6th stop - Istanbul

I was very excited to go to Istanbul for a variety of reasons.

Geographically - Because of its location on the Bosporus Strait, all traffic going to/from the Black Sea by water has to go through Istanbul. It is also the only city which is situated on two continents. This ensured a flow of many ethnic groups through Istanbul, and allowed the city to prosper through trade. Something I found very hard to believe - they built the FIRST of the two bridges that span the Bosporus Straits in the 1970s, and the second one later. Prior to that time, the Asian side was mostly "summer homes" and people had to boat over.

Historically - The original settlement was Greek. Rome conquered and took it over. With the fall of Rome, Istanbul became the seat of the Byzantine empire. The Ottomans conquered the city, and eventually Turkey became a republic. Remnants of all these groups exist in Istanbul, both in tangible items such as buildings and monuments, and also in the cultures of the people who live there.

Religiously - Because this is where basically East meets West, there is amazing religious and cultural diversity. On the streets you can see "ninja turtles" (strict adherents to Eastern religion that requires head to toe black coverings) walking right next to someone wearing the absolute newest in western clothing. And at least on the surface, everyone coexists peacefully.

Unbelievably - Istanbul surpassed even my expectations. I would go back in a heart beat. I don't even feel like I scratched the surface of the history and culture that exists there.

Out of the few places we had time to visit, I enjoyed the Blue Mosque the most. Our wonderful guide Hale gave a wonderful detailed explanation of the Islam religion while we sat on the floor of the mosque, just absorbing our surroundings. The building is absolutely breath-taking. Almost every inch of the interior is covered with mosaics in exquisite intricate designs. It is called the Blue Mosque not because of the exterior color, but because the interior mosaics make it appear blue inside at first glance. One interesting sidenote -Muslims wash themselves outside any mosque before entering, and there are very specific "rules" about the parts of the body that are to be washed, and in what order, and even how.

FYI - Our earlier stops included the spot where the literal crossroads existed in historic times, and an ancient Egyptian obelisk that was transported to Istanbul centuries ago.

Hagia Sophia (pronounced iya sofea), also known as St. Sophia, was another major stop. Hagia Sophia was originally a Catholic Church, but was modified into a mosque due to the overwhelming number of Muslims in the city. It is universally accepted as one of the greatest buildings of the world. The exterior is a beautiful pinkish hue, with the added minarets common to mosques. The inside was modified to accommodate the Islam culture and religion, which included moving the altar and adding interior structures. The mosaics were all covered, but current restorations are uncovering at least some of those.

fyi - if you're as confused as I am right now ;-) .... followers of Islam are known as Muslims.

ok... so back to the tour...

Our last major stop was Topkapi Palace, built in the mid-1400s in typical Ottoman style. There are four courts, replete with pavilions, fountains, kiosks, gardens, etc. We had lunch at the Palace at an outdoor dining establishment that was kind of "fast food" - basically a cafeteria line where you chose the items you want. It was fabulous dining overlooking the Bosporus Straits! Anyway, we wandered mostly around the courts, but did go through the Treasury rooms, which contain jewelry and other jewel-encrusted items - the Treasury is the biggest national treasure in the world! It was quite amazing and overwhelming. We also did go into the Circumcision Room - built specifically for that purpose, and only used once. The mosaics inside and out were absolutely beyond belief - just amazing exquisite detail.

Another sidenote here - on our cruise, Annie, Greg and I all got sick from Norovirus - what most folks think of as the stomach flu is really Norovirus. And yes, it can proliferate any where there is a "captive" audience, such as schools, nursing homes, and cruiseships. Cruiselines take just about every precaution they can, but if even one person gets on the ship sick and doesn't keep their hands sanitized, Norovirus will spread very quickly... So anyway, Annie was in pretty rough shape in Istanbul, and I wasn't much better. Our guide, Hale, suggested the local cure to alleviate the major symptom. So Annie and I both choked down a heaping tablespoon of ground coffee that had a drizzle of lemon juice in it. ACK!!! OMG - you cannot believe how horrid that is! It just sticks in your mouth and throat, and it's hard to swallow and almost hard to even breathe. And well... it really didn't help. :-( But hey - we tried!!!

