Dubrovnik, Croatia
More internet complaining. I never have an English keyboard (keys swapped around). The blog website is always in the local language (French right now). And 12 swiss francs per hour is insane! OK, enough complaining.
Dubrovnik, the `Pearl of the Adriatic` and rightly so. Famous for enormous city walls (some 12m thick), marble sidewalks and senseless bombing by the former republic of Yugoslavia.
sidenote: Don't bother seeing spiderman III. Very disappointing. Especially since it was the first American film we'd seen in two months.
You can see how massive the city walls are from here. When we arrived a ship had just finished an attempt to take the citadel. Instead of plundering the city it decided to take tourists. Still a form of robbery, but legal and the tourists don't mind.
We are standing on a massive bastion opposite the town. Like two castles on a chess board they protect one another. Take one and the other is left to destroy the other. Not surprisingly, neither has been taken.
The streets in Dubrovnik are narrow and character filled. Think tourist trap, but more beautiful. Ice cream anyone? Ship museum?
This great treasure of a city was shelled by Serbia/Montenegro when Croatia attempted to secede from the Republic (Yugoslavia) in 1992-95. If you look closely you can tell that the roofs and buildings were rebuilt to match the older untouched ones.
Tara is becoming quite the photographer. Next I need to trick her into doing this blog!
To hold the city a brave group stayed and paid the ultimate price. This place is dedicated to the people who died during the shelling.
Yugo! Those who remember these crappy cars (including Tara's uncle John who owned one) will get a kick to know they are still on the road. Not many are left and it is a total mystery how they didn't all fall apart years ago.
The journey up and down the coast on a bus is a real pain. Uncomfortable, overcrowded at times, un-air conditioned at others. We have vowed to avoid buses from now on. But the views can be spectacular.
