After a three week heat wave in England we arrive to rain. But, hey it IS England.Along with the rain comes some pretty fasinating history. This plaque is on the hotel that will be our home for the next four nights in Hungerford.Walking through the village we passed the Forge Cottage along the River Dun. Very pretty!Complete with appropriate weather vane.Could not walk by this swan family without a picture to share.
I’m only planning to post big events so I couldn’t resist sharing pics of this year’s crops. No potato famine in our household!After a very wet fall I was afraid I’d find a bunch of mush when I dumped out the containers that I planted last May. I probably spent $20 on potting soil but the experience of sifting through it and finding the buried potatoes is priceless!!!
Layer up – we’re not in Croatia anymore!Nope, not the Adriatic.So pastoral riding along the dykes.Uh oh, looks like fall is coming.Helping me get my bike over this bridge. Thank you very much!Today’s windmills are also graceful.Biked to the North Sea – a bit colder than Dubrovnik! And SO windy!Had to stop for soup to warm up.Loved this living roof on a house we passed.And the bus taking up the entire bridge!Love the option to squeeze and bottle your O.J.Murph mapped out a beautiful two days of biking. Great time!
A bit of a change in scenery – Haarlem, Netherlands.Beautiful town square, complete with this 1700s church.Typical street scene.Oh, and our room looked like a palace! Seriously…Murph pretending to be king!And our breakfast was delivered on a trolley in the morning. WHAT!?!?Doors so big I could barely open them.Anyone who knows us, know we love to bike and biking here is sheer joy! The bikers have their own lanes, often wider than what the cars have. And the bikes definitely have the right of way. So much safer here than most places in the world, I think.Beautiful forestsand canals.
The “stradun” or main street of Dubrovnik. Not as fancy as many cities because they wanted to downplay their buildings in order to pay less taxes to the Ottoman Empire.Pretty at night.The main water supply since the middle ages. Still a good place to fill your water bottle!Time to head to the locals favorite beach.About a mile or so from town, down 163 steps (and up again on the way back – but who’s counting?), in a cove below St Jacobs church. St Jacob’s beach was our favorite place, too!These boys were always fun to watch.I can only hope they will never have to face the atrocities that happened in this country and their town in the 1990s. Hard to envision the ethnic cleansing that happened between neighbors in this region and try to sort it out.It all seems so perfect now…
Yup!There’s no denying it’s beautiful here!Loved this Fransican cloisterwith it’s double columns.It’s not all fun & games, have to get some wash done!Loved this street with all the foliage. Just gorgeous…Climbed the city walls for this view.Took the cable car upfor this view.Cool old clock tower. Check out the time. Hours in Roman numerals and minutes in Arabic numbers.Two bell ringers, Maro & Baro take turns striking the bell on the hour.Sat with a young couple from Brugges for a great dinner at Lady PiPi’s restaurant (pronounced Lady PeePee).Enough said!
Meant to show you the catamaran we took from Hvar to Korcula.I thought this an interesting way to get the rubble down from top floors of this museum that is being renovated.Don’t cross a Croat!!!
Grand staircase – formal entrance to the city of Korcula.This Venetian symbol of St Mark is very prevalent along the coast of Croatia because Venice ruled this area for 400 years.The view from our room. Still on the Adriatic Sea.Notice the ancient pot in the corner, looks rather small, right?But not really!This old clock tower even shows the phases of the moon. Still correct today.The view from the top of the clock tower.Walked around to the west side of the island to see the sunset and came upon this mousehole. (A harbor with a small opening).Enjoyed the sunset.Any Whovian will know why we found these statues terrifying!!!I just really liked this concrete sailboat on one of the squares. Oh, yes and the guy standing by it, too!Nice view of the city at sunset.
Murphys on the Move 