Thursday, with very little time to recover from our Italian adventures, we boarded a boat in Old Town harbor to tour a few local islands of Dubrovnik. The first island was Lokrum, the one we can see from our balcony. It is just south of the Old Town and we had been told it is inhabited by only one family, the caretakers of the island. Little did we know, from looking at this piece of land every day, the wonders and delights it held.
The island is deceiving. The southern part actually splits open and that is where the boat docked so we could get off. There are many remains of Roman ruins there and a fortress (Fort Royal) at the top of the island, built by Napoleon's army. Many people come here to go swimming and sunbathing. There is also a beautiful botanical garden with over 200 varieties of plants and trees; eucalyptus, cactus, palm trees. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear a voice-over saying, "Welcome to Jurassic Park". We wandered a bit more and came to a park area where we encountered one of the island's inhabitants; a peacock. After much patience, squawking and various methods of coaxing, we were able to get the feathered critter to show us his wares. Gorgeous!
The island is deceiving. The southern part actually splits open and that is where the boat docked so we could get off. There are many remains of Roman ruins there and a fortress (Fort Royal) at the top of the island, built by Napoleon's army. Many people come here to go swimming and sunbathing. There is also a beautiful botanical garden with over 200 varieties of plants and trees; eucalyptus, cactus, palm trees. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear a voice-over saying, "Welcome to Jurassic Park". We wandered a bit more and came to a park area where we encountered one of the island's inhabitants; a peacock. After much patience, squawking and various methods of coaxing, we were able to get the feathered critter to show us his wares. Gorgeous!
Our next stop was a small island, with a restaurant as the only establishment. The owner had prepared a wonderful barbeque for us of sardines, mackerel, squid and sausages. Not your typical American picnic fare, but it was delicious. There were grilled vegetables, potatoes and cabbage, coleslaw salad. We enjoyed a leisurely meal before we headed onto Cavtat.
Cavtat (Sah-v-tat) was our last stop; here we visited the gallery of one of Croatia's most famous painters, Vlaho Bukovac. The gallery was actually once his home and he had painted murals on many of the walls. We also visited one of the churches on the island, again, impressed and in awe of the beautiful artwork and architecture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlaho_Bukovac
Stay tuned for our next installment, the trip to Split, the second largest city in Croatia... until then... Adio!
a & c
1 comment:
OMG - how beautiful! Do you two *know* how lucky you are?!?!
Love,
Nicki
P.S.
BTW, Cathy - I, too, want a Smart Car when my 1992 Honda Civic, Bubbles, passes on to that great car heaven! The only dealership around is in Willinsville!!
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