July 2019 – A Traveling Fool

July 28, 2019

The Kingdom of Dubrovnik

Fans of “Game of Thrones” might recognize Dubrovnik as King’s Landing, a stronghold of the Lannisters. However there are many, many reasons for someone who has never seen “Game of Thrones” to love Dubrovnik. Founded as Ragusa in the 7^th century by Greeks, what eventually became Dubrovnik was under Byzantine rule, Venetian rule, and Austrian Hapsburg rule (as part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia) before Croatia became part of Yugoslavia.

Somewhere in there, it was briefly the Kingdom of Dubrovnik. In addition to its own city walls, it also built what was the second longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China as a territorial wall out in the country. I managed a photo of that wall as we left Dubrovnik after spending a couple of days in that beautiful, old city.

We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our hotel a short distance from the walled old town. After touring the larger city of 42,000 that comprises Dubrovnik now, we went on an optional dinner to a farm up in the mountains. Everything that was served to us was grown on the farm, including the brandy and wine. They had what was known as a “black kitchen” which was separate from the other buildings and had an open fire in the middle. The smoke would go up through the thatched roof. We ate our dinner in a 200 year old stone cellar.

Our walking tour of the old town, the next morning, began at the Pile Gate. Parts of the walls surrounding the old town date as far back as the 8^th century. In the 9^th century, the city survived a 15 month siege by the Saracens, which showed how well fortified they were.

The Pile Gate is really a series of gates with twists and turns. The idea is to make it not entirely easy to just walk into the city. We encountered Big Onofrio’s Fountain just inside the final part of the gate. It was built in the 15^th century as an outlet for the water from the aqueduct. From there, we visited the Franciscan Monastery Museum, which included one of the oldest apothecaries in the world (in use since the 13^th century). They had some pills on display that made the giant pills that we have now look almost miniscule. I didn’t see how anyone could have swallowed them.

The monastery was on the Placa, which was one of the main streets. We took a side street (called Od Puca) to see Saint Blaise Church, built in the 18^th century. Next was Gundulic’s Square with a smaller version of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

The Rector’s Palace was built in the Venetian style in the 13^th century as the offices and residence of the Rector, who was the ruler of Dubrovnik. We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside of the palace, but I managed a photo of nearby Assumption Cathedral through an open window and one of the courtyard of the palace from the walkway above. We finished up our tour with the 15^th century Bell Tower, the 15^th century Orlando’s Column, and the Old Port before having about three hours of free time.

It was a very hot day and most of the group immediately headed for food and drink. I wanted to make sure that I did a boat ride and the wall walk. So, since we were at the Old Port, just steps from the ticket office, I bought a ticket for a boat ride for a panoramic tour of the Old Town and a nearby island. Then I bought a gelato to cool me down until we could get on the boat (which had another group on it and would be back in about five minutes).

There was a nude beach on the far side of the island. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a single decent body in the group. They definitely weren’t there to show off, unless they had seriously flawed images of themselves. When I got back to the port, I didn’t see any of the group around, so I picked a place in the harbor that had seafood and settled in for a light lunch that had been caught in the vicinity of Dubrovnik.

It turned out that, due to the heat, most of the group had opted to return to the square with the replica of the Spanish Steps and had spent most of their time having a long meal and drinks while not moving around much. There were a few others who did the wall walk for a short distance, mostly downhill, and only one couple that did a boat ride. I was determined to do the wall walk, so I just bought some extra bottles of water and paced myself. I also started with the part that went uphill so I would get the worst part over first.

There was no shade on the wall either. Fortunately I had my archeologist hat, long-sleeved, gauze shirt and tan-colored jeans. I also slathered extra sunblock on any part of my body that might see the sun – such as my face, neck, ears, and the backs of my hands and fingers. Didn’t want to take the chance on getting any nasty sunburns.

I mounted the steps up to the wall at the Old Port, paid the fee and was on my way. All the way to the round Minceta Tower was uphill. The views were amazing, however, so every time I stopped to catch my breath, drink some water, etcetera, I also took some photos and marveled at the beauty of the city. The tower was built in the 15^th century at the height of the Turkish threat. The interior provided some much needed shade (even though it meant I had to climb even more stairs to get inside), so I lingered there for a while, eating a couple pieces of melting chocolate and drinking a few swigs of water before making my way back downhill toward the Pile Gate.

