Dubrovnik, Croatia

We left Galveston yesterday. The ship was rocking from the weather last night, but the seas have calmed down today as we head towards Progreso, Mexico.

On that note, I finally have the pictures for Croatia.

Dubrovnik was one port I really was not looking forward to seeing. I was expecting to see a war torn country. Instead, we found a beautiful country with beautiful people.

As we leave for our tour, it starts to rain slightly. As we get to our traditional country Inn that we are visiting, it is pouring rain. This is the first bad weather we really had while in Europe, but would not be the last. Obviously, pictures of the countryside of Croatia were almost impossible to take due to the rain.

This Inn is only a couple of miles from the border with Bosnia had received extensive shelling damage as had most of the country side. However, in the last five years they have rebuilt the Inn to look like it had for years.

As we get off, we find they are cooking our snack outdoors on the open flames.

There are a number of water wheels and small dams to help power these water wheels. 

The Inn is made out of stone, a lot of stone.

Inside, the wait staff is dressed in their traditional dress.

While we hated to leave this lovely place, everyone on the bus was soaked. This would be a beautiful place to eat as you sat by the stream and listened to the water falling over the dams and water wheels – if it wasn’t raining.

We are not done yet, and neither is the rain. It takes us about 30 minutes to get to our next stop, which is a small village on the shore. As we get off the bus and go through the high walls of the old church the rain begins to stop. 

We were ready for the rain to stop, but as we turned the corner we were not ready for the beautiful sight awaiting us.

This village was almost picture perfect. As we saunter down the street by the bay and stop in the different shops, we found the residence to be friendly and excited to talk with us. If only the rain had completely stopped... It would have been nice to sit in one of the outdoor cafes and drink in the beauty while sampling some local wine.  But, that was not to be.

As we head back to the ship, our last optional stop is to be let off at the old fort where we could walk the walls, which are still intact. As we were soaked to the bone and the last village is where Mary fell, we decided to pass this up. Next time, we walk the walls!

Dubrovnik received constant shelling for years during their war. The city was almost devastated, but they have been able to rebuild almost everything with the help from several worldwide agencies. Unesco came in and rebuilt all the damaged homes. You tell which homes had been damaged by the orange roofs that they installed.

Yes, almost every house you see in these pictures had been hit by shells. It was like this everywhere we went.

Croatia is a long country against the sea. Not being very wide, it has miles and miles of coastline. Hundreds of small islands dot the shores.

Here are some last minute shots from the ship. You will notice the rain finally did stop. Yeah!

As we sat on our balcony looking at the country side, we made a decision -- We would go back to Croatia in a minute.

Later...