Cavtat. Things to do, map and hidden gems

Sokol Grad is a fortress that looks as though it grew out of the rock, because it is literally grafted onto it: a stronghold on a vertical crag above Konavle, whose walls begin where the natural rock ceases to suffice, and whose towers follow the ridge's shape. The place was fortified as far back as Illyrian and Roman times, and it received its present form under the Republic of Ragusa, which from the 15th century held it as a key point in the defence of the fertile Konavle field, the city's source of food. After the danger passed the fortress was abandoned and decayed for centuries, and it was thoroughly restored and opened to visitors in 2013. Today one climbs through several levels, with a display on the garrison's life, weapons and a view taking in all of Konavle to the sea. The ticket is moderate, the visit takes an hour, and the road from Cavtat leads some twenty minutes through villages.

The Racic family mausoleum in the Cavtat cemetery is one of Ivan Mestrovic's most important works and probably the loveliest tomb on the Adriatic: a white domed building of Brac stone, raised between 1920 and 1922 on the commission of Marija Racic, of a shipowning family that the Spanish flu cut down within a few years. Mestrovic executed everything: the architecture, the reliefs, the door, the bell and the eight angels that carry the dome from within, so the mausoleum is a unique example of a work in which one artist controlled every detail. The motif is Christian, but the treatment is secessionist and personal: the angels are female figures from Mestrovic's world, and the inscription above the entrance speaks of hope in the afterlife. The cemetery lies at the top of the Rat peninsula, with a view of the whole bay; the climb takes fifteen minutes. The ticket is modest, and the interior is visited in limited slots, so check the schedule.

The Cavtat cemetery lies at the top of the Rat peninsula, among cypresses, and is one of the Adriatic's loveliest cemeteries, for a simple reason: on it stands the Racic family mausoleum, Ivan Mestrovic's work of 1922, which alone is worth the climb. The cemetery is laid out in rows along the slope, with stone headstones of the families that built Cavtat, many of them seafaring, with ships and captains' names carved into them. Beside the mausoleum is also the small church of St Roch from the 16th century, raised as a vow against the plague. From the platform before the cemetery opens a view of the whole bay, the waterfront and the open sea toward Dubrovnik, which is the best viewpoint in town. One climbs to the cemetery through the peninsula's pine wood, fifteen minutes of easy walking from the waterfront. Behave as in a cemetery: this is to this day the place where Cavtat buries its own.

The Church of Our Lady of the Snow is part of the Franciscan monastery on the Cavtat waterfront and the only church in town that kept its original Gothic form: it was raised at the end of the 15th century together with the monastery, with a simple single nave, a wooden ceiling and a portal whose stone frame carries the marks of the passage from Gothic to Renaissance. The name comes from the Roman legend of snow that fell in August on the spot where a church to the Virgin was to be raised; the feast is celebrated on 5 August. The interior keeps works of the Dubrovnik painting school, among them a 16th-century polyptych, and votive paintings donated by Cavtat seafarers after safe voyages. Beside the church is the Gothic cloister with a cistern and a garden, the quietest space in town. Entry is free around the masses or with a symbolic contribution; visit in the morning, when the cloister is in full light.

The Bukovac House is the birthplace of Vlaho Bukovac, the most important Croatian painter of the 19th century, and one of the best-arranged small museums on the Adriatic: a family stone house in the Cavtat core, restored and set up so that both the paintings and the life that produced them can be seen in it. Bukovac was born in 1855, studied in Paris, exhibited at the Salon, painted portraits of European aristocracy and taught at the academy in Prague, and returned here all his life. In the house are displayed his works from all periods, from the early Parisian to the late pointillist, alongside personal objects, letters and wall paintings he made as a young man directly on the walls of a room. The display is clear, the captions in several languages, the visit takes an hour. The house lies in a narrow street two minutes from the waterfront; the ticket is modest, and for visitors who do not know Bukovac this is the best introduction.

The Rector's Palace in Cavtat is a Renaissance palace right on the waterfront, in which the local administration of the Republic of Ragusa once sat, and where today the Baltazar Bogisic collection is kept, one of the most important private bequests in Croatia. Bogisic was a jurist of world renown, author of Montenegro's General Property Code, professor in Odesa and Paris, and a man who collected all his life: a library of over twenty thousand volumes, manuscripts, coins, arms, paintings and prints, among them the largest print collection in Croatia. He left it all by will to his native Cavtat, so the palace became a museum in which the library is kept exactly as he arranged it. The collection also holds a famous drawing by Vlaho Bukovac. The ticket is modest, the visit takes an hour, and the space is cool and quiet in the middle of the waterfront. For a visitor who has seen the Bukovac House, this is the logical continuation.