I went about three quarters of the way around the circumference of the walls. The trip was about half way uphill and half downhill. I was really glad I went uphill first. I checked my watch periodically to make sure that I wasn’t running late and could continue to pace myself in the heat. I had allowed plenty of time, taking in to account the need to stop every once in a while to take in the gorgeous views and take photos in addition to keep from passing out in the heat.

After descending at the Pile Gate and leaving the old town of Dubrovnik, I stopped off at a place that served fresh-squeezed orange juice. I was actually about fifteen minutes early for our rendezvous with the tour coach, so I sat down at a picnic table in the shade and had a chat with a local whose dog highly resembled my Miniature Schnauzer/Miniature Poodle mix at home. The human knew English quite well. The dog acted as if he did too, but was likely just reacting to my tone of voice. He was quite open to being petted by a stranger speaking a different language who was a little homesick for her own dog.

Once we reached the hotel, I stopped off at the mini market next door to buy some food for dinner. Then I took a long bubble bath (without wine as alcohol and heat don’t work that well together when a person is already on the edge of dehydration). Then I watched a movie and had dinner before turning in for the night.

Next time – we venture in to Bosnia & Herzegovina, which still had lots of war damage.

View from hotel
Black Kitchen
Dining Cellar
Big Onofrio’s Fountain seen through final part of Pile Gate
Monastery
Version of Roman Spanish Steps
Venetian Rector’s Palace
Assumption Cathedral seen from Rector’s Palace
Courtyard of Rector’s Palace
Boat ride
Another view of city from boat
Old Port seen from wall
A house along the wall
Minceta Tower on wall
Downhill from tower
Approaching Pile Gate while on the wall
Second longest territorial wall in the world

July 21, 2019

Croatia

After leaving Ljubljana on a 2012 trip to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia, we drove along the Adriatic Coast in Croatia to get to the town of Zadar. I had been intrigued by Croatia because it was mostly along the coast and had a long history which was pretty much intact.

Although the area had been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age, the Croats themselves didn’t arrive until the 6^th century. In the meantime, prior to the advent of the Croats, the area that became Croatia underwent both Greek and Roman rule. When faced with possible Ottoman conquest in the 16^th century, Croatia asked Ferdinand I of Austria to come and be their king. Shortly after World War I, Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes. Then, after World War II, it became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, came the Croatian War of Independence.

Founded in the 9^th century BC and located in the part of Croatia known as Dalmatia, Zadar is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. At different times it had been under Roman control and then Venetian control. The traces of both can still be seen. During its Roman era, the town was fortified with walls and gates, which are still partially there. The Venetians did quite a bit of building. Several of the houses and other structures they built are still there.

Our walking tour began at the 12^th century Cathedral of Saint Anastasia. Just outside of the church some children were using inline skates. The tour director made a comment about Rollerblade being a US company. Their headquarters originated in Minneapolis. Although the cathedral seemed kind of plain to me on the outside, but was quite lovely inside.

Nearby were the remains of a large Roman Forum. Some of the columns were still standing. But some of the columns had been incorporated in the base of the 9^th century church of Saint Donatus. It is a tall, circular church which is the largest pre-Romanesque church in Croatia and very simple in its design. Once upon a time it had a dome.

We came upon a house with a Venetian balcony on our way to the Sea Gate. Venetian-style balconies tend to jut out from the building and are fairly ornate. At some point, owners of this particular one had it enclosed.

We spent the night in Zadar and then left the following morning for Split. On the way to Split, we passed a very old castle perched on top of a rather steep mountain.

The second largest city in Croatia, Split was originally a Greek colony in the 3^rd or 2^nd century BC. Roman Emperor Diocletian built a palace there in the 4^th century AD. It later became a Byzantine city and still later a Venetian city.

