Cliff Diving Cafe, Dubrovnik #1

Within the cracks of the mighty Dubrovnik Old Town wall holds Cafe Buza. A cliff diving cafe eagerly wait for adventurers to test their courage.

For those looking to travel, living in Europe sure has a major advantage. You can have breakfast in one country and have lunch in another. So like any Londoners who endured the harsh winter, Vitamin D deficient and pale like a BBQ pork bun, my friends and I decided a little travel would be a good remedy.

We agreed upon Dubrovnik, a Croatian city that hugs the Adriatic Sea. From the plane we could see the Dark cobalt water splashing onto the rocky foundations below the rich, green mainland. Nearby islands spread as far as the eye can see.

Visiting Dubrovnik Old Town is like travelling back to a medieval fortress. The town boasts a thirty metre stone wall inclusive of forts, towers and gates. Limestone streets, red-tiled roofs and Onofrio’s Fountain wait inside, stuck in time, allowing us to experience the past.

Like most travellers, you always search for that ‘authentic’ experience. Our Airbnb host Marko surprised us of one of the city’s truly hidden gems. He pointed his hand forward toward the sea and said, “Walk up the stairs until you hit the wall, turn left, keep walking until you see a hole in the wall”. Easy right? With these simple instructions off we went, hoping local knowledge would prevail that of any new age app or guide books. Not today Tripadvisor, not today Lonelyplanet.

We quickly changed into our swimmers, lathered up some sunscreen and dug out our beach towels. Socks off, thongs on and a wallet full of Euros we marched up the stone steps. These very same steps appeared on television show Game of Thrones when Queen Cersei appeared in her infamous ‘Walk of Shame’. How honoured we felt to share the same path as royalty.

As sweat perspired under the heat we marked alongside the giant wall, passing locals selling home-made jewellery sitting next to their washing line. It would be easy to miss; it would be easy to walk past without realising it. But within the protected stone wall a crevice could be seen, perfect for a child. The entry cut through the metre-thick wall and as you crouch to enter and stand upright on the other side, you see the dazzling blue sea sparkling from the suns reflection all the way down the horizon.

The ‘experience’ Marko informed us about was here, Café Buza. It was like no café id ever been to. They didn’t have to do much; all that mattered was the view. They put a few chairs, tables, a bar and some canopies. Boom, they were open for business. It was literally on the edge of a cliff. Buza in old Dubrovnik tongue means ‘hole’, so no surprise how the owners came to name it. The view saw the water touch the horizon with Lokrum Island sticking out like a large thumb.

We walked through the café closer to the edge of the cliff, passing those who had already secured their seats and the best views of the sea. To see such colours of the water brush against the rocks and powerful structure of the wall that protected the city from sea and land was awesome.

As background music played lightly to maintain the summer vibes you could hear chatter and excitement mixed in with drops of splashes further down the cliffs. We looked down holding the edge of the café railings. There was a crowd heading down towards the water, while others looked slightly up watching something, they were waiting. A group of girls decided to take on the Croatian cliff challenge. Climbing up the rock, nobody quite knows how high it is, the height always changing depending on how scared or confident you were that day. The three of them looked down, making sure that the water somehow didn’t change into concrete within the last five minutes of the previous person who had jumped. There was hesitation, on-lookers giving support while the girls asked for technique advice wanting the perfect execution.

Splash, the first one jumps, a loud cheer from the crowd, the locals chugging down a few beers who had seen this plenty times before. The second one follows suit quickly, she just needed someone else to jump first to break the concrete. But the third girl, oh the third girl, the last musketeer, anxious with pressure growing. Her legs began trembling, weak like jelly, her friends now in the water encouraging her to join them. As time ticked by it only further grew her fear. You could feel she was torn between not wanting to jump but not letting her gals down.

I lost track of time, new people had come and gone on the jump and we’d had a drink sitting on the rocks nearby overlooking the edge of the world. It felt like we were all invested into the jump now, wanting to look away so she didn’t feel the pressure of the crowd, yet we didn’t want to miss the moment we’d all waited patiently for. When she finally jumped, there was jubilation, cheers and fist pumps in the air, but most of all relief that she had achieve her big challenge for the day. As quick as the excitement came it went, no sooner had the girls left then another group of thrill-seekers came to challenge the Dubrovnik rocks. The circle of life continues.

It was our turn; the jump was exhilarating; it was a rush man! I don’t know what it is but there is so much joy jumping off a rock into the water, the feeling is pure. The free fall is quick and you have no time to think but to only react and be ready for impact. The slap of the surface does resemble the feeling of hitting a thin sheet of concrete slab, but underneath holds the refreshing sea that rejuvenates your body.

As I looked back to the cliff, Buza is scratched into the rock, those who had not jumped are never aware of its existence. I spot one of the locals walking to the edge of a higher cliff, twice the height of the other popular jump. He casually stepped up to the edge with no stress and jumped into the water. Did that just happen? I tell my friends who responded, ‘from there? No way’ they protested, ‘he couldn’t have jumped from there, that’s crazy’. It was like trying to tell them superman was real. And then he appeared again, this time on a cliff higher than the café. I pointed to his direction and yelled ‘over there, that’s the guy!’. This superman was bald and had black trunks, his red cape and blue wetsuit must have been in the wash today. A few others had cottoned on what we were looking at, commotion grew amongst the patrons of the café and those on the rocks. ‘On my god, no way is he jumping from there?’ one questioned. As he jumped, a little yelp and gasp could be heard from the crowds. It was like sighting a glimpse of a rare animal in the wild.

It was more a shock and of disbelief when we saw this jump compared to the previous excitement of the now much smaller ones. There was disagreement amongst us if we could jump it ourselves, I’m not sure any of us had the balls, at least not that day. We spoke to him afterwards as he resurfaced from the water, a champion local amongst the wannabe tourists. He had scars on his body, ‘are they from cliff jumping?’ I asked, ‘yes, but not from here, another place’ in his heavy English accent he proclaimed, a story for another day. The local diver later told me that he had once jumped from the top of the city walls, that would have been double that of the one we had just seen. I was in awe of his jumps; I was awed by his courage. The next day my friends would inform me they went back to jump the smaller cliffs at midnight, pitch dark with the help of some Dutch courage. The café staff hadn’t seen anyone try this in months, I wonder why.

This morning we woke up in one country, by the end of the day I had become immersed into the local traditions of a new one. For a few seconds I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to appreciate this moment, opening them up to remind myself that this day existed. I travelled, I jumped, I tanned and I witnessed Dubrovnik Superman do his thing, a good day indeed. Until next time. CK

#cliffdiving #cafebuza #dubrovnik #adventure #cliffjumping