An evening in Dubrovnik around the show

Start from the calendar

The booking calendar fixes the shape of the evening. It shows which dates are open and when each starts, and nothing else in the plan should be set before you have looked. The show lasts about 70 minutes and the ticket covers it alone, so everything around it, dinner included, is yours to arrange. Pick the date first, then decide whether the evening is a meal before the show, a meal after it, or a light snack and a late walk.

Walking in through the gate

Lazareti stands just outside Ploče Gate, the eastern entrance of the walled city, which makes the Old Town the natural place to spend the hours around the show. The Old Town is entirely pedestrian, and the main street, the Placa or Stradun, leads towards Luža Square at the eastern end. One local guide warns that the marble paving can be hard on the feet and uneven, so soft-soled flat shoes pay off in an evening of walking.

Luža Square and St Blaise

Luža Square is the old market square at the eastern end of the Placa. Wikipedia places the Little Onofrio's Fountain at the eastern side of the Placa, supplying water to the market place in the square. The church of St Blaise, built in the eighteenth century, is named for the city's patron saint, whose feast on 3 February is a UNESCO-listed festivity. A few minutes in the square before the show give a feeling for the city's long civic story, in which Lazareti is one chapter.

A walk at the old port

From the Old Town, the city harbour connects Dubrovnik with the island of Lokrum, and the old harbour is part of the Old Town. Wikipedia describes Lokrum as a wooded island with a fortress, botanical garden and monastery, where, according to legend, Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked in 1192. You do not need the island for this plan: the old harbour is simply a pleasant place to stand before or after the show, with the walls and the sea in one view.

Eating around the show

Because the ticket carries no food, plan your meal around the start time shown in the calendar. If the show starts early, eat afterwards and walk back through the gate. If it starts late, eat first and give yourself a margin for the walk out through Ploče Gate. Either way, avoid ordering a long tasting menu that could run into the show, and say you have a show to attend when you sit down.

Two fountains from 1438

Wikipedia credits the Neapolitan architect and engineer Onofrio della Cava with completing the city's aqueduct and its two public fountains, both built in 1438. The Big Onofrio's Fountain stands in a small square near Pile Gate, while the Little Onofrio's Fountain stands at the eastern side of the Placa, supplying the market place in Luža Square. A stroll between the two makes a gentle thread through the Old Town's centuries of civic engineering, and you can finish it near Ploče Gate before the show.

A city of stone and recognition

UNESCO inscribed the Old City of Dubrovnik in recognition of its outstanding medieval architecture and fortifications, and Wikipedia dates the city's joining of the World Heritage list to 1979. Walking its stone streets, you feel how much of the city survives as one piece. When you watch a folk show in a quarantine complex built by the old Republic, you are seeing one more layer of that long civic history, now put to cultural use.

Read next: Lazareti Dubrovnik: where the show is

Keeping the evening unhurried

Dubrovnik's Old Town draws large crowds, and by 2018 the city had taken steps to reduce overcrowding, including staggering the arrival and departure times of cruise ships. Wheeled luggage is also to be banned in the Old Town, per the mayor's announcement, so leave suitcases behind. A quiet plan, with one meal, one show and one walk, will feel better than three activities squeezed into one night. Keep the address, Ulica Frana Supila 8, saved on your phone and leave a margin.

Read next: Lazareti Dubrovnik: where the show is