name of the town is derived from the word dubrava, while the Latin name Ragusa - Rausa originated from the name of the island where the first settlement was established (Lave, Lausa). Dubrovnik was probably founded in the first half of the 7th century, upon the fall of the nearby Epidaurum (today's Cavtat) during the Avaro-Slavic invasion on Dalmatia. Opposite of that location, at the foot of Srd Mount, developed a Croatian settlement under the name of Dubrovnik, after which, in the course of time, the entire town was named. The spatial separation was created by levelling and filling up of the present Placa, where the core of an integrated town developed. From its establishment the town was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire (for a certain period, the Byzantine strategist also resided here); during the Crusades it came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205-1358), and by the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358 it became part of the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom. Having been granted the entire self-government (bound to pay only a tribute to the king and providing assistance with its fleet), from that moment Dubrovnik started its life as a free state that reached its peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries. A crisis of Mediterranean shipping and especially a catastrophic earthquake in 1667 put Dubrovnik in a very difficult economic position. In such a situation Dubrovnik saw the beginning of the Napoleonic wars. The French entered Dubrovnik in 1806; in 1808 Marshal Marmont abolished the Dubrovnik Republic (the name was in use from the 15th c.). Pursuant to the resolutions of the Vienna Congress in 1815, Dubrovnik was annexed to Austria.
During the period of independence of Dubrovnik, the state administration was in hands of the aristocracy; the administrative bodies were the Upper Council and the Lower Council (from 1238) and the Senate (from 1253). The head of the state was the Duke, elected for a term of office of one month. In the 13th century Dubrovnik gained the island of Lastovo, and in the 14th century also Ston, the Peljesac Peninsula and the island of Mljet. In the course of several centuries Dubrovnik grew into the most powerful economic centre on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, trading both in the Orient and the Occident, developing a powerful fleet of merchant and war ships (shipyards in Gruz, Lopud and in Sudurd on Sipan; an institution for marine insurance from the second half of the 14th c.) and maintaining diplomatic relations with a number of countries and cities.
Dubrovnik had its Statute as early as 1272, which, among others, codified the town-planning and hygienic regu-lations (organization of quarantines). Medical service was introduced in 1301; the first pharmacy was opened in 1317. The old people's home was opened in 1347; the first quarantine hospital ("lazaret") was organized in 1377; the Supreme Medical Council was established in 1424; in 1432 the orphanage was opened; the waterworks was constructed in 1436.
Dubrovnik was an outstanding literary centre in the Renaissance (M. Drzic, I. Gundulic); the centre of the local painting school in the 15th-16th century; the birth-place of several world-famous scientists, such as the physicists Marin Getaldic (1568-1626) and Ruder Boskovic (1717-1787), the economic theoretician Benedikt Kotruljic (1400-1468), the composers Luksa Sorkocevic (1734-1789) and Ivan Mane Jarnovic (1740 or 1745-1804) and other. Dubrovnik was the cradle of humanism and Latinism on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic.
Science and culture in the town were promoted by scientific and literary societies - academies: the Academy of the Unanimous (second half of the 16th c.), the Academy of the Frivolous (founded around 1690) and other. Dubrovnik has maintained its important position in the Croatian culture until today.

Dubrovnik and Liberty

The famous inscription over the entrance to Lovrijenac fortress: NON BENE PRO TOTO LIBERTAS VENDITUR AURO is not invented by the Dubrovnik Republic, it was taken out of the Aesop fable: “Of Dog and the Wolf” from the book of Walther of England.
In the story a starving wolf admires the lifestyle of the dog who is well fed and has all the commodities he could possibly want until the end of the fable when the wolf notices collar scar marks on the dog’s neck. Only then the wolf tells this famous sentence how liberty can not be sold for all the gold in the world as this beautiful blue sky offers much more.
This fable was actually taught in school at the time and the inscription is probably more than just a simple statement of how Dubrovnik loves liberty. It was probably inscribed there, above the doors, to subconsciously give the persons doing their watch something to think about and remind them why they were there.