Cavtat, Croatia

September 2010

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While we waited for the glass-bottomed boat to turn up, we chilled...

...and tucked into some great turkey club sandwiches from a nearby bar.  They were splendid.  Triple decked and with garlic mayo.  However, we made sure we had a bit of time before the boat ride - waves and food don't go.

The boat tour lasted two hours and was a bit nausea-inducing, but nevertheless gave us some different shots (and a chance to see fish through the glass).  Here is our hotel from the sea-side.  Our room is probably towards the top middle.

It took us close to a decrepit holiday resort, abandoned since the Croatian war of the early 1990s.

These buildings had clearly taken a pounding.

Tuesday and, with two days to go before we head home, it was time for a three island boat tour.  We are natural sailors.

First stop was Koločep, which looks a little like a shark in shape.

We pulled into a very picturesque harbour, ripe for photo taking.

HMS Kate was in the area.

An incline into the centre of the island offered an alternative view of the harbour.  This is taken from the opposite side of the bay from the previous photo.  I think there was a nudist beach over to the right, but we stopped well short of that.

I managed to get quite far across the (not that big, but big enough) island to see through to the other side.  I had left the (pregnant) Lynne trailing in my wake given that we only had a set time to spend here.

Ah, this helps explain it.  Lynne was distracted by the local flora.

Next up: Šipan.  This, um, looks like a big blue whale trying to eat that smaller island.  Probably.

On this island, Kate makes another appearance.  What's going on?

The guide mentioned that this particularly large property had been sought after by the ever-resident Roman Abramovich - thankfully the owner would not sell it to him (even though she was looking to sell it).  Will he stop at nothing until he has bought all of Europe?

Looking back out to the bay with the Croatian flag in the foreground.  We didn't get that long here, so didn't go far, and it was less obvious where we could go anyway.

Some of the local cars were a little minimalist.

We were just one of many boat tours around - but with scenery like this, who can blame them?

And finally, Otok Lupod.  Shaped like a weird dive-bombing duck-shaped tank.

We had a bit more time at Otok Lupod, which afforded me some time to go for a swim.  It was a bit painful to hobble across the stones, but it was nice once in.

This was one top-of-the-range vehicle that we liked the look of, but weren't sure

Wa.. wait a minute.  Who's this cool customer.

We sailed from island to island, all the while being entertained my a small band on the boat.  They played and played and played, and very much entertained us all.

Last day before flying back: Wednesday.  A relaxed day before heading to Dubrovnik for one last time, not least because I wanted to try out the cable car, and Lynne wanted to do some shopping (surprise!).  And she doesn't like cable cars.  Here is the view up to the top.

The view back down was somewhat spectacular.  Here you can see an aerial shot of the walled Dubrovnik.

Over to the left (umm, the east), the large cross statue stood imposingly.

Here is Fort Impérial, or the empire's fort, which was constructed between 1906 and 1912 during the period of French rule in Dubrovnik (and dedicated to Napoleon the First.  During the Croatian War of 1991 to 1995, the fortress became a symbol of heroic defence of Dubrovnik.  There was also an exhibition of Dubrovnik during the Croatian War (otherwise known as the Homeland War), but I did not attend.

To the north were more hills and mountains and, somewhere in the distance, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  And what sounded like some sort of weapon testing - certainly there were some explosive sounds coming from there.

I tried a vaguely arty shot of the tram coming back up.

Reunited, and a little bit bored of meat and veg, or pizzas, we went to a recommended Mexican restaurant, Chihuahua.  Lynne posed reluctantly but dutifully.

Last morning, sniff, and time for one last shot of the view from the 9th floor lift area.

And, to compare and contrast, the lovely weather back in Heaton Chapel.  We managed to get hit by two torrential downpours, firstly when we went for a taxi at Manchester Airport, and secondly as we got out of that taxi back home.  Lovely.

The end.