And even though Donnie didn't get Norovirus, his back started causing him problems early in the trip (actually he had problems before we even left), and it was really bad the day we were in Istabul.

So that being said, after these stops, we took Donnie and Annie back to the ship, and Hale and Greg and I continued. We went to a part of town where the locals hang on weekends and evenings. It was on shore near one of the two bridges. There were little vendor shops and a promenade. And there were BAKED POTATOES. ??? Blow Greg and I away! If you think about what Milwaukee (or Wisconsin) would have for street food: brats, burgers, french fries, deep fried cheese (or anything else possibly deep fried!), elephant ears, etc. - all the typical fair food.... here we were in Istanbul and almost everyone was eating a huge loaded baked potato. Weird. LOL

blog challenge again

Gotta love the blog challenges... This newest one:
Challenge for Wednesday: It's the middle of the week.
What do you start to look forward to, during the latter part of your week?
Anything?
Blog about it... is it something consistent week to week, or does it change as life changes??
Share about some things you are looking forward to.

Easy enough for me. I look forward to the end of the work week, when I get a two day reprieve from boring accounting/finance work. I may have a weekend totally planned out and scheduled with fun cool activities. I may have relaxation time - time for me. I may motorcycle, scrap, read, go to various events, be with friends, be with my honey, work out, eat out.... It's all good!!

new ribbon storage

The excitement in my life... new ribbon storage!

I've been looking off and on for a while for a solution to my ribbon concerns. I really loved how I used to have them hanging on my studio wall, but with the boys (my kitties) loving to chew on stuff, I couldn't have hanging, swinging ribbon tempting them. So the ribbon needed to be in containers.

Lots of scrappers put ribbon into jars. Well, I knew quart size was NOT going to work. I tried two quart size plastic jars. Still not big enough. Not only did I have to smoosh my ribbon in, I had to pull it all out every time I wanted to find that perfect color/style. There are some very cool penny candy jars with bigger mouths, but I wasn't about to spend $6-$8 per jar, especially when I need 10!

My mom-in-law brought me an even bigger jar from the Dollar Store. Hmmm.... definitely big enough, but I still had to pull everything out. But she mentioned clear plastic shoeboxes. Hmmm...

So I went to check it out. And OMG - I love 'em. They're big enough, and I can just pop the top off and look inside without pulling it all out then pushing it all back in. yahoo!!!!

The pics aren't all that great - glare from lighting. But I'm way too busy to keep trying for that perfect picture, so that's just too bad!

sigh...

My hard drive died a couple weeks ago. Ya know... I never realized how much I use my computer until then. I finally have a running computer again, thanks to my wonderful hubby who put a new hard drive into my PC and then dealt with all the weird issues from that.

Greg and I had made some backups in April and June, so I didn't lose too much, but my entire email address book is gone, all my emails, and some recent things I worked on. Plus all my software needs to be reloaded. And my 2000+ fonts are gone (yes, I'm addicted to fonts!).

So long story short - I'm way behind again on computer type stuff that I was actually slowly catching up on. And I'm not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. ;-(

new scrappin' stuff!!

Cool stuff these days...

I took a class at an Archivers this past week. I made a most adorable card file using a lunch pail and Tim Holtz alcohol inks, along with ribbon, Heidi Swapp ghost flowers, regular stamps, souffle pens, etc. SWEET!!!

I also finally managed to find one of the cool new totes that Michael's stores carry (some of them anyway). They have a few colors, and I opted for the bluish/teal and brown combo. It has lots of various sized pockets on the outside, as well as a long zippered pocket, and then the inside is divided up too, but the center section is the full length to hold idea books and mags. CUTE!!!

5th stop - Kusadasi

Most folks have never heard of Kusadasi. It's on the southeast edge of Turkey. It is now becoming a resort town, but it is most famous for the amazing ruins nearby: Ephesus. Ephesus is a "magical" word to us armchair archaeologists, but not really known by the general public, at least in the U.S. Only part of Ephesus has been uncovered, and it's huge and amazing.

