With a rest day on Tuesday, when there were no excursions and students were free to do as they liked after lessons, Julia Molden resumes her blog on Wednesday when the group visits Dragon’s Cave and then moves on to Bol and Zlatni rat. To round off the day they enjoy wine, tea and homemade cakes at the home of a fellow student.

Amazing Zoran

The group broke down into two today, after Sunday’s experience of the long trek to the monastery.  The majority left the school at 08:00 for the trip to the Dragon’s Cave, which was once again going to be very challenging up an even steeper path than previously.  Those who didn’t participate heard all about their experiences afterwards, and those that did take part thought that the effort well worthwhile.  After a long climb uphill, they reached the cave and guide Zoran really came into his own explaining all the myths and legends associated with it.

The Dragon’s Cave is about twenty metres in length, with a large opening that allows daylight to flood the whole space.  It is divided into three parts: firstly a tiny church with an altar carved into the rock, then some small cells where the monks prayed, meditated and slept, and finally an inner area carved with reliefs around which various legends and stories are woven.  The monastery was established in the cave in 1460 by a monk called Juraj Dubravčić, who came to Brač while fleeing from the Turks.  Although the earlier period of the cave is shrouded in mystery, it is now believed that at least some of the dwellings and reliefs were created before the arrival of the monks.  Some of the reliefs contain elements of paganism and it is believed that the monks found pagan reliefs, including dragons, moon worship and altars.  They decided to hire local carvers to replace them with Christian motifs and today it is possible to see both the pagan reliefs and deep Christian reliefs depicting the end of the world.  The depiction of the killing of the dragon allegorically represents Christianity’s victory over paganism.

Dragon’s Cave preserves a well-hidden world where Slavic myths about fairies, werewolves and witches still live, along with Mediterranean tales of Orkomarin, the one-eyed giant reputed to live in the cave.  Guide Zoran enthusiastically relayed the tales to everyone’s delight and he also pointed out images on the way up, including the Old Slavic image of the tree of life with the supreme god Perun at the top.

On returning down from the cave, the group moved on to lunch at Zlatni Rat and met up with some of the rest of the group.  Others had spent the time visiting Bobovišće na moru and Sutivan, both very charming little seaside resorts, before returning to Milna to check out the restaurant for dinner on the last evening.  Eventually everybody congregated at the home of one of our students and his wife who live in Bol, and we were all treated to wine, tea and delicious home-made cakes on their beautiful terrace, looking down towards the sea [see main image].

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Follow the link for a fascinating interview with Zoran, in advance of our visit to Dragon’s Cave: Croatian Dragons, Caves and Bračman