''Dubrovnik'' and ''crowds'', two words that have married each other and are now toying with divorce.
Last night at about 21:00 at Pile gate, the sheer amount of people caused a gridlock. It is far from unusual to see hoardes of people seemingly ''stuck'' at Pile gate, but last night passed all the limits.
The Western entrance is usually more crowded than the eastern one (Ploce gate) which is also busy, and despite there actually being two methods of passage, both steps and a slope, it never makes it any easier for people to come in and out, last night was such a case as people simply could not go in either direction due to the volume of human traffic attempting to get into and out of the Old City.
One of the many problems facing Dubrovnik, which has been warned most seriously by UNESCO to limit the number of people allowed into the historic core at any one time, is uncontolled, mass tourism. Luckily, Mato Franković, Dubrovnik's fresh, popular new Mayor who was elected back in June, has promised to make sure life in the city for residents is made easier. For example, the high numbers of people arriving on cruise ships, otherwise the city's biggest burden, and those entering the Old City will be drastically ''shaved'' in order to make life better for both residents and for tourists.
After the way things were left by Andro Vlahušić, Dubrovnik's controversial former Mayor, Franković will have his hands full and his work cut out but in just a couple of short months, he has made some very big moves, gained a huge amount of support for his genuine desire for a better city and hasn't backed down from any of his pre-election promises so far.
Reducing the crowding in the city will not only allow Dubrovnik to keep its prestigious UNESCO World Heritage status, but will bring an end to the worryingly negative effects not only on the historical core, but on general safety and overall infrastructure. If Franković can do it, which I have every faith that he can and will, he will build a better city not only for us residents who surely bore others with our constant complaints, but for the tourists who have come to see and experience the Pearl of the Adriatic for what it truly is, which is a unique, living, breathing museum, and not an overheated, overcrowded Croatian Disneyland.
