Now we’re talkin Hungary Slovenia and Croatia

Today we saw Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic, and the backdrop for the Game of Thrones. Our tour guide left us today and we met up with a local guide who took us on a walking tour of the city.  We learned how an Earthquake in the 1700’s damaged Dubrovnik.There was peace until 19th century. Then the Russians came in and started torturing Dubrovnik people. Napolean came in to remove the Russians but stayed instead. On the bright side today Debrovnik  primarily thrives with tourism.  I tried the water from the fountains and it was surprisingly good. The Dubrovnik pass gave us entry to the Maritime Museum. Dubrovnik became famous for shipbuilding in the 13th century.  How these boats survived for long was a mystery. I guess they really didn't Our Dubronik pass allowed us to walk the  City walls between the 2 Fortresses that protected the city. The Cable Car gave us some spectacular views. Randy actually considered doing this. Thank goodness It was expensive and...

      The water is so pretty here. This bridge allowed  us to travel to Ston without going to Bosnia. Ston is know for it’s salt production for food preservation . Then it was a 11/2 hour bus ride to  Dubrovnik which has a population of 41-42k, added to that they have a  1.5 million tourists a year.  Mussel are grown in the water here with buoys and ropes. Roses at the Milo Winery were breathtaking. I liked this last winery the best. But I liked the dark beer throughout the trip better.

Spilt is one of the Guide’s favorite places. At one point, he was so relaxed that he started speaking Slavonian without even realizing it. We all begged for him to speak English before he realized what he was doing.         The high speed Catamaran was equivalent to a bus ride, but when we got to Spilt the scenery was spectacular.         Even the bugs and cactus flowers were large and colorful. And view from the top was really nice. The Zatvor prison was a spooky climb down into a dark, scary place. Randy had to promise behave before we agreed to release him from the cell.

At the Dalmation Coast, we had a local guide who educated us on the different styles of architecture.     Older roman architecture was mixed with newer style of the ceiling. The lighter facades indicated it was  newer. The sphinx was unusual as it had human hands An exmple of old and new architecture styles mixed due to reconstruction of war ravaged buildings The acoustics of the buildings  resulted in a beautiful castle performance with amazing harmony.   Some of the architecture was Roman, some was Hungarian Boys will be boys. Our guide explained that corners were replaced with stone to keep intoxicated men from relieving themselves in those areas!