Dubrovnik, Croatia
Santorini Island, Greece
Venice, Italy
Algarve, Portugal
Wimereux, France
Valletta, Malta
Ring of Kerry, Ireland
More Doors…
By the time we had walked underneath the walls of St John’s Tower and into the old harbour I was beginning to understand why in 1929 George Bernard Shaw described Dubrovnik as ‘Paradise on Earth’ and thankfully the post war reconstruction has restored the old town to its former splendour.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, Europe, History, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged dubrovnik, George Bernard Shaw, Life, Montenegro, Photography, postaday, Siege of Dubrovnik, Travel
Abandoned Hotel, Dubrovnik, Croatia
The water taxi left from the little harbour in the village and we waited in the already hot sunshine until it arrived at ten o’clock and then selected seats on the upper deck and sat and sweltered while we waited for it to leave.
Eventually the crew cast off and followed the coast towards the city and then we saw something unexpected and nothing like we had seen before on previous visits to Croatia, a string of war damaged bombed out hotels at regular intervals all the way to Dubrovnik. This we learned later was the legacy of an invasion by Montenegro during the secessionist wars of the 1990s.
Posted in Croatia, dubrovnik, Europe, History, Hotels, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged dubrovnik, Montenegro, postaday, Serbia JNA, Siege of Dubrovnik, Slobodan Milosevic, UNESCO, Weekly Photo Challenge, Yugoslavia
After the squares we climbed a stairway of worn shiny steps to get to the entrance of the fortress which stands at the top of the town overlooking the harbour below. Inside there were walls to walk and views to admire, nothing like Dubrovnik of course, but pleasant all the same and worth the small admission fee. It didn’t take long to complete the visit to the fortress so we walked back down and had a welcome cold drink in a bar in the main square next to the town’s old drinking fountain and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the centre.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, dubrovnik, Europe, Hotels, Travel
Tagged Croatia, dubrovnik, Hercig Novi, Kamaria, Mlini, Montenegro
The pine fringed white beach was even busier today (school must have finished early) and we had to squeeze ourselves in on a vacant patch right at the sea’s edge. This was a beach of stones all carefully graduated by size as though someone had carefully arranged it that way. At the back of the beach there were rocks, then stones giving way to pebbles and finally shingle disappearing into the sea.
The water taxi took about thirty minutes to make the short journey from Mlini to Dubrovnik and even though large cruisers anchored up outside the harbour spoiled the approach the old town fortifications looked spectacular as we sailed into the harbour and once off the boat we transported into an alternative world of narrow medieval streets, magnificent buildings constructed of white Dalmatian stone and a riot of red tiled roofs. We knew that we had all day to explore the city but we were impatient so purchased our tickets and climbed to the top of the walls for the two-kilometre walk around the magnificent tenth century guard’s walkway.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, dubrovnik, Europe, History, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Dubrovnic reconstruction, dubrovnik, George Bernard Shaw, Mlini, Montenegro, Siege of Dubrovnik, UNESCO
The taxi left from the little harbour in the village and we waited in the already hot sunshine until it arrived at ten o’clock and then selected seats on the upper deck and sat and sweltered while we waited for it to leave. Eventually the crew cast off and followed the coast towards the city and then we saw something unexpected and nothing like we had seen before on previous visits to Croatia, a string of war damaged bombed out hotels at regular intervals all the way to Dubrovnik. This we learned later was the legacy of an invasion by Montenegro during the secessionist wars of the 1990s.
Posted in Croatia, Europe, History, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Croatia, dubrovnik, Montenegro, Serbia JNA, Siege of Dubrovnik, Slobodan Milosevic, UNESCO, Yugoslavia
As usual the Easyjet flight was late taking off and also arriving so added to its statistic on late or delayed flights that Michael O’Leary delights in gloating over when he provides benchmark statistics in the Ryanair in-flight magazine each month. Easyjet are frustratingly relaxed about flight times and I think on the whole I prefer the Ryanair approach.
There was a fabulous start to the day with a brilliant blue sky and bright sun and this meant that our host Iveska had arranged breakfast on the terrace and she supplied a never ending supply of hot tea and local Croatian pastries. Iveska was full of information about Croatia and made useful tourist recommendations. I told her that we planned to visit Mostar today and asked if the best route was over the mountains or down the coast? She was certain that the best way was to drive inland but she said this wasn’t very picturesque so when we left I disregarded this advice, in the way that men ignore driving instructions from a woman, and obstinately went south down the coast.
Posted in Croatia, Europe, History, Hotels, Natural Environment, Travel
Tagged Adriatic Sea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Dalmatian Riviera, Dinaric Alps, dubrovnik, Gradac, Mostar, Omiš, Pink Inn, River Naretva
Have Bag, Will Travel 