This trip turned out to be the best cruise trip we have taken so far, especially considering it was just before the Christmas season with so many other activities going on at the same time. First of all, this is a beautiful country with beautiful rock mountains, many of them rising out of clear oceans. This is also a country with a rich history, going back more than a thousand years. We found many reminders of this history as we explored the cities and countryside - some of them sad but many wonderful. Croatia has long been a crossroad for the people of east and west and it has endured many occupations and many wars.
Our first town is the capital of the new country of Croatia, Zagreb.
Our local guide on the bottom right and in the next picture below.
This city is separated into an Upper Town (which dates from medieval times) and a Lower Town. Access is made easy by the funicular seen at right and below.
This is a famous Church roof top!
We then went to see the markets:
There is only one vegetable worthy of mentioning here. (See below.) It is very strange looking and related to cauliflower and broccoli! Have you seen it before?
This is the Zagreb Cathedral, our final stop on the local tour!
We, the whole group of about fourty six, took two buses with our two team Program Directors and were driven for about four hours to the coastal city of Zadar. Our ship, The Artemis, with a crew of about twenty people was waiting for us there. Our first task was, as usual, the safety drill. lt was a warm sunny day!
We were given a very nice cabin in the front of the boat on the top deck! 
We visited the nearby Sea Organ and the Sun Disk!
The Sea Organ is a series of pipes which are designed to make musical sounds by using the waves to force air through the pipes. There is not much to see - just some pipes sticking out of the concrete. However, the Sun Disk, seen below, is a solar powered light show - visible at night - which is coordinated with the music. Also shown below is one of the Planets which extend out from the Sun. These designs are both quite amazing, especially for a small town!
We went to see the small town including the garden on top of the city wall:
our local guide.
Remains of the Roman buildings from the third century B.C. were re-used for medieval buildings. (See below.) Many eras are represented in this town, which has a delightful mix of architectual designs.
Tom walked everywhere in this town, but one picture he thought was particularly interresting:
Locks are attached to this bridge, indicating that a young couple will be locked together forever! So this is not only a Chinese custom, you lovers!
We came back to this city Zadar at the end of our trip to take the bus to go back to the capital. Janice and I had our picture taken near the wall garden:
The boat left Zadar at night and went staight to the second largest city in Croatia called Split. We had a great visit there, especially marveling at the Imperial Palace built by the Roman Emperor, Diocletian, in the early part of the 4th century A.D.
The walls of the Palace can be seen in the background. They originally measured 590 feet by 705 feet. The following pictures show the "basement" of the Palace which were storage areas but were primarily built to raise the next floor to the level of the sea, for easy entrance and exit.
.
Some singers entertained us. 
The evening program was folk dancing, which was quite good: 
We went between two islands to reach our next stop, a small island called Hvar. It has been occupied since 3500 B.C. and has been ruled, in turn, by Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, Austrians, and French.
It was also Venetian for many years. It has a reputation as the sunniest spot in Europe and is quite beautifyl!
early in the morning.
wine tasting!
good bye time!
Dubrovnik is the only town in Croatia we had visited before this trip. It is a beautiful city and a famous spot for Cruise line stops. Several travelers walked atop the walls around the town. This is also the place where we had a home visit. 
For the first time we experienced a performance by a family member on our home-hosted dinner!
On the boat, we enjoyed a performace by our trip mates as well! The participants certainly had a great time, including Janice (who was a lady-in-waiting) !
On the first optional trip to the Konavle region, Janice was particularly impressed by a silk workshop. Beginning in the 6th century, the people in the area learned to gather silk from the worms which produce it.
Eventually a custom developed which involved young girls, as young as 4 or 5, growing the worms, feeding them, wrapping the silk from the cocoons, dying it, and making special collars to be attached to their dresses for their various life experiences.
For example, they would make collars for when they got married, when they were pregnant, when they had a child, etc. The set of collars wold need to be completed before they got married - usually by age 16.
Below is a display of some of the collars which have been preserved. The tassels are removable and can be used with many different collars.
The next morning we arrived in Montenegro, the only other country we visited on this trip. The program was tight and full. It included mountain climing, island hopping and beautful scenery. We had a group picture taken too:
We later visited the church called Our Lady of the Rocks on this island, which we passed as we entered the bay.
Several travelers climbed the hills, following the ancient walls, in the city of Kotor. (See more pictures below.)
Two group pictures taken in the area:
We took a side trip to the island.
The following pictures were taken while exploring the walls of the city:
This natural water comes out of ground.
After these visits, our boat began the trip back up the coast, We did stop at two new places, one was Korcula, the second one was Sibenik
:
Korcula claims it was on the path taken by Marco Polo.
Yes, it was full moon!!
We took a walk in the rain in this beautiful town!
In the evening, we had a special group called Klapa Singers come on board to give us a concert. We liked them so much that we bought their CD!
Just outside we saw a beautiful sign!
Sibenik is famous because of the Krka National Park which is home to the beautiful Krka Falls.
We took a walk for one and half miles in the area which is a special part of the Falls. The walking path is quite wide and spreads over an area covered with water on rocky ground. The water falls can be seen in many places in the area.:
This wine tasting building had a roof made of rocks. We enjoyed her lecture as well!
Finally, after we came back to the capital, Zagreb, we went to a nearby city, Varazdin, to visit for a day: 
The local castle had some unique items on display. The second picture shows where the staff would shovel in wood or coal to heat the room behind, so that the owners there would not be bothered!
After we walked in town for a while, we went to a winery for dinner:
a very intersting road sign!
I had a square bowl of soup with no potatoes! 
Our program director had told them that Tom could not eat potatoes. For desert he was brought a slice of cheesecake, which they proudly announced had absolutely NO potatoes!
The end
This Web Page was Built with PageBreeze Free HTML Editor