Supetar Hotel Cavtat

... were booked in every campground, kayaking and canyoning are not offered on the weekends (according to each of the FIVE tourist agencies I went to), and the major ferries only offer service to the most popular islands once a day from Split which means I would not have been able to make it back to the ship on time on the final day. On the bright side, when we got to the city, Split was entertaining and there was plenty to see on the first day ...

... and I walked a street around and gave up since no one knew where this place was. We asked at the police station only to discover that the clerk was actually the neighbour of the lady we were staying with. Wow, talk about coincidence in a city of 55, 000 plus many more tourists when cruise ships bring in tens of thousands of them! So we made the walk back which was luckily downhill now, past the all to familiar yachts and farmer's market. We finally found the street ...

... today from the Roman Aqueducts in the surrounding hillsides. One of Dubrovnik's unnumberal statues of its patron saint, who holds a model of the city in his hand. The streets were all paved in marble. They were just gorgeous! We both would have been happier if it had not been raining! I kept waiting for someone to slip but we never saw it happen ...

... in our wounds. We did appreciate the amazing food though. We had some delicious seafood pasta, black squid ink risotto, and grilled prawns, just to name a few of the dishes. And the rain is not keeping me from eating two scoops of delicious gelato (Jeremy only gets one, the wimp). Also, people couldn't have been nicer here. When we asked one woman directions, she actually called someone on her cell ...

... s anger by dive bombing all of us. The bat was eventually chased into the lobby by a heavily tattooed guy from San Fansisco and a Russian Orthidox pilgrim. Dan opened the outer doors and the two eventually chased the bat outside. That was pretty much it for our adventures in and around Montenegro. A fairly broken sleep later we arrived in Bari, Italy and grabbed a train to Rome! Colluseum here we come! All our best from Montenegro Dan and Gabrielle

... made our decision to move on. Dubrovnik is beautiful, no question, but I will leave it to others who arrived there in a more positive frame of mind to wax lyrical on its picturesque city walls, intriguing back streets and romantic views. We enjoy a couple of hours sunbathing by the nearest thing to a beach that Dubrovnik has to offer, a steep bank of rocks that crawls down from the old city into the warm water of the Balkan Sea, then slowly head back to the bus station.

The sun was shining on Monday morning as we left for Croatia so we were cautiously optomistic that we would finally find good weather. The drive through Hungary was uneventful, but we did find a lovely place for lunch that had cool mist spritzers on the patio. Our first stop in Croatia was a town that was hit hard by the war. Several damaged buildings still stand as a ...

... Europe tour I probably should've splurged, but was low on cash so didn't. In the morning I caught the bus to the airport and flew to Germany to start my visit with friends. Both Slovenia and Croatia are great countries. Not the best for prices, but not bad. Slovenia has beautiful scenery - mountains, lakes, caves. Croatia has some beautiful scenery too - Plitvice, the coast. I'm sure the coast would be great for sailing island to island. And all the old towns were cool. I'd definately recommend a visit to either.

... or nationalistic hatred that is inculcated in children from birth. So-called civilized countries have sublimated it into other rivalries (sports being the most obvious), but I don't see a real solution until reason, thought and evidence are celebrated as ideals over faith, belief without proof, and ignorance. And I don't see that happening before the ability of zealots to deliver their insanity outstrips our ability to educate them or ...

... hills of Bosnia and Monténégro and to the deep blue sea. I could also see several military devices but no mines! (hopefully!) That was risky, but I went to walk on the countryside. Seeing several sniper holes and bunkers, war graves... I came back to the city and sat to enjoy the sunset. Memorable! I sent some more postcard today and will prepare for some more tomorrow. I should send to everyone! Oufff not relaxing... I'm getting back on the bus to Zagreb tonight!