Sunday, October 12, 2014

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Here is a view of Dubrovnik from the mountain behind it.

 

 

Today we had a chance to walk all the way around the top of the walls surrounding the city, a distance of 1.2 miles. The views were awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we wandered around the city a bit more.

This is one of the main entrance gates.

 

 

This is Onofrio Fountain which was built in 1438 as part of a water-supply system that involved bringing water from a well 12km (7.5 miles) away.

 

 

This is the main street before the hordes of tourists arrived.

 

 

This is yet another cute street.

 

 

And this is the bar where we had our beer after walking the wall.

 

 

 

And so, another trip comes to an end.

 

 

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Montenegro

We took a day trip to Montenegro today. Here is a map of the area we drove through.

 

 

We started on the left in Croatia and drove through Herceg Novi to Kamenari where we took a ferry to Lepetani. We drove south through Porto Montenegro then up to the lookout point (just below and to the right of Kotor Town on the map). This is the view from there.

 

 

We then stopped in Kotor, which has a compact Old Town shaped like a triangle. The two sides facing the bay are heavily fortified by a thick wall, and the third side is under the cliff face. The wall is nearly three miles long and sits on some extremely inaccessible terrain. It was built over a millennium (9th-19th centuries, though most of it was completed during the Venetian occupation in the 17th and 18th centuries). Its thickness varies from 6 to 50 feet, and the tallest parts are 65 feet high. If you look closely you can see the wall continuing up and over the hill.

 

 

 

 

Here are a few of the things we saw on our brief visit.

 

 

 

 

 

We next drove to Perast and took a short boat ride to Our Lady of the Rocks church out on an island.

This is Perast from the boat.

 

 

 

And this is the church.

 

 

 

Friday, October 10, 2014

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik is surrounded by a series of defensive stone walls that have protected the city since the its founding prior to the 7th century. With numerous additions and modifications throughout their history, they have been considered to be amongst the great fortification systems of the Middle Ages, as they were never breached by a hostile army during this time period.

 

Today's intact city walls, constructed mainly during the 12th–17th centuries, mostly a double line, have long been a source of pride for Dubrovnik. The walls run an uninterrupted course of approximately 1,940 metres (6,360 ft) in length, encircling most of the old city, and reach a maximum height of about 25 metres (82 ft). The bulk of the existing walls and fortifications were constructed during the 14th and 15th centuries, but were continually extended and strengthened up until the 17th century. The walls were reinforced by three circular and 14 quadrangular towers, five bastions (bulwarks), two angular fortifications and the large St. John's Fortress. [thanks to Wikipedia]

 

I wasn't able to take many pictures today but here are a few.

 

 

 


 

 

One of the city 'streets'.

 

 

Here is another street in Dubrovnik. Notice how polished the street looks - almost like marble. It is actually limestone that has been worn that smooth by people walking on it for hundreds of years.

 

 

Here is what the stone looks like at the edges. Notice how rough the stone is next to the wall.

 

 

I will post more pictures from Dubrovnik on Sunday.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Our first stop today was the Radimlja necropolis, one of the most valuable monuments of the medieval period in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The majority of the stećak (medieval) tombstones date from the 15th and 16th century. A total of 63 are decorated, in bas relief, engraving, or a combination of the two.










This one is my favorite!


Next we visited the Tvrdoš Monastery, a 15th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery near the city of Trebinje.


The monastery also makes wine which we were able to taste.