Although called a palace, Diocletian’s residence is much more of a fortress. Originally it was right next to the Adriatic. But it is now set back a bit with a lovely beach between and a few restaurants. We began our tour by entering through the Coppur Gate (which used to be on the sea) and immediately went to the cellars of the palace, which were completely original. Other parts of the palace had some changes made to it over the centuries. Some of Game of Thrones was filmed there.

Diocletian had been a major persecutor of the early Christians and had put many of them to death. When he died in 312 AD, he was buried in a mausoleum in his palace in Split. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the mausoleum, which was quite tiny. I did very much enjoy the irony that his body was still there and that the mausoleum was turned into a church not too terribly long after Diocletian died. So, for centuries now, Christian services have been performed right in the presence of his body.

We exited through the Golden Gate. There was a dramatic, modern statue (1929) of Bishop Gregory of Nin (who lived in the 10^th century and was quite the revolutionary) outside of the gate in a park. A tower in the northeast corner of the structure is the most intact from Diocletian’s time. Over the centuries, people moved into parts of the palace. There are still multiple apartments in existence in the walls, towers and other parts of the building.

Walking around the outside of the palace, we saw the Iron Gate with a clock tower that I really liked. It was such a mix of original, medieval, and several other periods. The gate is still being used. Originally it was the military gate.

We walked to the 14^th century Narodni trg Pjaca (square), which looks very Venetian. Another nearby square, Vocini trg Pjaca, was 16^th century. In our free time, one of the Australian couples and I wandered through the market and bought some items for lunch. Then we sat next to the sea in a shaded area and ate lunch before we needed to get back on the tour coach.

Next time – beautiful, medieval, walled Dubrovnik.

1st view of Adriatic Coast from Croatia
St Anastasia Cathedral in Zadar
Cathedral interior
Cathedral altar
Column in Roman Forum
Roman columns used for base of St Donatus Church
St Donatus Church
Venetian balcony
Sea Gate in Zadar
Croation castle
Diocletian’s Palace in Split
Original part of palace
Statue outside of Golden Gate
Golden Gate
Looking towards oldest tower along palace wall
Iron Gate with clock tower
14th century Narodni trg Pjaca in Split

July 14, 2019

Ljubljana, Slovenia

In spring of 2012, I took a tour to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia. Wence, the tour director Mom and I had back when we were on the Central Europe tour in 2008 (which ended up being her last tour) was from Croatia and talked about his country with great fondness. So, once we got home, I started researching what there was to see in Croatia. My usual tour company (Globus/Cosmos) had this trip to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia. It looked perfect to me, so I booked it.

One of the things that appealed to me was that, although all three countries had once been part of Yugoslavia, they were very different. Bosnia was Muslim and highly Turkish in style. Croatia was much more Mediterranean as a very large percentage of the country bordered the Adriatic. Their influences were Venetian. Slovenia, on the other hand, was mostly mountainous, with an Alpine feel – more like Austria.

The tour was to begin in Slovenia, so I needed to learn how to pronounce the city into which I would be flying (since they always ask where you are going when you check in at the airport). I found that Ljubljana was pronounced along the lines of LOO-blee-aw-nah. I was quite pleased with myself when Ljubljana, Slovenia slid easily off of my tongue. Not that it made any difference. The person on the other side of the counter responded, “huh?” So I still needed to show them my boarding pass so they could read the destination from that. Oh well.

My first flight was from Minneapolis to Paris. I then had several hours in Paris before my flight to Ljubljana. The Charles de Gaulle Airport has numerous terminals with buses that travel between them. So a couple of hours between flights can be very helpful to allow for going through the European Union passport entry and getting to whatever terminal is needed for the next flight. I think this time though I had about four hours between flights.

There was a couple from Woodbury (a Twin Cities suburb) who sat next to me on my flight to Paris. We had stayed together through the entry process and on the bus to the next terminal, so we had lunch together before going off to our separate gates to catch our next flights. After lunch, I still had over an hour, so I read a book until boarding the plane.