After a slight mishap with our guide - we couldn't find him and he couldn't find us - we had a great day. Not only at Ephesus, but also at other interesting stops.


Our first stop was at a shrine which stands at the location where supposedly the Virgin Mary lived her last years. The possibility of that location really being the home of the mother of Jesus is quite intriguing to me. The small church built on the site looked interesting, but there was a prayer service going while we were there, so we merely peeked in.

Then we headed to Ephesus. We did book a private excursion, thank goodness. Our guide was a professor. He really tried to make sure he provided us with accurate information, not some of the myths told by most of the other guides. He has a friend who is an archaeologist at Ephesus, therefore his info is as accurate as it gets - as known / theorized at this time.

The Library of Celsus is the most well-known sight of Ephesus. The front wall has been pieced back together. The worksmanship is absolutely phenomenal - and it's mind-boggling that the detail is still visible, considering the building was completed in 135 AD. This pic shows Greg and I on the right, Donnie and Annie on the left, and our guide in the front middle.

Even tho Ephesus is huge, there were so many people that it was always crowded. But it was interesting and fantastic nonetheless. I cannot imagine being part of a huge tour group, in a crowded place like that, trying to see things and hear the guide, etc. We had great, personalized attention. Our guide (can't remember his name at the moment, it's getting rather late!) even had drawings of how various buildings and areas were believed to have looked like - VERY COOL!!!


The amazing detail is seen everywhere, in the intricate designs carved into the stone. It is also seen in a mosaic floor, which somehow has survived quite intact, if somewhat faded.


One of the "fun" highlights of Ephesus is the communal bathroom. This particular toilet area was for men only, but I decided to take advantage anyway! LOL It's interesting seeing the expressions on people's faces when they realize that everyone went to the bathroom in public. It's even more fascinating when they hear that the bathroom was actually a bit of a social place, where gossip and business occurred. The toilet area did have "running" water - the sewer system was quite amazing. Actually, the water and heat system in the baths were phenomenal.

Another magnificent building in Ephesus is the theater, the largest in Asia Minor, which holds over 24,000 people. And this is not the only theater; there is another smaller one. The smaller one was more for senate discussions and perhaps small plays, while the larger one was used for the gladiators.

Interestingly to me - all the streets of Ephesus were illuminated at night with oil lamps. This shows how rich the city was!

There are a ton of other buildings and monuments of interest in Ephesus - several gymnasiums, multiple baths, many shops, homes, temples, etc.

We stopped at the location of the Temple of Artemis, also known as Diana, which was one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. The temple is long gone, and all that one sees is a marshy area with one solitary column raised to mark the spot. There was actually at least 5 different temples at the site, each one built on top of the previous after it was destroyed. The last temple was the huge, beautiful and famous temple. Of course, there are no drawings of it, only written descriptions, which may or may not be correct. But this site has an interesting artist's rendering: http://www.unmuseum.org/ephesus.htm

We visited the Mosque of Isa Bey, built in 1375. It was quite beautiful, austere, and calming. It can be a little startling for Christians to see rugs all over the floor - this is for kneeling on during prayer. One thing I noticed here was that people often "stole" from earlier buildings to build new ones. It looked quite unusual to have Greek columns in the interior courtyard area of a Muslim mosque.

We also spent some time in the Kusadasi area learning about a couple of the industries still in existence there.

We watched a guy making pottery, and then he induced Annie into giving it a try - she did pretty good! Then we saw the ladies who paint the pottery - amazing, intricate designs. One lady was working on a plate that they expected to take 2 months to paint!!! And of course we had to look at their finished products, and buy a souvenir. It's funny how a person is so much more inclined to buy something when they've seen the process of it being made, and especially if they are part of, or feel like part of the process.

