Dubrovnik, Croatia

July 2011, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia
When I heard that our Egypt trip had been replaced with Croatia, I admit I needed to look up exactly where we would be headed. Croatia is the yellow Adriatic country and Dubrovnik, at the southern tip, was our first stop.

The Jewel of the Adriatic

Dubrovnik is a gorgeous place. The water is turquoise blue due to the rocky sea beds. Our hotel was amazing and we enjoyed the pools, both a traditional chlorinated pool and a sea water filled pool just off the rocky shore. The weather was amazing and we were so delighted with this view from our room.

I'd heard that the food in Croatia was excellent, so I was prepared to try some new seafood and other delicacies. At Restaurant Eden the muscles were really nice and the tuna was a bit overcooked. I enjoyed the greens we had throughout the trip and every meal we had was served with vegetables which was nice. Dessert was gelato....We ate our weight in gelato this trip. Excellent!

The sunset from our hotel room...gorgeous!

The next day we visited the heart of the city. This is Stradun, Dubrovnik's main street.  

We had a group lunch which consisted of a delightful soup and some fairly standard chicken and fries. The Europeans love serving fries! The grilled zucchini and eggplant was a nice addition.

Dubrovnik is probably most famous for it's 7th century stone walls. They have been considered to be amongst the great fortification systems of the Middle Ages. They are of the largest and most complete wall structures in all of Europe. We walked the entire 6,360 ft and I had to fight my extreme fear of heights for most of the walk.

The Minčeta Tower was built in 1463 and is the highest point on the wall. Paul took the camera up there as I stayed below, held on and got my nerves back.

Our tour guide recommended eating dinner at Moby Dick so how could we pass that up? We had a nice meal, but the thing I want to remember from that night were the people. A delightful couple to one side ordered a large order of tiny fried fish (which I read is one of the favorite things among locals) and offered us some. They were yummy! The family to our other side was from South Africa and we had a great conversation about our travels and lives. It was a really relaxing, nice time!

Paul enjoyed his calamari as you can see!

We also enjoyed a few other famous Dubrovnik sights. A medical service was introduced in 1301, with the first pharmacy still operating to this day, being opened in 1317. This is a picture outside of the pharmacy gardens where special plants and herbs are grown.

Dubrovnik's most beloved church is St Blaise's church, built in the 18th century in honour of Dubrovnik's patron saint. Dubrovnik's baroque Cathedral was built in the 18th century and houses an impressive Treasury with relics of Saint Blaise. We only got a glimpse because there was a wedding mass going on as we entered. Here is a long shot of the bride and groom outside afterwards. I love that!

This is Onofrio's fountain. It was constructed in 1438 as the end point in a water supply system that began in a well 12km away. Five and a half centuries later it was still working so well that it supplied Dubrovnik residents with drinking water during the bombings of 1991.

The Rectors Palace is a Gothic-Renaissance structure that displays finely carved capitals and an ornate staircase.

 We were excited about the upcoming places on the itinerary, but this jewel of a city was hard to leave. The next morning we were on our way to Kotor, Montenegro and we stopped for one last look. Just amazing!

I hope to share a bit more about the history and culture of Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia as I go along in the next few posts. One note if you are planning a trip: Croatia depends on tourism for about 80% of it's industry. They cater nicely to the tourists, especially those from other European countries.  We felt very welcome and most people speak English or help you get by on a few words and phrases.

dobar dan = hello, good day

hvala = thank you

kupaonicu=bathroom

Central Europe Trip, Days Nine & Ten

While day eight was the day of palaces, day nine was a day of museums. After breakfast, we headed to the Belvedere.

In 1714 the Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy commissioned the architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt to build the Lower Belvedere. The palace was completed just two years later in 1716. Today, the former living quarters and staterooms of this Baroque summer residence are still an impressive sight. Attractions include the Marble Hall, adorned with frescos by Martino Altomonte (1659-1745), the state bedroom, Hall of Grotesques and the Marble Gallery.


The Lower Belvedere also incorporates the orangery and palace stables, formerly used for the prince's horses.




Paul and some of the students decided to stop at the Freud Museum during a free period.

This house in the Alsergrund district, at Berggasse 19, was newly built when Freud moved here in 1891. In 1938 Freud was forced to leave German-annexed Austria due to his Jewish ancestry, and fled to London. His old rooms, where he lived for 47 years and produced the majority of his writings, now house a documentary centre to his life and works. The influence of psychoanalysis on art and society is displayed through a program of special exhibitions and a modern art collection.

The museum consists of Freud's former practice and a part of his old private quarters. Attached to the museum are Europe's largest psychoanalytic research library with 35,000 volumes and the research institute of the Sigmund Freud Foundation.
The display includes original items owned by Freud, the practice's waiting room, and parts of Freud's extensive antique collection. However his famous couch is now in the Freud Museum in London, along with most of the original furnishings, as Freud was able to take his furniture with him when he emigrated.


For the majority of the afternoon, we toured the grand Kunsthistorisches Museum. It was opened in 1891 at the same time as the Naturhistorisches Museum, by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. The two museums have identical exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz.







The two Ringstraße museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a suitable shelter for the Habsburgs' formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the general public. The façade was built of sandstone. The building is rectangular in shape, and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high. The inside of the building is lavishly decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf, and paintings. I thoroughly enjoyed the Pieter Brueghel collection. I could look at these paintings for hours and still find new insights and intricacies.



The students finally talked Mr. Plank into Planking in the Museum courtyard.

Following an early dinner, we slept for a few hours and headed out for day ten...to the airport in the wee hours to catch our long flight home. We had bonded with Nadia and snuck a picture at the last minute. She was an amazing guide and really inspired me to want to travel more and learn as much as I can about Europe and beyond...perhaps a little French might be in my future!

