“We love tourists and travellers”, said local art historian, Goran Vukovic. “We just need to preserve the unique atmosphere of Dubrovnik that visitors are coming to see”. He was talking about a recent candlelight protest that drew some 2000 Dubrovnik residents to the streets. At issue was the city’s plan to “redevelop” the area around Pile Gate to accommodate the needs of tourists, specifically the ones that come in vehicles. A vast new underground parking garage has already destroyed a 17th-century orphanage outside Pile Gate. Okay, it may not have been one of Dubrovnik’s architectural masterpieces, but still. The new and boxy “Monument to the Fallen Defenders” outside Pile Gate is also no masterpiece, according to locals. Worse, is the plan to expand and modernize the current local bus stop outside Pile Gate to receive the constant stream of tour buses that bring cruise passengers to the town walls. Approaching Dubrovnik’s classic western gate to the tune of rumbling engines is not the way to fall under the spell of Dubrovnik’s charms.
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