Included in our tour price, which was actually rather inexpensive, was a picnic. Ok... I thought picnic in our terms. You know - a blanket or a picnic table, sandwiches and salads. The usual. Yeah, right! OMG, you wouldn't believe our picnic. We had a nice table with regular plates, silverware, etc. There were umbrellas to shade us. Most amazing was the food. We were served a bunch of cold salads, family style. We thought that was our picnic, and we thought it was pretty good. Then we received a hot appetizer kind of thing. Then we got platters with three different meats. We were admiring the outdoor pizza oven, so they brought us some pizza. We even had dessert. We were STUFFED - and we didn't even come close to eating everything. And it was all so very nummy!!

After lunch we learned about the 2nd industry: rug (carpet) making. Before we had gone, I had read horror stories of people being cornered and made to watch a long display of carpets. Well... we kind of got caught with that too. But I actually thought it was quite interesting. First we saw how the carpets are made - by hand on various sized looms. Then we went into a different room and the door was shut. That should have been our first clue to BAIL. But we thought our guide wouldn't keep us there long, as we kept saying that we hadn't made it to the museum yet. Well... they brought out rug after rug after rug, and showed us the differences between wool and silk and mixtures of both, and showed us the various designs, and how some look different shades depending on how they're viewed. As long as we were just sitting there, I accepted the coffee that was offered. OMG - I knew Turkish coffee was strong, but wow! - it was MUD!! hahaha... anyway, I personally think I enjoyed the carpet display more than I would have liked the museum anyway!!

a blog challenge

in the middle of my trip photos.... ;D

A recent blog challenge on twopeas: list 5 things that put you in a good mood.

I think I can name WAY more than 5!!
hubby
chocolate
dark beer
flowers
certain music
pretty sunset
riding motorcycle
driving my 'vette with the top down
chatting with a friend
scrapping, esp. with friends
cruises
not working ;D
my kitties

enuf for now!!

4th stop - EGYPT

Wow - how awesome is this?! Going to Egypt on a cruise! ;D

When I was originally looking at western Med cruises, I had four ports in mind that I wanted to hit, and figured if we found a cruise that went to three of the four it would be great. I didn't even consider Egypt to be a possibility. But then I saw the itinerary for the Rotterdam - it went to all FOUR of my desired ports, PLUS EGYPT!! It was destined to be....

Anyway, we docked in Alexandria, which is a 3 hour drive away from Cairo, where the Pyramids and the Sphinx are located on the Giza Plateau. But the ship was there long enough to go see the Pyramids, so cool. Donnie, Annie, Greg and I booked a private minivan excursion through the cruiseline - we wanted to be assured of our safety and that if something happened to the vehicle, that the cruiseline would be responsible for waiting and/or getting us back onboard. And we made it a private excursion so that we could spend as much or as little time doing stuff as we wanted - we didn't have to wait for 50 of our not-best friends to meander, shop, get on and off the bus, etc. We thought this would work great - we could leave right away in the morning and get going before all the buses. WRONG. HAL made us wait, feasibly for our safety; all vehicles were supposed to drive in a caravan. In a matter of minutes, the caravan split apart, so we could have left earlier. That is probably the only major gripe I have with HAL - they did not tell us we had to wait for the buses, etc., so we paid a lot extra and ended up not getting the early start we thought we would. One interesting side note - every bus and minivan had an armed guard. I'm not sure if this is a HAL thing, or an Egypt thing, but it was kind of disconcerting.

Anyway... on to the fun stuff.

We of course headed straight to the pyramids. AWE-INSPIRING!!! The rest of the group was rather surprised as we driving through Cairo, turned a corner, and there were the pyramids. When you think about pictures you've seen of the pyramids, or what you learned in school, you think about the pyramids being in the desert in the middle of nowhere. Not anymore! Cairo has experienced huge growth and urban sprawl, and now surrounds the Giza Plateau.

Oh, and if you're wondering about what Greg has in front of him in that first picture, that's a long story that will be addressed later! guess you'll just have to come back for updates in the future!

The third picture of the pyramids shows part of a line. That line is people waiting to go into the pyramid. We absolutely lucked out - when we got there, there was NO line. Going inside wasn't as uber cool as I thought it would be. The tunnel is small, so small I was ducking pretty far down. And the tunnel first went down, then back up a bit. The tunnel ended at the burial room, which is pretty much empty. Granted, the concept is neat - being in the very room that a great pharoah was buried in, but not as awe-inspiring as just seeing the pyramids themselves.

