Catching Korchula

 Known as birthplace of Marco Polo, Korchula is yet ANOTHER ancient stone village on the waterfront. We saw a number of nice hotels and restaurants. Our hotel had a beach and you could catch the water taxi into town - about a 5 min boat ride.

Along our route to Korchula we stopped in small town of Ston where we viewed yet ANOTHER defensive wall.  Then onto the ferry to the island of Korchula.

ancient tree along the way

beautiful Adriatic coastline

Ston with meandering wall

in case you wonder where Ston is...THERE

most ride bikes

interesting anatomically correct cherubs

no surprise - figs in season, Turk's a pickin'

luckily no one cared

more seaside views

Croatian white wine while waiting

ferry is HERE

no idea why Spock is onboard

Dalmation coast is all about boaring

main gate of Korchula

Venetians left their mark

beautiful hidden streets

water taxi to our hotel

cute beach

fun hotel

view from pool - water chilly

found BBQ place for dinner

 Wine aged in bottles enclosed in amphoras in the sea for 2 years. Croatian red wine is the zinfandel grape. This is the region where Grigch is from, before reaching Napa. He has home and winery here too.

amphoras for ageing wine under water

we learned all about it

 

we tasted a red

and tasted a white - very nice

and got oysters and snacks too!

more beautiful countryside as we drive to Drvenik

time for lunch at Drvenik while waiting for...

another ferry to go to ....Hvar

Mountainous Montenegra (Black Mountain)

 Who knows where Montenegra is? What country did they attack in 1991? All surprising questions for me. South of Croatia is the Balkan country, next to Serbia and Bosnia. With Serbia, they attacked Croatia in 1991. While not a part of EU, they have adopted the EU as their currency by obtaining it from Germany. Who knew you could do that?!

Koto, on a fiord like bay is their most famous town - a medieval village with strong Ottoman influence. Seen today with Turkish souvenirs and carpet shops. The town gets overrun with cruise ship visitors making it difficult to enjoy unless you get there early. We also visited Perast, small town on the Adriatic where we took a small boat to the manmade island where Lady of the Rocks church was built. Each July 22, people take their boast, laden with rocks to the island where they toss their rocks to the sea to symbolically maintain the island.

Perast on way to Kotor

Montenegro flag

Perast

our boat to the island

Turk sees the island church

stone church

small, intricate altar

see why 'Mont' tenegro. See defensive wall going up mountain

buildings supporting one another

artist working along walkway

St. Nicolas fountain in restful alleyway

ornate Greek Orthodox altar in St. Nicolas churck

Doing Dubrovnik

 Our big trip this year was 2 weeks through Croatia, with stops in Montenegro and Slovenia ending in Venice, and 2 weeks in northern Italy. First part was organized tour using Gate1 - we used them for our month long trip in Asia several years ago and were overall pleased with the experience. I've wanted to go to the Dalmatian coast since learning about it on my first trip to Europe with the Farkles - 1976. FINALLY made it, just as they've been accepted into EU.

Dubrovnik is at the lower tip of Croatia and reminds me a lot of Italy and Turkey with influences by Romans, Venetians, and added invasions by Ottomans, French and Austro-Hungarians. This area has been called many things, including Yugoslavia in my formative years. The Turk's family actually came from Yugoslavia, fleeing during Muslim persecutions, so he was interested in this visit.

September was warm - 90 degrees was typical. Adriatic was chilly - but refreshing with the heat. With its long coastline, Croatia is mostly about the sea. But inland it is farmland. There is really no industry and they are putting all of their eggs in the tourism basket.

Old town - medieval town surrounded by walls that kept Dubrovnik from occupation for centuries. 

very hilly old town

outside walls looking in

rounded towers more resistant to damage

holes from missiles shot 12/6/1991 when Dubrovnik attacked by Serbia, Montenegro

monestery within the walls

owl in church wall - good luck to stand on it

people live in old town - laundry day

imposing walls

view of city port from within old town

first of many gelatos

delish lunch-veggies, cheese, beer!

love the Roman water fountains

Cathedral Assumption Virgin

outside a shop in old town-no idea why

our hotel 'beach' on Adriatic

of course I jumped in

St. Blaise is patron of Dubrovnik

sunset cruise anyone?

lots of boat traffic

sunset in Dubrovnik

good morning! see cruise ship?

 

sunset at the farm

farm dinner with the group

the worker who used to crush olives for oil

Virgin cruise squeaks under bridge Dubrovnik

nearby mansion's 'art work'

found in old town..!!??

seems people need to wear clothes, not eat gelato indoors

he gets around!

when ? appears on elevator -watch out!