At times the old town feels less like a historic city and more like a funnel. You shuffle forward in a sea of bodies, a moving tide of hats, backpacks and cameras. It is like watching ants, each line following the other, all of us desperate to get our money’s worth. I kept asking myself what that really means. A photo of the same wall that thousands have already photographed? A tick on a list? Or simply the relief of not losing your tour group in the crush.
The shops along the way add to the absurdity. Entire storefronts are devoted to rubber ducks dressed as pirates, princesses or pop stars.
WTF- Ducks
Rows of plastic yellow smiles waiting for tourists to carry them home. It is easy to laugh, and maybe we should, yet part of me finds it harder to reconcile. While some corners of the world are drowning in conflict and grief, Gaza or the divisions in America, other corners are packaging plastic ducks for visitors like me.
A review from the website
It has become my little tradition to buy rubber ducks from every shop like that across the world……
Bear with me, I know I overthink. Maybe the answer is less thinking and more wine. Still, I keep circling back to the question of what to make of this. Perhaps it shows that even in a fractured, complicated world, people still crave joy, colour and silliness. Rubber ducks will not heal a divided America or bring peace to Gaza, but they do remind us that in the middle of chaos people reach for something small and cheerful to take home.
It may not be the memory I want to hold onto, but it is part of the picture, the ridiculous and the serious sitting side by side.
#DubrovnikDiaries #TouristCrush #TravelReflections #DuckShops #MassTourism #TravelWithHumour #SeeBeyondTheCrowds #TravelTexture #PeopleNotPlaces #JourneyWithHeart