Sunset in Dubrovnik & War Notes

As we climbed the stairs to our B&B for the last time on this trip we took a few pictures to remind us of out stay. Here is a picture of the beginning flight of the 500 steps up to our B&B.

This is a picture of the balcony of our room, taken from the path below.

As onerous as the climb may sound, we enjoyed the walk and certainly never had any trouble sleeping once we reached our B&B.

The spectacular sunset on our last evening in Dubrovnik provided beautiful images of the city and the sea beyond, not to mention many lasting memories of a very special vacation.

Notes on the 1991 Siege of Dubrovnik: We saw much evidence of the 1991 siege of Dubrovnik. The amount of devastation is now hard to imagine. Twenty-six grenades fell on the 13th century Dominican monastery alone. The monastery now houses a photo exhibit of the defenders of the city who lost their lives during the siege. Dubrovnik was attacked from the air, land and sea. Over two thousand shells fell on the city. Seventy percent of Dubrovnik’s buildings suffered direct hits, and many of Dubrovnik’s most precious monuments and churches were bombed despite UNESCO flags marking them as world cultural landmarks. Few places in Dubrovnik was left untouched, not the city walls, the city’s fortresses, streets, churches, public buildings or homes. In the pictures of the rooftops, the old roofs are gray and weathered and the ones replaced since 1991 are still bright red. The Franciscan Monastery had holes in the wall from the shelling. The library was destroyed. However during the six month siege, Onofrio's fountain continued to operate and is provided the residents of Dubrovnik with clean drinking water. The Botanic Garden on small island of Lokrum, which contained native and imported, tropical and subtropical plants, and other vegetation originating from Australia to South America and has no permanent residents, was hit by over 100 shells, virtually destroying the Gardens.

Here you see the Hotel Belvedere which was heavily damaged in the war and has never been reopened. It suffered several direct hits during the bombardment. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you will see the shell marks in the side of the center tower.

We found many reminders of the war but Dubrovnik has a history of conquests and earthquakes through which they have always persevered. This is a beautiful city and a beautiful country, not to be missed.

Last Day in Croatia

We spent the majority of our last day in Croatia at the seaside resort town of Cavtat. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes across the bay and was a very nice ride. Several English tourists were also on the ferry so most of the conversations around us were in English, albeit a different accent.
We had heard about the nice beaches on Cavtat so first took a walk on a path around the peninsula arriving back at our starting location in about 1 hour. Croatia deems anyplace the coast meets the sea to be a beach, so we chose the most friendly rocks we could find as our beach. The beach Rich chose had fist sized, smooth, round rocks as opposed to large volcanic rock. The tiny figure you see in the picture above is Rich swimming in the Adriatic. Not being anxious to be fully immersed in the 70 degree water, you see me standing with both feet in the water on a very large volcanic rock. Shortly after these pictures, we realized the ferry was leaving in 10 minutes so we gathered our belongings and raced for the ferry. We made it with 30 sec. to spare!

Our last destination in old Dubrovnik was the Franciscan Monastery and Pharmacy. This is said to be the oldest continuously operating pharmacy in the world. It is very interesting to see the books and materials actually in use in the 15th Century. Monks still inhabit the monastery and services are held here on a regular basis. This is a view of the courtyard inside the monastery. This is one of two buildings within the old city that was not destroyed in the earthquake of 1667.

Right outside the doors of the Franciscan Monastery and Pharmacy you will find Onofrio’s Large Fountain, built in 1440. The original fountain was originally much larger with an impressive waterworks display but that portion of the fountain was lost in 1667 quake. The fountain still works today as it was designed in 1440, bringing clear river water 12K via an ancient aqueduct into the old city. From each of the 16 figureheads the encircle the domed fountain, water spouts forth. As you can tell by the people near the fountain, this is a very large structure. On the east end of the town, Onofrio built a smaller fountain, cleverly named Onofrio’s Small Fountain. This fountain is smaller but more ornate, featuring playful dolphins.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is everything they say. Beautiful views in the day and magical at night. We had dinner at a restaurant on the edge of the city walls overlooking the bay last night and this morning had breakfast high above the city on our private balcony with a breathtaking view of the old city and the bay.

Our B&B is high above the city. 500 steps to be exact; that does not count the portions that are not actual steps but only inclines! The only thing we will need to do to get ready for our Colorado Colfax half marathon is to rest up.

The city wall tour took a lot of energy and more climbing but the views were spectacular. This is a view through the windows of the tower on the wall.

As in Split, the streets of old town Dubrovnik are marble. Here you see how the sunlight gleams on the street.

Today we also took a short cruise to the island of Lokrum which was very relaxing. Rich swam in the Adriatic Sea while I only got my feet wet. It was very relaxing; a respite from the tourist crowds with the associated noise and a unique experience. We hiked up and over the island, visited the Dead Sea and the Botanical Garden.

Tomorrow we go to Cvatat then come back to Dubrovnik for a visit the Dominican Monastery with the oldest continuously operating pharmacy.

Croatia is beautiful and highly recommended by both of us.

Now off to Croatia !

When we finally got on the train to Zagreb, the train porter more than made up for the rude waiter in Venice. The porter explained all the facilities of the train, brought us drinks (beer and Pepsi) and told us there would be a passport check by the Slovenian police at 3:00 AM for which he would wake us in time to prepare. We were very grateful for the rest and glad we had a private compartment since the space was quite limited. The porter warned us to be sure to lock our compartment door, we did. We slept soundly, the porter awoke us for the Slovenian border, the checked our passports and was well. Then the Croatian police followed a bit later, still no problems. We arrived in Zagreb at 4:30 AM after having coffee delivered by our gracious porter.

