Exploring Croatia

A few weeks ago, our traveling group of gals from the American Women's Club in London headed out for another adventure: this time to the lovely town of Dubrovnik in the country of Croatia.

When I told friends in the US, I was headed to Croatia, I saw some puzzled looks on faces, and since I had to do a bit of homework myself to see exactly where we were headed, I decided to include this map, so you could spot our destination. Croatia is one of the 6 countries that resulted from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the early 90's. The other 5 countries are Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Dubrovnik is located along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, and is known most distinctly for its fabulous coastline.

Our hotel looked over this small bay with crystal blue-green water,

and as we walked to town, we had peeks of the beautiful Dalmatian coastline we were to enjoy for the following 3 days.

We entered Dubrovnik through the medieval town gate

and we immediately climbed the stairs to walk along the most popular feature of the Old Town: the 2 kilometers of walls

that circle the town. Originally built between the 14th-15th century for protection,

today they offer beautiful views of the sea

and it's easy to understand why George Bernard Shaw called it the "Pearl of the Adriatic."

From the walls, you can observe the patchwork of roofs and spy the beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture from days gone by.

Its early prosperity is thanks to its significance as a Medieval sea power from the 13th century on, rivaling even Venice for a spell. 

As we made our way along the walls, we spied a look-out below us that we planned to investigate later.

Sunset found us at our destination, one of the "hole in the wall" bars, where we ended the day with refreshments

and looked forward to more adventures to come in the days yet to unfold.

Stay tuned for more in my next blog.