Seeing the Sphinx was purty darn cool too. It's interesting - the pyramids are made out of many blocks of stone, quarried and shipped from miles away, but the Sphinx was carved out of the bedrock. There are still varying theories as to whom the Sphinx is supposed to represent, who had it carved, etc. Some archaeologists are disproving the commonly held ideas. There are also questions about the Sphinx's nose. It can't be proved if it was removed by Egyptians who didn't want the person whom that Sphinx represented to live in the afterworld (I'll explain that shortly), or if was the target practice by Napoleon's army that destroyed the nose.


So, anyway, a little about Egyptians and their noses. It was believed during the time of the Pharoahs that after death, the spirit of a person came out of their nose during the night, which is the time of the afterlife, and then went back into their nose during the day, which is the time for the living. This is why pharoahs had many many statues created in their own likeness. They believed that if somehow their own nose was broken, the nose of a statue would suffice. And even if someone tried to destroy the noses on the statues, there was always the hope that at least one statue's nose would survive intact, allowing the spirit of the pharoah to continue to go in and out of the nose, thus enabling the pharoah to live on in the afterlife.

Another side note - the vendors were pushy at many ports, but were pretty horrible by the Sphinx. They didn't stay in one area, but would come walking after you. A lot of folks were really disgusted with it - you pay to go into the pyramid/sphinx area, but then the vendors follow you around?! Not good. However, something I did at every port, which helped a LOT here, was learn how to say "thank you" and "no thank you" in the local language. Even if my pronounciation was not exact, folks knew what I was saying, and appreciated my efforts. I never had issues with vendors when I said no thank you in their own language.

After visiting the Giza Plateau, we did a quick tour of the Cairo museum. And I mean QUICK!! We were in and out in about 25 minutes. We saw a few highlights, went through the King Tut room, and zipped on out. I personally would have enjoyed more time there, especially with our guide who was very informative. But our little group had decided to fit one more activity into our day...

We had lunch on a riverboat on the Nile River!! At first, the idea didn't excite me all that much. But then it struck me. I'd already boated on the Danube River, so why not the Nile too?! And just thinking about the Nile - how much it meant to the ancient Egyptians - made it a very special thing. Shortly before going on this trip, Greg and I had seen an IMAX movie about the Nile, and so it was very cool being on such a famous, important river.

The boat itself was obviously touristy. In fact - only for tourists. Over the top. It was decorated totally gaudy, and the poor wait staff had to wear goofy outfits. But the food was fab - most things were marked "beef" or "chicken" but besides that, we didn't really know what the items were. None of the salads or desserts were marked. But no matter. For the most part it was nummy.

It was a two-decker ship, with different groups on each deck. The entertainment shifted half way through the cruise, so each group was able to see/hear both forms of entertainment. The belly dancer was the big hit of course!

That was all we had time for in Egypt. Someday I hope to go back to visit the other amazing sites - Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Thebes, etc. And maybe I'll get back to the Cairo museum.

A few interesting things we noted during the long drives...

There are bee houses all over. Apparently it is common to "raise" bees for their honey. And these aren't just little "huts" - some of them are very elaborate.

Construction of houses seemed to be slow - we saw many gates for houses/communities, but nothing else. There were many fenced off areas where there were armed guards posted in towers all around.

And the traffic. OMG. What a nightmare in Cairo. Drivers don't obey any traffic laws there - I guess I don't even know if there are any. We were driving down a 3 lane road, and there were at least 4, and sometimes 5, lanes of traffic driving on it. Then suddenly a motorcycle would white line down the center between the cars, veer right across in front of a vehicle, then zip down the white line again, wherever there was space to fit. I swear, I looked out the window and saw a motorcycle with two inches of our minivan. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Out in the country, we saw a mule-drawn cart going through the toll booth on a HIGHWAY!! And we saw many trucks just crammed with people, mostly kids.

