Cruise - day 3 Croatia

The next day, June 15th, we docked in Dubrovnik, Croatia.  This was one country that I have heard a lot about and have wanted to visit for awhile.

Coming in to port and you can see on the left that there is another cruise ship in port, that means it is going to be a little busy.

We have arrived!!!  Now it is the waiting game for us to be able to get off the ship.

And more waiting, seems like the army, hurry up to wait.  LOL

AJ and Kaitlyn relaxing before our busy day.

We are waiting for our tour guide.  This was the first day that we had a tours by locals.  We were out a little early and a little miscommunication but we finally found our tour guide.

The bridge on the left was built after the war in 1998 and for 15 years it had two names, one you would see driving one direction and then the second name going the other direction.

Across the water is called "Mother's Peak."  This is the last place that wives saw husbands when they set off to sea.

This house was targeted during WWII because of poets that lived inside.  They used it as a museum before it was bombed.  After the bombing it was never rebuilt.

This is just so picturesque!!!

This spring is 200 meters deep.

Kaitlyn sporting her cool sunglasses and beautiful smile!!!

Michael enjoying the beautiful scenery.  80% of the drinking water coms from this river, the Dubrovnik River.

Gabby working on opening the gate to let the water go.

Dad LOVED me taking pictures of him, but I told him that he would thank me later.  ;-)

There was a water spicket here where you could try the water fresh from the spring.  Even Michael liked it without his normal flavoring. 

The crazy cousins!!  It was quite windy up top.

One great thing about having a private tour guide we were able to get full family pictures and not always leaving one person out!  I LOVE it!!

The border to Bosnia is only 500 meters from where we stood.  That is crazy.

These are left over walls from Napoleon forces.  They are the French stables.

The cement pillars are from an old road from Napoleon's time.

This is an areal view of the walled town Dubrovnik.  It is all under World Heritage UNESCO.

This is where a bomb hit during the war.  This is Fort Imperial that was built in 1812 by Napoleon and his forces.  The town was totally destroyed 1991-1992.

Kaitlyn and Michael up by the cross.  The hill, Srdj, we are on is 512 meters high.  The alter is made from Brac stone.  The cross was a gift from the island of Brac.    During the Siege of Dubrovnik in 1991 Mount Srdj was the base from which the JNA (Yugoslav Army) shelled the city. A memorial that previously stood on the hill was damaged during the war, and afterwards the memorial was re-built and dedicated to the victims of the Croatian War of Independence.

These are some photos the kids took when they asked to borrow the camera!  I love seeing them!!

The cousins at the memorial cross.

AJ decided that he needed a little meditation time.  :-)

This is the top view of Dubrovnik, you can see the walls all around.  Dubrovnik is both a seaport and the centre of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its population was 42,615 inhabitants according to census data from 2011. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "Pearl of the Adriatic". Tourism is the most important industry in Dubrovnik so according to data from 2012, there were 45 hotels:- twelve 5* hotels, nine 4* hotels, twenty two 3* hotels and two 2* hotels.   The island next to the town holds two monasteries and a botanical garden.  There is a superstition that you shouldn't go on the island because that is where they sent the people who had the plague.  There are over 1284 islands in Croatia, but only 76 of them are inhabited.

Gabby giving monster Michael a shoulder ride.  :-)

AJ being superman!!!

After that we headed to the town of Cavtat.  Mom and Dad taking a little break while the rest of us did a little souvenir shopping.  Around 228 BC it was under the Romans and later became a Roman colony. The name Cavtat originates from Civets vet us, as the fugitives in the newly established Dubrovnik used to call their first habitation.  

We decided that it was time for an ice cream break!  Who doesn't love a little gelato!!

Finishing eating their ice cream while checking out the fish.

Cats were very important in the sea towns because they kept the rat population down and also sickness.

They don't believe in big streets in these towns.

If you look in the top right window, you can see somebody watching what is going on.  I can totally see my dad and mom doing this, getting a house and just people watching in a tourist area.  :-)

This is one of the oldest olive trees in Croatia.  Our guide said olive trees are like mothers - always there and wives are like wine tree - you have to go everyday to tend it.  There was a 2500 year old olive tree in this orchard that is still bearing fruit that was planted by the Greeks!

So our guide asked us how long we had before we needed to get back on the boat.  He wanted to take us to a castle he said.  We kept driving, and driving and driving.  We were all starting to wonder if he was taking us to Bosnia.  But thankfully he did take us to a castle.

