Red History Museum and Gruž

I took a ferry today to Hvar. But that wasn’t until mid-afternoon, leaving me time to visit the Red History Museum and wander around Dubrovnik a bit more before I left.

One consequence of today including a more-than three-hour ferry ride is that I suspended my recent practice of publishing two journal entries a day—one for the morning and one for the afternoon. This is the only entry I published today.

Did I say the Red History Museum? Why, yes. Yes, I did. A museum devoted solely to the history of the colour red? What’s up with that?

There are a great many places I’ve never been to in the world. So it’s possible I’m just ignorant of them, but I know of no museums dedicated to the history of any other individual colours. How is that fair? Other colours deserve respect too.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against red. But, at a minimum, the other primary colours deserve equal billing. Depending on which colour model you use, that may include blue, yellow, green, cyan, or magenta, with each model having three primary colours.

Then there are secondary colours such as, for example, purple, orange, or brown.

And what about more obscure colours such as midnight abyss cobalt blue surprise? Their eccentricities deserve to be celebrated too. But do they get their museums? No. As far as I know, they don’t. It’s unjust, I tell ya.

(I made up “midnight abyss cobalt blue surprise.” If any company has it in their proprietary colour palette, please pardon me for using it here. And please don’t sue me for copyright infringement.)

Red History Museum

Of course, I was just being juvenilely silly and obtuse above. The Red History Museum is not devoted to the colour red per se, but rather to what it commonly represents in society, namely communism, or sometimes socialism. Dubrovnik’s Red History Museum discusses specifically communism in the former Yugoslavia, and especially Croatia, then one of Yugoslavia’s constituent republics.

Of course, in the United States red symbolizes not communism, but the Republican Party. Never mind that. The less said about the U.S. Republican Party the better. One does want to control one’s anger when travelling for pleasure, or any time for that matter, doesn’t one? And I’m not even American. How they put up with the Trump Party is beyond me.

I know you want to continue that thought, but please don’t get me started. Let’s move on before my blood pressure rises into stroke territory.

Dubrovnik’s Red History Museum is not large. Its permanent exhibits follow a circular route in the former factory that houses the museum.

The exhibits chronicle the rise and fall of communism in Yugoslavia and describe life in the intervening communist period.

The exhibits are text-heavy, but they have whimsical elements. At the start is an actual Yugo car. The vehicle achieved considerable global sales due to its low price. But it also became considerably mocked and maligned because of its correspondingly low quality.

There are also displays of other uniquely Croatian or, more broadly, Yugoslavian products.

The Red History Museum displays mockups of rooms typical in Croatian homes of the day. Throughout, it presents a series of cupboards and cabinets. Stickers marked most of them as being openable. Opening the doors reveals small, everyday surprises from the communist period, such as clothes, shoes, children’s toys, and, in one case, a well-stocked liquor cabinet.

On one wall, wall-mounted individual cupboards contain headphones, one in each cupboard. Each headphone played a different popular song from the period. Accompanying text tells the story of the performer and song.

One exhibit was inexplicable. It consisted of an iPad that presented augmented reality, without any explanation as to what I saw and why the museum presented it.

Following the instructions printed on the wall, I picked up the iPad and pointed its camera at a marked square on the wall. When I did, the iPad replaced the square with a video. The video consisted of nothing more than a series of video clips of women shown from above the waist.

Most of the women wore bras with nothing over the bras. The video presented considerable jiggling and self-manipulation of the breasts. There were also a couple of seconds depicting toplessness.

There was no explanation as to the point of the video elsewhere on the screen. Although, there is some chance that I missed it because I was too distracted by the weird, bewildering video.

I searched the nearby wall for any explanation. I found none. For all I know, it might have displayed a unique Croatian-designed bra or an innovative Croatian breast-enhancement procedure, or possibly something completely different. I don’t know.

The texts about Yugoslavian communism throughout the museum described both its good and bad sides.

On the good side of the ledger, before the communists took over, illiteracy rates were high, and education levels and life expectancies were low. The communists improved all those measures.

They also raised production levels, but the standard of living remained relatively low.

The museum certainly doesn’t shy away from the bad points of the communist era. You know, little things like restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, totalitarianism, the holding and torturing of political prisoners, and extrajudicial executions. (Yes, “little things” was sarcasm. Big time.)

In addition, when communists seized large companies and split them into sometimes thousands of companies, many of those small companies were too small to earn a profit. As a result, the economy suffered.

At the end of the circle through the permanent exhibits is a hallway presenting photographs on the two walls with a variety of subjects.

All in all, the Red History Museum is a surprisingly interesting little museum.

Gruž Port

I was in Dubrovnik’s new port, Gruž, twice today. I went the first time because the Red History Museum is very close by. The second visit was to catch the ferry to Hvar, my next stop.

Gruž is nowhere near as charming as the old port. Not even close.

The old port accommodates only relatively small craft. And it’s old. Gruž is newer and handles larger boats and ships, right up to the gigantic cruise ships that disgorge tourist plagues in cities. Or is that tourists carrying plagues? Or plagues of tourists carrying plagues. Probably the latter.

(I’m pretty sure the collective noun for “tourists” is a plague. That’s why I usually travel alone.)

Today, I saw one of those ships docked at the port. It wasn’t the largest such ship I’ve ever witnessed in my life, but there was a larger one there when I was at Gruž to leave on the Elaphite Islands trip I took the other day.

(By the way, I’ve seen it spelled both “Elephite Islands” and “Elephiti Islands.” The company that ran the tour I took spelled it Elephite. So that’s what I’ve been using. Choose whichever spelling you wish.)

Also by the way, during my visit to Dubrovnik, I either visited Dubrovnik’s old port or viewed it from vantage points on high several times. Every time, I saw at least one, and sometimes two, mammoth cruise ships anchored at sea, quite far from the port. I’ve never been on a cruise ship. How does that work? Do they shuttle people ashore in smaller boats?

If you know the answer to that question, feel free to let me know in the comments below. But also please feel absolutely, one hundred percent free to not do so. The truth is, I’m not interested. I don’t think any of the cruise companies would be willing to pay me what I would demand to take one of their cruises. So it isn’t at all relevant to me. I was just making conversation.

I didn’t see any cargo ships in Gruž’s port. So I think it’s only for passenger ships and pleasure craft.

Bye, Dubrovnik

After having a long lunch of wine and grilled squid at a restaurant in Gruž near the port, before going to my hotel to pick up my luggage and head back to Gruž to catch the ferry, I took a walk to a vista near my hotel. There I did some final gazing at the gorgeous Dubrovnik coast.

My next two stops (the first of which, Hvar, I’m already in as I push the publish button on this post) are also on the Dalmatian coast. So, I won’t say goodbye to the sea just yet. But, goodbye, Dubrovnik. Except for the crowds, it’s been wonderful. If I come back, please keep other tourists out during my stay. Thanks.

The ferry voyage was uneventful. Although, the ferry’s displayed rules were curious in one regard. In addition to expected directives like no smoking and don’t throw anything into the sea, the rules also specified that shirts and shoes must be worn onboard. Um. Er. I think I see a decorum gap in that rule. I appreciated that, despite the rules not requiring them to, everyone chose to wear an appropriate garment of some nature between their shirts and shoes.

The ferry didn’t dock at Hvar until after dark. My hotel is very near the ferry dock, but by the time I checked in I was ready for dinner. So I don’t have much to say about Hvar today. But from what I could see from what’s lit up at night, it looks like there are at the very least hints of beauty here. A closer examination will have to wait until tomorrow.