3rd stop - Corfu, Greece

Some of my random thoughts about Corfu:

Corfu is a lovely Greek island. Typically when Americans vacation in the Greek isles, they go to Santorini or Mykonos. On the other hand, Europeans often go to Corfu. And I can understand why - it is lovely, unspoiled. There are beautiful beaches, hills, lush vegetation, quaint small towns, plus history galore. There are picturesque views all over the island. I can easily understand vacationing there, or even living there.

We again had a fabulous local guide. Altho I was quite disconcerted when we first met up with Dimitris. I definitely did not expect a red-headed Greek!!! But Dimitris grew up on Corfu, and his love and pride in his island really shows.

Dimitris took us to some very cool overlooks. Because olives were/are the main industry, we spent quite a bit of time talking about them. We saw olive trees, the nets underneath the trees that catch the olives as they fall, olives that had already fallen, plus we went to the Olive Museum that has old olive press equipment that was used for making olive oil. It was actually quite funny. We pulled into a small town and parked. We started walking, and Dimitris walked into a local shop to get the museum key, and then he was our museum guide too, and was extremely knowledgable. In this little town is the SMALL school where Dimitris went, and where his son now goes. We peeked in the windows when we walked by and saw the kids all working hard. Across the street was another school where you could hear the kids laughing. I think what now strikes me most about this is that the windows of the schools were open. You just don't see business windows open in the U.S. It seems like folks in the U.S. do everything they can to block out nature and the outside while other people welcome it in.

A little sidenote here - it was odd to me in both Corfu and in Dubrovnik - amongst the many flowers that grow wild were many poppies. They are quite beautiful and definitely stand out. Since we don't have them in Wisconsin, it seems weird to me that a plant that is used to make an illegal substance just grows wild... ;-o


We went to a nice Byzantine church in a different small town. We went inside and looked around and took pictures. I just love the Byzantine architecture; it's very pleasing to my eye with nice lines and curves and attention to detail. The inside was beautiful as well. The altar was much more richly decorated than I had expected for the town. And of course, Dimitris gave great explanations on the church and religious items.

We saw a lady using a donkey cart to transport goods. And we discovered on our trip that it wasn't really that unusual. We saw carts and buggies quite a bit more than expected. On the surface the places we visited seemed quite modern, but then we'd see something like that and realize that not everyone and everything has been modernized yet. And perhaps these countries, or at least some of the locals from these countries, are still quite poor by U.S. standards.

Our last stop before going to Corfu City was another scenic overlook area - one of, if not the most, famous view on the island. There is a monastery that is only reachable by boat and/or by walking. It is quite picturesque, surrounded by crystal clear water and hilly islands.

Let's see - Corfu town. The older part of town has a great fort, other older buildings and statues, typical of European towns, pedestrian traffic only. There is also the typical shopping area: narrow winding pedestrian only streets, with a bunch of shops all selling pretty much the same things. Jewelry, locally made wine and alcohol, olive oil soap and tourist souvenirs were definitely most common.

Greg and I didn't do as much in the old town area as I would have liked. We were looking for a post office, and wandered thru a lot of the newer part of the city. In a way, that was interesting too. We saw the locals just going about their business like any other city. We saw their normal business, shops, restaurants, etc., rather than touristy stuff.

2nd stop - Dubrovnik, Croatia

Before we went on this trip, I had, of course, read lots of reviews on the ports, the ship, etc. Dubrovnik is a place that surprises a lot of people - they don't expect much and then find out it's beautiful and full of history.

The four of us decided to get a taxi to get an overview of sorts before we walked the Old Town. We lucked out, getting a taxi driver who spoke English very well. Robert took us to some nice scenic lookout areas, as well as a couple spots that have a little more history to them.

Personally I would enjoy going back to the area, not so much to see the city of Dubrovnik again, but more to see the surrounding area. The Dalmatian coastline and islands are supposed to be absolutely beautiful, and I can understand that from the little bit we could see.

What struck me most was the casual talk about the recent 1991-1995 Bosnian war. The first place Robert took us to was the marina - he showed us a nice little creek/waterfall, and pointed out where the Serb border was. Then after a few photo opps, he took us to an old fort at the top of a hill overlooking Dubrovnik. The old fort area was interesting for a couple reasons.