This is Sokol Grad - The Castle of Sokol.  Sokol means "falcon."

Al and Julie heading into the castle.  Fort Sokol was built on an inaccessible cliff more than 25 meters high.  A natural fortress, it controls the main road leading from Konavle north into Herzegovina and the Balkan hinterland.  This is the main reason why this town has been continuously inhabited since ancient times.

Michael pretending to be a zombie.

Gabby, Kaitlyn and Julie at the new gates of the castle.

Kaitlyn, Gabby, and Michael exploring the castle.

An old school "clock" for the castle.

There were at least two different places where they had crossbow nests.  There was an order for more than 1000 of them to Sokol back in 1423.  It was their main weapon back there.

They had a wonderful view and it was why it was easily defended because it was on such high cliffs.

My sister and I enjoying the castle and each other!!!

Michael and Gabby climbing to the top of the castle!

My honey and me!!!  I love this man soooo much!!!!

When the castle was being abandoned, they used the stones to build this cemetery.

This was our bus driver for the day.  There were some very interesting stories about him that we weren't sure if they were true or not.

A picture of their beautiful coastline.

I just love this picture we took up on the opposite side of the bay.

A little different view of the walled town, you can see how tall the walls are.  The city of Dubrovnik (Latin: Ragusa) was built on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages it became the only city-state in the Adriatic to rival Venice. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the city achieved a remarkable level of development during the 15th and 16th centuries. Furthermore, Dubrovnik was one of the centres of the development of the Croatian language and literature, home to many notable poets, playwrights, painters, mathematicians, physicists and other scholars.

You can see the cross where we were.  There is a cable car that can take you up to the top as well.

Grandma, Grandpa, and the grandkids decided they didn't want to go into the walled city, so we dropped them off at the boat and headed to the city.  Al and Julie heading into the city through Pile Gate, at the western end of the Placa Thoroughfare.  We found out that Game of Thrones is filmed here and places close to the walled town.  Unfortunately none of us have watched the series so we didn't know what to look for.

Roland's Column, a slender stone flag staff of the legendary knight. Also known as Orlando's Column. Ever since its foundation in 1950, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival is officially opened by raising a flag carrying the city's motto Libertus on Orlando's staff.  Behind it is the Church of Saint Blaise (Crkva Svetog Vlaha). Baroque Church dedicated to the city's patron saint.

This is the Franciscan Monastery.  This beautiful monastery with Baroque Church, houses a Romanesque cloister and the third oldest pharmacy in the world.

On the bell Tower is the famous 'Zelenci' (The Green Ones), bronze statues which strike the gigantic bell every hour. They have been recently replaced with copies and the originals are in the atrium of the Sponza Palace.

They even have a digital clock on it!!!  Pretty cool!

The Stradun (Placa) is the central street of the city of Dubrovnik and is the place where the old city comes to life. The uniform Baroque architecture of the houses in Placa, with shops on the street level and their 'knee-like' entrances, got its present-day form in the restoration of the City taking place after the disastrous earthquake in 1667, when a large number of luxurious Gothic and Renaissance palaces had been destroyed. The architectural design of Placa reveals effective solutions and the business sense of the Dubrovnik Republic in those difficult times. Today, Placa is still the shopping centre and venue of major events.

Serbian Orthodox Church and Museum of Icons.  Built from 1865-1877, stands behind impressive wrought iron gates. Houses a number of icons, mainly Byzantine and Cretan.

The inside was simple, but beautiful!

We were hungry so we decided to stop for a quick bite to eat, doners and these cool boxes that you actually put the point in the table to keep it up!!  It was soooo cool!!

We walked down a lot of stairs to get to the main area, and then we looked up and  saw how many we had to walk back up.  It was a few.  :-)

I couldn't help but take a picture of these cute cats cuddling their little baby!

Another wonderful day with my sister!!!!

The outside of the walls,  you can see how tall it is by the cars on the bottom right.  After that we headed back to the boat, with only a little incident with the tour guide and bus driver.  But thankfully we made it safely and on time!

Every night at the buffet there were different designs in the watermelon.

After dinner the kids decided that they wanted to play some more shuffle board.

The water looks so neat coming away from the boat!!!

I couldn't help but get a picture of this napkin - it cracks me up!

That night there was a little mouse peaking out from under the pillows.  I was just glad it wasn't a real one!!  It was another great day, with an interesting tour guide to say the least.