It was an amazing, unforgettable trip. I hope to share many of these places with Wyatt someday.

Central Europe Trip, Day Eight

Day eight was a day of palaces and performances...

The amazing Schloss Schönbrunn ("beautiful spring") is a former imperial summer residence of the House of Habsburg. When you think of what an authentic palace might look like, this has to be it.  Not a great deal of the inside is available for tour, but we did see some of the amazing apartments, including rooms where the royal family slept, dressed, dined and sat for hours reading or playing cards.

The gardens here are amazing. The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Sun Fountain is called the Great Parterre. The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet in 1695. It contains, among other things, a maze, the world's oldest existing zoo (founded in 1752), an orangerie, a palm house, an arboretum, and glass houses.

In the background you can see the Roman Ruins structure. It was constructed in 1778 as a garden feature. The fashion for picturesque ruins that became widespread with the rise of the Romantic movement soon after the middle of the 18th century symbolize both the decline of once great powers and the preservation of the remains of a heroic past.

 

 Following the palace tour, we headed back down to the old town square and St. Stephen's Cathedral. As the most important religious building in Austria's capital, the cathedral has borne witness to many important events in that nation's history and has, with its multi-colored tile roof, become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. Above the choir on the south side of the building the tiles form a mosaic of the double-headed eagle that is symbolic of the empire ruled from Vienna by the Habsburg dynasty. On the north side the coats of arms of the City of Vienna and of the Republic of Austria are depicted. In 1945, fire caused by World War II damage to nearby buildings leapt to the north tower of the cathedral and went on to destroy the wooden framework of the roof. Replicating the original bracing for so large a roof  would have required an entire square kilometre of forest, so over 600 metric tons of steel bracing were used instead.

I was surprised and amazed by the interior of the cathedral. The stained glass windows cast light upon the internal features, creating this heavenly glow throughout the structure. It is an inspiring sight to behold!

 

Paul read about a street in his guidebook called Grünangergasse that he wanted to see so during our free time we went to find it. It turned out to be a quiet, beautiful area with nice apartments and quiet city gardens. It also led us to Domgasse, the street where Mozart lived from the end of September 1784 until the end of April 1787. In these two and a half years he composed a number of major works including Le Nozze di Figaro, one of my favorites. It was interesting to see where he lived, he some sheet music, furnishings, clothing and listen to selections while we toured the apartment.

 

Finding the museum was serendipitous for us because while inside, a rain storm came through. After our tour, the beautiful streets were wet and glistening!

 

 

Vienna is an interesting mixture of old and new. These beautiful buildings surrounded by McDonalds, H&M and upscale shopping. It is a very touristy place but I suppose I'd rather shop in this setting than Bellevue Square!

After lunch and free time we toured the Sisi Museum located inside Habsburg Palace. Elisabeth of Austria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary as the spouse of Franz Joseph I. From an early age, she was called “Sisi” by family and friends.
While Elisabeth had limited influence on Austro-Hungarian politics, she has become a historical icon. Elisabeth is considered to have been a non-conformist who abhorred conventional court protocol and at the same time a tragic figure; she has inspired filmmakers and theatrical producers alike.
Married at sixteen years old, Elisabeth had difficulty adapting to the strict etiquette practiced at the Habsburg court. She bore the emperor three children in quick succession, but her firstborn's death would haunt Elisabeth for the rest of her life and cause a permanent rift between her and her husband. Elisabeth embarked on a life of travel, and saw little of her offspring. She visited such locations as Madeira, Hungary, England and Corfu.
She became known not only for her beauty. Newspapers published articles on her fashion sense, diet and exercise regimens, passion for riding sports, and a series of reputed lovers, although there is no verifiable evidence of her having an affair. She paid extreme attention to her appearance and spent much time preserving her beauty.

On 10 September 1898, in Geneva, Switzerland, Elisabeth, aged 60, was stabbed in the heart with a sharpened file by a young mentally ill anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. When attacked, she had been walking along the promenade of Lake Geneva about to board the steamship. She boarded the ship, unaware of the severity of her condition. Bleeding to death from a puncture wound to the heart, Elisabeth said, "What happened to me?" The strong pressure from her corset had contained the bleeding until the garment was removed. Reportedly, her assassin had hoped to kill a prince from the House of Orléans and, failing to find him, turned on Elisabeth instead. Lucheni afterwards said, "I wanted to kill a royal. It did not matter which one."

The empress was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna's city centre. For centuries it has served as the Imperial burial place. After learning of his wife's death, the Emperor reportedly whispered to himself, "She will never know how much I loved her."

Heeresgeschichtliches Museum is a military history museum, the oldest and largest purpose-built military history museum in the world. Its collection includes one of the world's largest collections of bronze cannons and focuses on Austrian military history from the 16th century to 1945.

 

 

The concert was fun and entertaining and included famous Mozart and Strauss pieces. The opera singers were interactive with the audience and the ballet performers were delightful. The students had so much fun and told our tour guide how much they enjoyed it. She was impressed with their engagement and enjoyment of a classical concert.

Off to bed and our last full day of Vienna ahead!

Happy Birthday, USA!

Our family tradition is to brave the weather and crowds and attend the huge Family Fourth Celebration at Gasworks Park in Seattle. This year it was hot and sunny and we had lots of fun enjoying the activities and food, playing with the football, playing card games, reading, and trying to pass the hours until it got dark.

 

 Paul took these cool pictures of the sun going down and reflecting on the city.

 

 

  Our friends, the Peay's joined us for the big show. We didn't get as good of video of the dancing as last year, but still fun! The band the Dusty 45s played before and after the fireworks. The coolest part was when the lead singer lit his trumpet on fire!