First, the fort was built by Napoleon. Wow - that was kind of neat. In my mind - Napoleon is "old" history, and I just never thought about seeing something built by/for him. Robert pointed out the stables and a few other structures that aren't as obvious as to their purpose. But the fort itself was still standing too.

More thought-provoking, the fort was basically the "last stand" for Dubrovnik during the Bosnian war. The townspeople used that fort to keep the Serbs out of Dubrovnik. Robert commented about hearing gunfire every day in town. He told us how everyone did what they could to keep their town safe. And I'm not talking about a couple of days or weeks, it was YEARS. We could see the damage done to the walls during the war. Right near the fort was a small building that was the top end of a gondola that brought people up from town - the building was pretty much demolished, and the gondola is gone. Robert pointed out some of the memorials to townspeople who had died during the fighting. It really made me think about how fortunate we are in the States. The thought of waking up every morning to gunfire, the possibility of a sniper or a stray bullet, of friends and family being shot.... OMG. In the city there is a museum, I guess it would be called, that has a "spec" poster on every person who lost their life fighting to keep Dubrovnik out of Serb hands - it really personalized the war to me, seeing the young faces of the men who fought and died there.

On a lighter note, yes, Dubrovnik is a beautiful town. The Old Town, of course, is most interesting to tourists, but even the newer areas are beautiful. The town is built on the sides of hills at the end of the Adriatic Sea. Old Town is on the only flat piece of land in the area, it is right on the sea. It is encircled with a wall - and WHAT A WALL! It must have been incredibly difficult to build that wall without all the modern technology we have now. It hangs right on out over the water, and it's really tall in some spots, with forts on all the corners. From a distance Old Town looks pretty big, but when you actually go into it and walk, it seems like it's only a few blocks each direction.

It is possible to walk on the wall the entire length around the Old Town. It's almost like a sidewalk on top of the wall, with sidewalls to protect people from falling off. The views from the wall are incredible - gotta love the tile roofs - so colorful!! And the water is just fab - clear and vibrantly colored. The picture to the left is from a tower of a corner fort on the wall.

It was very intriguing being on the wall overlooking the Old Town. We could see laundry flapping in the breeze, reminding us that it is still a living city - people really do live there, it isn't just a museum for tourists. Most of the homes had satellite dishes. Sometimes as we walked and looked, I felt like a peeping Tom, looking down into people's yards and gardens. Sometimes their windows were only a few feet away from the wall. It made me wonder how I would feel about living there - do you get used to being on display to tourists all the time?

Just like Venice, the streets in Dubrovnik are narrow. The town was obviously built when travel was done by foot, not even by horse. The buildings are beautiful, and there are neat courtyards and squares.

There are wonderful restaurants with outside dining. In fact, we had a light lunch at one - very good as a matter of fact. But the funny thing - after we paid, the waiter came up to us and told us we left too much tip. We told him we didn't, and he said yes. Back and forth, finally we convinced him and he left. As we were leaving, he ran up to us, again, saying we gave him too much tip. His manager insisted he talk to us. We said no, the amount was right. So we left. A while later we walked by that same restaurant again. And guess what? You got it! The waiter AGAIN came up to us and said we left him too much tip. argh! We think that his manager was watching that third time... but again, we said no, it was the correct amount. It wasn't until later that it dawned on me that the usual tip in Europe is 10%, not 15-20% as here in the States.

For a little history lesson - most of the town was leveled in an earthquake in 1667. Only two buildings, both palaces (in photo with arched entrance), survived with their Renaissance architecture. The rest of the city was rebuilt in a uniform baroque style. Because almost the entire city was rebuilt at the same time, it is all the same stone, same style, so it is pleasing to the eye. It was perfectly preserved, with the wall keeping out autos.

However, the town suffered a lot of damage during the Bosnian war - estimated at US $10 million at the time. Pretty much every building had some sort of damage. The streets and the wall suffered many direct hits. The town has been restored as authentically as possible, and it looks beautiful once more.