Konavle

Konavle is the strip of fertile valley between the mountains and the sea south-east of Dubrovnik, bought by the Republic of Ragusa in the fifteenth century as its granary, and it has kept a distinct identity: villages of stone houses, a valley floor still farmed, and the Konavle embroidery, worked in silk on white cloth in geometric patterns, with the silk historically raised locally from mulberry-fed worms. The women's costume with its distinctive cap is still made and worn at events. The valley was badly damaged in the war of the 1990s and has been rebuilt. Sokol Grad, the fortress above it, guards the inland approach.

History

Konavle has been lived in since the Palaeolithic and Neolithic, and the Illyrian Pleraei and Ardiaei settled here in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. From the 2nd century BC the Romans developed a trading and maritime centre on the site of the Greek colony of Epidaurus, today's Cavtat, and the valley takes its name from the Latin canalis, after the channels that carried water from the spring at Vodovađa to the town; remains of the aqueduct, country villas, a Mithraic relief at Močići and the Roman road above Cavtat survive. In the Middle Ages Konavle belonged to Travunia, and stećak tombstones stand in cemeteries across the hills, the finest at Brotnice by the church of St Thomas. Ragusa's chroniclers held that the valley had been Epidaurus's land and so belonged to Dubrovnik, and early in the 15th century the Republic acquired it from the Bosnian lords who held it, the eastern part, from Popovići to Soko Tower and Cape Oštro, coming to it on 24 June 1419 (Wikipedia, Konavle).

What's there

• The republic's granary - bought by Ragusa in the fifteenth century.
• Konavle embroidery - silk on white cloth, worked by hand.
• Locally raised silk - from mulberry-fed worms in the valley.
• A valley rebuilt - after heavy damage in the 1990s.

When to go

May to October. A full day.

Before you go

Embroidery workshops and village collections are private and generally need arranging in advance. The war damage is recent history here and local accounts of it are personal. Public transport is thin; a car helps.

Nearby

Cavtat is on the coast; Sokol Grad stands above the valley.