La Villa Lopud

... and how worthwhile it was!! After breakfast both of us were climbing more steps for the 2+km walk around the wall. Well worth the walk but choose a time and day when you don't have a load of cruise boat tourists with you. They have to be the most annoying thing about Dubrovnik followed closely by the modernisation of the city to meet tourism. We thought the city was lovely and ...

Hi all! Today we had the usual Villa Kolocep breakfast buffet and headed out for the dock to board our local Nova shuttle boat for a new island of adventure, Lopud. (It is really amazing to us after a nice big dinner that every morning we are starving for breaky. We tell ourselves that it is all the relaxation that is burning all the extra calories...makes sense to us! ) The boat ride was about 25 minutes and once we arrived we immediately said to each ...

... by our narrow escape. It poured and we enjoyed the lightshow and people watching from our balcony view. For Mark, being brought up in thunderstorm-free Victoria this was a treat. Well, internet is hard to find here in Europe, and it's very hard to get our photos on here as there is no software to resize them and load them quickly. Hopefully we can update these at some point before the end of the trip. Cheers, Mark & Allison.

Jeannie here. We have been on sabbatical from the blog, from traveling, from everything. We have finally taken a break on a beautiful little island off the coast of Croatia called Lopud. Only an hour's ferry ride away from Dubrovnik, Lopud feels like another world. It is a car-free island with only a handful of paths and roads. It has a beautiful little harbor village ...

... or Zagreb making a living while the child was housed with the grandfather. I wanted to use an object like a wheelbarrow that they were using and use it as 1) a device of destruction and 2) a device which brings life (i.e a vessel transferring provisions). And yes I'm aware of William Carlos Williams' famous 'red wheelbarrow' poem so it is sort of an homage to that as well ...

... everybody's favorite conversation topic, the strength of the rain and when would it stop. Every so often a member of one of these groups would make an educated guess that the rain was abating and would dash out from the safety of the awning. Everybody left behind would get excited and immediately start debating in loud voices their chances of staying dry and the wisdom of their decision. It was like a duck leaving the flock to confront a dog while the rest of the ducks squawked in ...

I can't believe that it's been over a month since I posted an update to my travelogue. Time has definitely flown by over the last month which probably is a fairly good indication that I have enjoyed my recent travels. Eastern and Central Europe has provided me a mix of different cultures, a plethora of languages I can't speak, an embarrasing abundance of beautiful women, hearty food, the best beer in the world, fairy tale architecture, some great beaches, and a inescapeable lesson in the ...

... outside of the city walls, hanging onto the cliff side and looking out to the sea, with sunshine (its too hot now...) - its very pretty. After an hour or so reading, Ipoding, and resting, onto the harbourside, just as the sun is setting, followed by a perfect glass of wine in one of the many restaurants. 5th June 2006 Wake up and theres not a cloud in the sky, and it is very hot & sunny. After walking to the bus ...

... beach. As soon as the turquoise waters came into view, we knew we wouldn't be dissappointed. We weren't! We sunned ourselves from 10 till 4 with intermitant breaks for pivo and pommesfrits at the beachside bar. Then, reluctantly packing our belongings, we hiked back across the island to catch the evening ferry. Oh yeah, I think we grabbed a few more pivos on the dock while waiting for the boat.

... homes. We came to a halt at a small rural church amidst miles of green vines. The vines stretch as far as the eye can see, right down to the ocean. So picturesque. We wandered through the fields to get down to the beach, where we discovered it not to be a surf beach. Instead, miles of shallow, sun-warmed water and little fish that flitted between our ankles. At one end of the beach is a small cafe-restaurant, the only escape ...