To go Back at any time,
use Browser's "Previous Page"
Spending a week in Dubrovnik gave us a chance to make a few short journeys outside the city. One fine Sunday we set off for the former fishing village of Cavtat, some 15 miles away, and the inland farming valley of Konavle, just beyond Cavtat.
Out of the city, we made a photo stop to view Dubrovnik from its Old Port side:
As it happened, a cruise ship had arrived and its passengers were going ashore by tender:
We were told that it is not unusual for six of these big ships to stop at Dubrovnik simultaneously in the summer, creating a fair bit of congestion both on and off shore. (The wooded strip in the background is Lokrum Island.)
In Cavtat, the palm-dotted sea front has a nice promenade, perfect for a Sunday stroll:
On top of the hill behind town is a mausoleum designed by Ivan Mestrovic, a renowned Croatian and American sculptor. He was a Professor at the University of Notre Dame from 1955 until his death in 1962.
Naturally, we had to climb the hill to have a closer look at this domed structure built for a local ship-owning family in 1921:
In the Konavle farming region, this gentleman in traditional folk dress operated a grinding wheel for our education in this water-driven mill:
On another day, we took a half-day excursion to Lopud Island by ferry. Here, the ship is almost ready to depart the island with several others from our group who declined to jump ship with us:
While the ferry sailed to a nearby island and back, the two of us had a memorable stroll through the village of Lopud and around the island’s wide, curving bay:
This is as far as we were able to walk and still meet the ferry on its return:
... and we made it, just barely without running. Good thing, it was the last ferry of the day.
Nearly back to Gruz Harbor in Dubrovnik, we had a close look at our hotel from the water. Its “inclinator,” similar to the Luxor’s in Las Vegas, is the prominent, sloped structure in its center:
We also had a marvelous view of this elegant suspension bridge, completed in 2002, and named after Croatia’s first president, Franjo Tudman. The bridge is not far from the old walled city, making a striking contrast with it:
Speaking of our hotel, here are a few more shots. Nice place. This was the Hotel President located in Babin Kuk:
The inclinator is to the left in this next photo:
The room on the right has a typical patio with an unobstructed view of the sea.
From the patio of our own room, the ship Greenpeace is shown sailing past, which it did several times during our stay:
Babin Kuk is a full 20 minute bus ride to Pile Gate, the one disadvantage of our hotel’s location, although buses are convenient and frequent. An alternative is to walk, a much lengthier commute, but one which takes the walker on a sea side trail:
Clean, sparkling water was the norm almost everywhere we went on the Croatian coast.
Two walkers taking a well-deserved break during their journey from the President:
How long they sat like this until a waiter came over is anybody’s guess. .... but they obviously had time for a photo shoot.