1936 On the Continent

costumes, into the town, in order to take part in the festive procession. The furling of banners is agreat contest of skill, and for one day the whole town goes wild and there is dancing, shooting, church bells, popular entertainments and gaiety.
    Dubrovnik has the best hotels on the coast (Imperial, Excelsior, Villa Argentina, and in the adjoining harbour of Gruž, Hapad and Petka), and is a great tourist centre not only in the summer but, because of its mild climate, also during the winter. Its winter, with an average temperature of 10° C., is milder than that of Naples. Of its cafés, the one built right under the arcades of the ancient port is specially interesting.
Excursions from Dubrovnik
    From Dubrovnik you can make excursions to numerous places, each more beautiful than the last: to the source of the Ombla which springs in magic green from under long lines of sunlit cliff; to Trsteno, with its wonderful park; to the fascinating Mohammedan town of Trebinje, right in the hills; or to ancient dreamy Cavtat, which looks like the embodiment of some fairy story in stone. Cavtat owns Meštrovi’s famous mausoleum, which stands among cypresses on a small round hill. Opposite Dubrovnik lies the “paradise of flowers,” the island of Lokrum, on which Richard Lion Heart is supposed to have built a chapel. This island has a weird story of a curse laid upon all its future owners by the Benedictine monks. When evicted by Napoleon, they marched round the island for a whole night carrying dripping candles and muttering their imprecations. The tragic end of three of its owners is known to all the world: Napoleon, Maximilian of Mexico, Rudolf Habsburg.
    However, the finest excursion from Dubrovnik is a day’s car ride along the Boka of Kotor and up to Cetinje, the former capital of Montenegro. This is considered by many as the finest drive in all Jugoslavia. Along the picturesque bay south of Dubrovnik you pass the sandy beaches of
Kupari
and
Srebreno
and the promontory of Cavtat. A little further south, at the entrance to the bay, lies
Herceg-Novi
(Hotel Boka) jutting out on a little subtropical peninsula, evergreen in the abundance of its trees and flowers. It is a popular winter resort because of its mild climate, charming parks, churches, forts and old houses.
A Temperamental Lake
    Here one enters the bay proper, which during the War harboured the whole Austrian fleet in its impregnable fastness. Scene after scene rushes past in remarkable contrast. First a smiling flower-strewn hilly coast with many pleasant villages. Then, after the “Chains,” a magnificent narrow, temperamental mountain lake, which in its varied moods has been known to change from the calmest sunlit glass to the most turbulent and terrifying vortex. You may visit the Boka many times, but never will you find it in the same mood. Immense snow-capped mountains, sheer cliffs rising from the sea to the sky, frame this wonder lake and the many ancient towns that sleep amid picturesque ruins and moss-grown walls in the deep stillness of the bay. Finest of all is
Kotor
(Hotel Slavija), ensconced in the very shadiest nook of the austere mountain and completely surrounded by walls, and fort Kotor is full of delight from the moment you enter its powerful stone gate until you have completed your tour of its twelfth-century cathedral, its clock tower and the smallest corner of its many narrow, winding streets. The best days to visit Kotor are Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, when Montenegrins come to the market, proud and magnificent in their dignified costumes.
    From Kotor a serpentine road with breath-taking hairpin bends takes you rapidly to a height of over 3,000 feet, revealing at every bend a wider and wider panorama, one of the finest in the whole of Europe. The entire Boka now lies before you, with many subsidiary winding bays, small white towns and villages clustered against the dark background of cliff, chestnut and cypress groves, and sheets of ultramarine water reflecting the sun against the austere gloom of the mountains. Dubrovnik and this view alone make a visit to Jugoslavia worth while.
    From the pass of Krstac you enter Montenegro, the land of black mountains, a vast expanse of unrelieved grey stone. As though to emphasise the bleakness of Montenegro, even the winter snow never falls below the block house which marks the former frontier between it and Austria. Not until you have visited Montenegro and experienced this world of stone will you