Dubrovnik and the Islands

 This is the only motorcycle photo you are going to see in this installment. This was a mural on a wall in the town of Split, Croatia. The 1950 refers to the founding of the Hajduk Soccer Supporters Club and being part of the Croatian religion this is the date when modern history began rather than the year 0 that so much of the world uses today.

Tasha and I started in the town of Dubrovnik where we spent a couple of days topping up on food and good wine from the local Dalmatian vineyards

The fortress and walls of this old trading town where incredible and luckily the town that is usually a mob scene with a couple of cruise ships and tourists from every point of the compass was pleasantly quite. Dubrovnik has seen a huge increase in tourists over recent years especially since the movie series Game of Thrones was filmed here.

A very interesting history to this town, we learned on a Free Walking Tour, was that realizing that it would always be vulnerable to the big powers of the day, Venice and Constantinople, it concluded trading deals that basically paid them off to stay away- an early protection racket.

Main Ave in the Town of Dubrovnik

A gargoyle found in the Fortress wall

View from our room in Pomena on the first island we visited, Mljet. The ferry system between the islands is very efficient with high speed, twin hulled vessels running on regular schedules.

Next stop was the island of Korcula with another magnificent walled, fortress city

Even the nuns were willing to have their photos taken

 

Next ferry ride took us to the town of Hvar on Hvar Island, which although having a reputation as a party town we found to be very pleasant.

The beach at Pokonji dol was a 40 minute walk from the town center but well worth the effort to swim in the crystal clear, warm waters of the Adriatic. 

Back on the mainland in the town of Split we walked through this old Roman town where the palace built by the emperor Diocletian in the 4th century AD was incredibly well preserved in some parts but then incorporated into buildings of subsequent centuries in others. The emperor Diocletian reigned the Roman Empire for 20 years which was unheard of up until then as the average life expectancy of an emperor was only 1 year before that. 

 remember the whole Et tu Brute thing? 

 He was the last of the emperors who persecuted the Christians as his successor Constantine, was the first to allow the open practicing of this relatively new, at that time, religion.

This apartment within the old city did not get the memo about sprucing the place up because the tourists were coming and especially the part about hanging out your dirty laundry.

I got a little confused when I learned that they kept dragons down here in the cellars under the palace but it turns out that was once again the Game of Thrones rewriting of history. 

Two days in Split and we were ready to move on so we rented a car and drove back down the coastal road. 

Our last stop before returning to Dubrovnik was in Ston, built in the 14th century. The salt pans that gave rise to this town are still in production today with the defensive wall of more than 7 km being the longest in Europe.

Now back in Dubrovnik, with Tasha having flown home today I am preparing to get back on the motorcycle tomorrow and head into Montenegro.