On the plane, I sat next to a very nice woman from Peru. Although her destination was the same as mine, she was not going on the tour. At the airport, I met two couples from Australia who were on my tour. We were all picked up by our tour company and taken to our hotel. Mindful of the time difference, I gave Mom a call and repacked for the tour itself. I met the tour director and the rest of the group for drinks at 7pm and dinner at 7:30pm.

Slovenia has had people living there since prehistoric times. They have bounced around a lot between various ruling entities. After the Romans and some Germanic tribes (such as Huns and Lombards) the Slavics appeared in the 6^th century and Charlemagne conquered them in the 9^th century. It changed hands many more times with the Slovenes (some descendants of the early Slavics) eventually emerged as the main group. They joined with the Serbs and Croats to form Yugoslavia in 1918. This was short-lived and the Slovenian portion was annexed into Austria. During World War II, they bounced back and forth between Germany and Italy and ended up as a Nazi puppet state. After the war, Yugoslavia was re-established and became socialist under the Soviet Union.

The following morning, we headed out of the city to the Postojna Caves. These are natural caves, carved out by a river. When the caves were “discovered “ in the 17^th century, there was graffiti found dating to 1213. We took a small train two kilometers (1.24 miles) into the caves and then walked another kilometer (0.62 miles) in. Here and there we had some pretty decent light to get a good photo. But there were a lot of people in there, so getting a good photo without other people’s heads and such was a adventure for a vertically challenged person like myself. I have to say it was quite the cave – very expansive. On the way out, I was on the correct side of the little train to get a photo of the river and some waterfalls inside of the cave.

In the city itself (which became the capitol after World War II), the main square was called Congress Square. It was built on the ruins of a Capuchin monastery and is used mainly for ceremonial purposes. Ljubljana Castle overlooks the city. The promontory it sits upon has evidence of being settled as far back as 1200BC. In fact, the marshes upon which the main part of the town sits have signs of settlement as far back as 2000BC. The oldest wooden wheel in the world was discovered there.

The castle was built originally in the 11^th century and has been rebuilt and refurbished several times since. Ljubljana University (originally founded in 1810, dissolved and then re-founded in 1918) is centered around Congress Square.

The city straddles the Ljubljanica River with the older part of the city (mainly 15^th century) on one side of the river and the newer part (mostly 17^th & 18^th century) on the other side. The Town Hall is on the older side. It was built in 1484 with a major renovation in 1717 to 1719. Just outside of the Town Hall is a lovely fountain call the Robba Fountain, which was built in 1751. We took some time to explore inside of the Town Hall, which is now a museum.

One of the coolest bridges over the river is the Dragon Bridge, which was built in 1819, but needed a major renovation after a severe earthquake in 1895. The dragon is the symbol of Ljubljana. It is based on a legend that says that Jason & the Argonauts founded the city after slaying a dragon there.

In Preseren Square, which was laid out in the 17^th century, sits a lovely Franciscan church, which was built in the 17^th century and then had a Baroque façade added in the 18^th century. The square was originally named for the church, but was later renamed for 19^th century Slovenian poet laureate, France Preseren. A statue of him sits in the square, which acts as a gateway to the medieval part of town.

Next time – we venture into Croatia.

Postojna
Small train
Inside caves
A larger area in the caves
Waterfalls inside caves
Congress Square with castle above
University Administration building
The river
Town Square
Robba Fountain and Town Hall
Courtyard of Town Hall
A Medieval passage
The Dragon Bridge
Preseren Square
Franciscan Church

July 7, 2019

The Rocky Mountaineer, Vancouver and Vancouver Island

In my determination not to miss anything or have any regrets on my 2011 fall tour to the Canadian Rockies, I not only upgraded my hotel rooms at Chateau Lake Louise and Banff Springs Hotel to have the best views, and took my first ever helicopter ride over the mountains at Banff, but booked the Gold Leaf package on the Rocky Mountaineer for a two day train ridge through the Canadian Rockies from Banff to Vancouver.