Pasjaca Beach lies beneath cliffs a hundred metres high at the far south of Konavle and is one of the Adriatic's most unusual beaches, because it came about by accident: shingle that fell from the cliff while a tunnel for irrigating the Konavle field was being dug in the 1950s created a narrow strand where none had been before. A steep path leads to the beach from the top, through the tunnel and down steps cut into the rock, and the descent takes fifteen minutes; the return is uphill and demands fitness. The reward is a cove closed on three sides by vertical cliffs, with sea so clear the bottom is seen several metres down and with the feeling of being at the world's end rather than half an hour from Dubrovnik. There are no facilities at all, so bring water and everything else. The beach has several times been chosen among Europe's loveliest; in summer come early, for there is room for about thirty people.

Kljucice cove is a small inlet on the northern edge of Cavtat, where the town passes into the coast toward Mlini: a shingle strand between low rocks, with pines above and a sea that deepens moderately. The cove is smaller than the town beach and therefore quieter, and since no road leads to it but only the coastal path, those who come are mostly people staying nearby or who know it exists. There are few facilities: a shower, a few loungers and a bar in season, bring the rest. The sea is clean and sheltered, and the bottom is shingle without sharp stones, so entry is pleasant for children too, though because of its size the cove is better for couples and small groups. From the Cavtat waterfront Kljucice is a fifteen-minute walk by the coastal promenade northward. Toward evening, when the town beach empties, only the sea and the pinewood remain here.

Pinija Beach lies along the northern edge of Cavtat harbour, right beside the promenade, and is the easiest bathing place in town to reach: a few steps from the waterfront, with pines growing to the very edge of the sea and holding shade all afternoon. It is a beach for guests who do not want to plan a day but simply go down to the water between coffee and lunch. The shore is a mix of concrete platforms and fine shingle, entry is gentle, and the sea calm because the harbour breaks the waves; depth grows gradually, so it suits children too. Because of its central position Pinija is the busiest beach in Cavtat, and in July and August it fills to the last lounger by afternoon. Showers, a bar and lounger hire run in season. It is at its best early in the morning, before nine, when the sea is still smooth and the pine shade falls across the whole platform.

The lookout by the Hotel Croatia lies on the southern side of the Rat peninsula, on a height above the Tiha bay, and gives what cannot be seen from the town: a view of the open sea to the south, the Konavle coast and, on clear days, the mountains of Montenegro beyond Prevlaka. The hotel was built in the seventies in the best possible spot, fitted into the slope so that from the sea it looks like a terraced row, and the platform before it stayed publicly accessible, so one comes here without any obligation. A promenade leads to the lookout from the Cavtat waterfront across the peninsula, some twenty minutes' walk through pinewood, or a road if one comes by car. The benches face south, and in the early evening this is the best sunset in the area, because the sun falls into open sea without a single island in the frame. Combine it with a swim in the Tiha bay below.

The Ljuta river is a short karst river that rises in the heart of Konavle and after a few kilometres enters the sea, and its cold, abundant water drove mills and fulling houses in the valley for centuries: there were a dozen along its course, and several have been restored and work today as restaurants, with terraces above the water itself and mill wheels that still turn. The water is so cold that wine is chilled in it, and in summer the temperature by the river drops several degrees compared with the surrounding field, which explains why people come here precisely in August. In the restaurants one eats trout from their own pools, lamb and Konavle specialities, with local wine from the surrounding vineyards. Ljuta is some twenty minutes' drive from Cavtat across the Konavle field, and the outing joins easily with Sokol Grad and Cilipi into one half-day circuit.

Molunat is the last place on the Croatian coast before the Montenegrin border and one of the few that remained as coastal places were before tourism: two bays, a fishing harbour with a dozen boats, a few taverns and houses climbing the hill, without hotels and without concrete zones. The sea here is exceptionally clear because there is neither traffic nor industry, and the beaches are shingle and sand, with a shallow entry that suits children. The Velji Molunat bay faces south and is sunny all day, Mali Molunat is more sheltered and quieter. In the village one eats what was caught that morning, at prices lower than anywhere closer to Dubrovnik. From Cavtat the drive to Molunat takes half an hour, and the visit joins easily with Prevlaka, which is ten minutes further south. For a day without a single crowd this is Croatia's southernmost address.