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.
Hop on this boat andgo south to the island of Hvar.And we’re there!Literally up 200 stairs to our home.Passing pomegranate trees. “Is this heaven?”Our terrace for the next 2 nights. Should have stayed right here for the entire time!Walk this beautiful path along the water.Find a swimming area.Ahhh! A bit chilly and not easy to walk into due to the slippery rocks, but no complaints here!Much needed rest after lugging our things up all those steps. This is their idea of a pebbly beach. Felt more like rocks to us! Wonder what these people would think if they saw our beaches!Agave everywhere. If you look closely, it has lots of stringy things on the leaves.And the nuns here make these pieces from that agave string!Best breakfast of the entire holiday!Sooo good!With a beautiful view of the “street” and this 15th century sistern.
Some places we stayed didn’t include breakfast so we found this little corner of the town.I just liked this – thought I’d share.Nice arches.We walked up this path away from townfor this nice view of Split.Cool shot of old vs new.Klapa singers in the vestibule of the palace.This hole was above the singers. Used to be a dome back in the day.This black sphinx is the only one of Diocletian’s collection of 13 that is still intact.At noon the “emperor” welcomed everyone to the palace.Walking along the Riva – a path next to the harbor.At night the square was filled with music and everyone enjoying themselves.I could tell you who sculpted this and the name of the piece but I overheard a tour guide saying “looks like a he’s taking a selfie!” Funny…
Split has some of the best Roman ruins this side of Italy. In the fourth century A.D., the Roman Emperor, Diocletian (245-313 A.D.) wanted to retire in his native Dalmatia, so he built a huge palace here. The complex took 11 years to complete and roughly 2,000 slaves died in the process. Eventually, the palace was abandoned. Then locals, fleeing seventh century Slavic invaders, moved in and made themselves at home, and a medieval town sprouted from the rubble of the old palace.This is a drawing of the old palace and Murph is pointing to our home for the next 3 days.One of the four gates for entering the palace.The octagonal building was Diocletian’s mausoleum until the Christians he persecuted turned it into a cathedral. Now the smallest cathedral in Christendom.Typical street scene.Nice arches & windows.Entrance to our place – thru the doorway and up a couple of flights.Our room, complete with Roman walls.And a tiny kitchen with tiny ice cubes in the tiny freezer. ICE!!!This is not just another sexy pic of me – trying to illustrate how high the steps were when we climbed up the bell tower.
All this hiking and stair climbing is making me very strong!Different park, different waterfallsand so beautiful!Right!?!A little geology.More water!A bit of history!
Murphys on the Move 