Villa Kvaternik Cavtat

... our own room and bathroom and be able to sleep in peace!
We arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia early the next morning. We decided not to join all of those rushing to get off the ship and instead played some minigolf and had some lunch before disembarking. We took a shuttle into the city and walked all around the old city, which is surrounded by thick walls. All of the buildings are the same colour and look very similar. We headed down ...

... a cab, and made the last tender by about 5 minutes to catch a good night sleep before the last day of activities. 7am wakeup calls are not fun when you don't have to be anywhere before 9, but today was worth the lack of sleep. A group of 14 of us went on a kayaking tour that left from Old City, took us around the local island of Lokrum with tons of nude beaches and areas for cliff jumping, stopped for a rest along a secluded pebble beach only ...

... walking the city walls. Ours, however, did not. The entrance to the harbor is protected on both sides by two forts. Bokar Fort, the western most tip of Old Town Dubrovnik, looks out across the Adriatic. Outside the city walls but visible from them, Lovrijenac Fortress was fortified to keep the Venetians from taking it. There are orange trees growing ...

... went for a walk around the outside of the city walls, between the sea and the walls. What we found is that if you discover just the right place you can find a suntrap where there is no breeze. We found just such a place and despite the freezing conditions actually got quite warm for a half hour or so. Hunger got the better of us though so we had vowed to try the restaurant that Vladimir had recommended to us a ...

... dark shadows on the narrowest of walkways. I visit a collection of churches and walk along the old harbour, my nose tingling in the salty air. I check out two fountains, part of an old water conveyance system, and snap a picture of the Christmas tree in the main square. The most wonderful time of the year approaches. On a more sobering note, I fin a display on the violence of the 90s, with photos of the fighters and those killed, many younger than I. The former Yugoslav ...

... for town defense and trade, even more than Ragusa (Dubrovnik). I walked around the town and park. Saw the Racic memorial chapel designed by Ivan Mestrovic. It looked more Egyptian than Croatian. Better art was seen further down next to the waters. I have included a picture of the local artist's oil painting. Ah, only if I had the money. Ah, only if I had Mary Poppin's bag instead of a 4900 cu inch backpack. I topped off ...

16th - 20th August 2007. We originally planned to drive for about 3 hours and find somewhere to stay between Zadar and Split but nothing seemed to interest us and we just kept on driving right past Split and beyond. The coastline south of Split is beautiful and it draws thousands tourists to its beaches. A few too many for our liking so once again we kept travelling. We ended up driving all the way to Dubrovnik in one go taking the coastal ...

... home made, the orange soda water down, the wine was fine though and the island were great. We expected to be short changed on the drinks, so it was fine. We stayed on the main trails, since they have not got all of the landmines for sure it forested or overgrown trails. The last tourist was injuried in 2005 on a remote island close by. I guess no plant hunting for me. Well off to Korcula and Split. Later, J&K

... of Hvar and the idyllic village of Hvar Town. I got a great apartment in Hvar Town with a balcony overlooking the lagoon and facing the west. The proprietor was an absolutely hilarious Croatian man who spoke almost no English (except to point out the discos and the supermarkets) and always referred to himself in the third person. When I arrived in Hvar, it was the day of the Texas-Ohio State game and I was really bummed that I could not watch it. The next day my plan was to get up early and ...

... General pricing and listening to the accent of the locals' speech further confirms this intuition. A major highlight of every visit to Dubrovnik is the city wall walk and it was stories and images of the massive medieval battlements that drew me to Dubrovnik in the first place. These were built over hundreds of ...