The Gold Leaf package included a special car with a glass domed observation section upstairs and a dining room and kitchen downstairs. It also included having ones luggage delivered to the hotel in Kamloops for the overnight there. In Red Leaf, one would be in a regular train car where sandwiches would be served and everyone needed to take their own hand luggage to their hotel in Kamloops with their larger case remaining on the train. I really liked the idea of the glass domed observation car and of getting my larger case for the overnight, so I splurged again. I was very thankful I could afford the splurges on this trip (there were many earlier trips when I could not) and viewed the whole thing as a very special trip that would give me great memories for the rest of my life. So Gold Leaf package it was.

The group from the Florida retirement community went Red Leaf, so I didn’t see them at all for the entire train ride. There were two other couples in my group who also went Gold Leaf and were in my same car. I was up towards the front of the car with one of the couples a short distance away (just a couple rows back on the other side of the car) and the other couple further back in the car, near the stairs to the lower part, which not only had the dining room and kitchen, but restrooms and an outdoor observation deck.

We were given mimosas when we arrived, then the 1^st seating group went down for breakfast. I was in the 2^nd seating group, so we had some pastries and another mimosa while waiting. For both breakfast and lunch, we had menus from which we could order what we wanted. The food was delicious.

Our first day we traveled over the Continental Divide and along the Kicking Horse River and Shushwap Lake. We also went through the corkscrew tunnels with part of the train coming out one tunnel while another part was going in another tunnel. The Gold Leaf cars were at the back of the train, so we could see the rest of the train well ahead of us.

Due to delays along the way, we arrived at Kamloops three hours past when we should have. Because of this, we were served dinner on the train instead of at the hotel and had an open bar until we arrived in Kamloops. Once we arrived at the hotel, I found that my larger case was waiting for me in my room.

The next day we were returned to the train, where I was in the 1^st seating for breakfast and lunch. We traveled through the Thompson Valley and Fraser Canyon, arriving in Vancouver around 5:00pm (which was on time). We were staying at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel on Canada Place, just across the road from the Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 Olympics. All of the cruise ships dock at Canada Place.

There was a representative from the tour company at the hotel waiting to sign us up for day trips for the next couple of days. For the first day, I chose a trip to Vancouver Island. The entire group from Florida signed up for the same trip and filled out the coach for the first time slot, so I went on the next coach. I met a lovely couple with whom I had lunch and then some gelato later.

After taking the ferry across to the island, we went straight to Butchart Gardens where we had a couple of hours to explore the place. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous. Originally a limestone quarry used for the making of Portland Cement, once the quarry was played out, Missus Butchart turned the quarry into a sunken garden. An Italian garden, a rose garden and a Japanese garden were added over time. When the Butcharts turned the gardens over to their grandson, he added a fountain. The gardens are still run by the family.

On the way back to Victoria, we were given a general tour of the island. Then we were dropped off at the Empress Hotel with a time and place established to be back on the coach. I explored the hotel first. Opened in 1908, the hotel was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is a very elegant hotel in the Chateauesque style. Their afternoon tea is legendary.

I took photos of the Parliament and of the bay before heading for Miniature World. I’m very interested in dollhouse miniatures and gravitate to dollhouses and miniature exhibits. Miniature World had several dollhouses (once called “baby houses”) and lots of historic scenes in miniature. They had 85 exhibits in all from Olde London (Tudor London) to World War II to outer space. They also had some scenes of the western US and Canada with a miniature version of what a Native American village in the upper western coastal area would have looked like.

I had some time before I needed to get back to the coach, so I had an old-fashioned shake at a nearby soda shop. This fortified me until I got back to the hotel in Vancouver and had dinner.

On my final day in Canada, I had a late flight home. So I checked my bags at the hotel when I needed to check out of the room and took off for a Hop On Hop Off trolley tour. This covered such locations as Stanley Park, False Creek, Granville Island, the Art Museum, the Library, Gastown (the original settlement), the Lions Gate Bridge, and the Olympic Stadium. There was also the hotel in which Howard Hughes lived the final years of his life.

The day I was flying back home was the 10^th anniversary of 9/11. I have to admit that I was a little uncomfortable about being on a plane on that date. The security person at the airport in Vancouver rather cheerily reminded me of the date, which didn’t help. But all went well and I arrived home safely in the early hours of 9/12.