Valamar Blog

Porporela is the most famous and most sung about part of Dubrovnik’s old town and one of the favourite bathing points of Dubrovnik’s citizens and guests.

Porporela is a name derived from the Latin word purpure, which, translated into English, signifies an artificial sequence of reefs, small rocky islands, rocks or a coast built from a sequence of reefs.

The breakwater was built in 1873 when works were launched by the Sea Port Authority from Trieste (Italy) which was under Austrian-Hungarian government at that time. All the designs, as well as the historical texts on the construction, are still located in Trieste. However, owing to the selfless assistance of the experts and historians from the Dubrovnik archives, historical facts and photo records from 1873 have been obtained.

In 1879, a heavy storm accompanied with high waves threw a 3159-kilo rock onto Porporela which was then built into the breakwater. Today, it is a sort of an attraction.

Porporela has a view of Lokrum, an island you can swim to and touch, it seems, when the sea is calm (during bonaca). This part of the town is also highly frequented by the young looking for a place to hide from curious eyes. You can find this place in a famous poem, too: Tamo na rivi ?ekat ?u te mala, tamo na rivi kraj crvenog ferala… (I will wait for you, my dear, on the waterfront, there, by the red lamp…)

Porporela hosts concerts and sports events, the most famous of which is the Wild Water Polo League which contestants are amateur clubs of Dubrovnik’s beaches and bathing points. An indispensable part of the offer are also various folk events such as the traditional Porporela Nights when guests quench their thirst with a glass of red wine and get allured by the scent of grilled fish…