Today

I posted the chillaxing picture in the moment but so much more happened throughout the day.

Bwahahahaha! I crack me up!

No just kidding. Nearly nothing else.

I did, however, take a stroll to the nearest beach, Bonj Beach, to collect a sand sample for the collection we have from every island we have ever visited.  I gave up on spice jars years ago because the storage space required was just too onerous. So we downsized to test tubes. 

This is Bonj beach. A beach by the true definition of a beach. That being a sloping landform covered with well whatever next to a body of water. But it took me forever to dig down to find teeny enough little pebbles amongst all of the big rocks so that they would fit into my little test tube…

Walking back I stopped to take a picture of the harbor with the Fortico above from a different angle. 25 minutes later I knew the life story of the 60-year-old, yes she told me three times that she was 60 years old, woman who immediately started talking to me on the pier. Seriously, literally before I could even hold my phone up to take a picture Did you know that back in the day she trained for 10 years to qualify to try to climb Mount Everest? That she’s retired? But she used to be a personal trainer, but she’s got a little thick in the middle? And that she wants to needs to get back to swimming or exercising or something to get back in shape? Anyway, I did finally get the shot…a bit of sunburn and the shot.

Tonight when we went back down to St. Stephen’s Square for dinner, the boats were back at it. I may have to start listening to classical music although I’m not sure that my living room will create the same appropriate ambience as a medieval village does. The bright lights on the performance stage however were not on and creating glare tonight so I could get a picture of the hillside with the Fortico above lit up at night. Lovely.

Goodnight, Hvar. 

Last Night: Dance of the Sails

 Back to last night….

During the day they set up a performance platform and a lot of lights and speakers. We heard some sound checks being done during the afternoon, but we didn’t know what was going on. Our apartment is one small medieval village block away from the main square, St Stephen’s Square, but it is surprisingly quiet inside. Apparently stone walls absorb sound.

So when we ventured out for dinner, we were quite surprised to be greeted by the sounds of Tchaikovsky‘s Waltz of the Flowers. And we were even more surprised when we turned the bend and saw a whole bunch of small sailboats moving around in the harbor with spot lights playing off of them. It was absolutely magical. We tried a couple of times to ask people on the street what was happening and why. Actually asked the sound guy what was going on and was this some sort of ballet of boats. He Enthusiastically nodded yes and that was the end of that.

We walked around to try to get different views of the harbor as the boats continued to dance to one classical music piece after another before finally snagging a corner table at one of the Harbourside restaurants so that we could still have a view as the performance went on and on and on. There we managed to get a little more information from another diner, sitting next to us who said that there had actually been a parade earlier of local officials because it was a celebration of their patron Saint Stephen - of Saint Stephen’s Square fame.

As it turns out, a ballet of boats was not far off as the performance is called the Dance of the Sails involving a specific kind of sailboat with something called a Lateen sail. The woman here at the hotel said that some of the boats are local, but most of them come from another town on this island called Vrboska. Some Google, searching, if we believe that, claims that the dance of the sales is supposed to imitate sailboats fighting for the wind. No matter, it was a really lovely, unexpected surprise. (My apologies or you are welcome 😉 for the short videos…I am always afraid they won’t upload, but I think you can get the point....in fact these are YouTube video links cuz I couldn't get them to upload even though they are small) 

Dance of the Sails

And

Dance of the Sails 2

Hope that works ..and ignore this still..I just wanted something to sow on the post..

Finally Our First Just Chillax Day

Hello, Hvar!

 Caught the ferry at 8am.  Michael snagged us window seats on the right/correct side of the boat for the 3.5 hour cruise north. Clear skies, calm seas, absolutely perfect weather. 

The views were lovely.

Especially pulling into the first stop at Korcula. So cute.

Then Hvar.

After a quick lunch, while Michael rested, I ran up to that Fortica above for the view.

When we ventured out for pizza tonight, we found out that there is a festival of sorts happening. What a pleasant surprise.  I will post about that tomorrow after I have the time and energy to research/ get my facts straight.  

For now, here’s a shot of St Stephen’s Square

And our balcony on top of the ancient Porta Maestra.

Nighty night.

Goodbye Dubrovnik

We are off.

Three nights in Dubrovnik, and now we need to move on. We are taking the ferry up along the coast to the island of Hvar. It’s been a lovely stay in a precious little town. But there is always more to see and other places to go.

Montenegro

Today we headed out on another excursion. (After this our days become far less active!) this time we traveled 2-1/2 hours south to Kotor in Montenegro.

We passed on the standard/offered boat ride out to visit the little church Our Lady of the Rocks but here is a picture of her sitting in Kotor Bay. Pretty rock  pretty rock.

Unfortunately, even little Kotor is overrun by cruise ship day trippers these days. Crowds were plentiful even at 9:30am. But we toured around with a guide. Learned about the history, the Italian influence, and the Church of Our Lady of Health which is perched on the hillside above town.  The menfolk of the town were sailors and they built the church to honor the fact that they thought divine intervention saved them at sea. Our female guide told us that that the women of the town likewise look to that church to bring them good health. They walk up the hill every Sunday to visit the church…which makes them healthier…so a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Luckily we decided to skip lunch in the area and start back to Dubrovnik. When we approached the border, we stopped with about 15 cars ahead of us to find that the computer system was down. It came back up about thirty minutes later, but it still took us another thirty minutes to get through. Our guide heard later that the system went down again after we passed. 

So lunch in a little village in the valley instead. Then back here to rest up and to head out for a lovely dinner at Art Restaurant Renaissance on a little side street with lots of twinkly lights, great food, and a very pregnant woman singing Tracy Chapman songs and sipping red wine!

Then good night Dubrovnik.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Woke up at 3am after only six hours sleep so it wasn’t any hardship to get up and moving to meet our toursbylocals guide, Matija, at the Ploce Gate at 7am.

It gave me an opportunity to try different lighting in order to capture how smooth and shiny and wet-looking the large, well-worn cobblestones look here. Still doesn’t do them justice. They are really, really smooth and apparently deadly slick when it rains and they really do get wet. 

Anyway, we went off touring the countryside on a 2-1/2 hour drive to get to the bigger must-visit tourist attractions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But don’t  get too excited….

Blagai Tekke (Dervish House)  billed as a stunning 16th century Sufi Monastery. (It was rebuilt after the war.) 

And Mostar, the second largest city (after Sarajevo) where this iconic 16th century bridge was also rebuilt after it, too, was destroyed during the war.

And then 2-1/2 hours back again.  

There were two border crossings (always fun) and some driving along the scenic coastline and past the oyster and mussel bays. Then a lovely, casual dinner and stroll this evening.

So, Bosnia and Herzegovina - check and check.