It was still quite dark when we arrived in Zagreb however the cafe in the terminal was open and we had coffee there. Rich had some cookies left over from our B&B in Venice and I had a food bar. That was breakfast in Zagreb. We walked around a few blocks once the sun came up and took a few pictures. Zagreb did seems very eastern European in the architecture and the people we encountered. As we were returning from our walk, Rich noticed our train, which was not on the track we had anticipated. But we verified we were indeed in the correct place and boarded. The train was very comfortable and we slept off and on during the trip.

The countryside was very scenic. Our train was only four cars long so no dining car but the porters offered drinks and snacks for purchase during the trip. We saw lots of very tiny little towns, beautiful scenery, mountains, farmland, another castle and several stations.

Split is amazing. The harbor is ringed by white buildings with red roofs and Diocletian's Palace is in the very center, see photo on the left. The sidewalks and streets in the Old Town are all marble. The photo to the right is the walkway in front of Diocletian's Palace.

We climbed to the top of Marjan Hill after checking into our B&B. The picture in the center above is the exceptional view of the harbor from the top of the hill, 150m up. The Guide Book says we can see Bosnia from here but Rich said he thought we could see Egypt also and maybe NYC. We have now toured Diocletian's Palace, the Archaeological Museum and a sculpture gallery. Tomorrow AM early, we board a ferry for Dubrovnik. We will update more later. Wish you were here.

Venice & Guiddecca

The weather has been very accommodating, cool in the mornings and evenings but very pleasant days. As we were going back to our Rome B&B, it began to rain. In the rain it was very convenient that our subway stop was 20 ft from the B&B doorway. Our afternoon train ride to Venice was a nice chance to relax and rest our feet a bit. The countryside we saw on the trip was very interesting, lots of mountains, some castles, many tunnels and quaint little towns that beg to be explored.

In Venice our B&B was on the island of Guiddecca and was quite nice. Our hostess did not understand much English so when I asked if we could have a toaster for the morning, she made meat and cheese sandwiches for the toaster. So Rich had the toasted sandwiches and I had my gluten free toast. Beside this unexpected addition to Rich's diet, we have spent less on food than we thought we might since we have been so busy seeing the sights.

So the Venice sites we visited on purpose were St. Mark's, the Doge Palace, Rialto Bridge, Accademia Museum, Santa Maria del Giglio, Santa Stefano, Murano, the Jewish Ghetto, an exhibit of over 40 models of Leonardo DaVinci's machines and many other sites we happened on while going somewhere else. (We were never lost, we always knew were were in Venice and as they say, 'you cannot get lost, you are on an island'.)

The Grand Canal really is grand. As you ride along the Grand Canal, you will see manyof the old Venetian palazzos. The water taxis (vaporetti) in Venice are very convenient, affordable and the routes are easily understood. Since our B&B was on a separate island from the major sites, we rode the vaporetti frequently. Besides, it is just fun to take the vaporetti and do a little sight seeing from the water. The views from the canal are different from the views you see when walking around.

We encountered a very rude waiter where we stopped to eat before catching the train out of Venice. He would never stop long enough to listen to my questions or read the card with my diet restrictions and brought soup with noodles. However I finally did get plain chicken broth and Rich ate the soup with noodles. Now we are off to the train and the next phase of our adventure!

Rome pictures- Vatican

The line waiting to enter the Sistine Chapel. (Our wait time was about 2 hours)




Looking across the Vatican Courtyard.




Inside the Vatican Museum, the Egyptian Room, on the way to the Sistine Chapel.





Mosaic Floor mural in the hallway leading to the Sistine Chapel

Rome Adventures

We arrived in Rome on Saturday morning, found our B&B, then toured the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and The Basilica of Saint Peter. We did wait in line about 2 hours for the Museum but were entertained by other people also waiting. We found an American tour guide immediately in front of us in line who was providing a private tour for friends and gave us a lot of useful information. Sunday we toured the Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Pantheon, Trajan's column and a group of churches with phenomenal marble sculpture, paintings and tapestry. In the evening, we went to the Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona.

We have had limited time to stop at internet spots since we have been busy seeing everything we planned to see. We went to most of the big attractions in Rome and then took a bus to the Calisto Catacombs had a guided tour which was very interesting. Most of the bones have been moved but a lot of history remains. Approximately 500,000 people were buried there.

We are going back to Rome to tour the remaining sites that we have chosen to see in this whirlwind trip. Rome has so much to see, it is hard to choose.

Big Glitch !

On the morning of May 2, as we are getting ready to leave home for the airport, I was going to check us in for the flight on Ryan Air from Rome to Venice. As I am checking in on line, I find that I have made an error in the reservation and the tickets are for Valencia Spain, rather than Venice Italy! Wendy was driving us to the airport so I asked for her help in figuring out how we could make the best of the mess I created. Ryan Air is a very cut-rate airline and has virtually no live customer service; not call centers or airport offices. Due to security regulations in Spain, no changes to existing flights could be made on line. By the time our flight reached Washington DC, Wendy had exhausted all avenues and we decided that taking the train to Venice was a very good alternative. Once we reached Rome, we immediately went to the train ticket office and purchased a train ticket to Venice. We are very glad we had not arrived at the airport and found out we were going to Spain after checking our luggage. By discovering the error when we did, it caused an extra expense, but we were able to make alternate plans in a calm manner. Our thanks to Wendy for helping out in this very difficult situation. If you are traveling Ryan Air, be sure not to make any errors! The flights are cheap but as I said before, no customer service. That chapter is now finished and we are looking forward to the rest of our trip being a little less nerve racking!