travelings : drugi dio

I recently took a trip out to Croatia with my mother. It was quite a difference from other places I have been to, since it seemed pretty much untouched; McDonalds hasn't yet clenched its fists upon the culture. We traveled along the Dalmatian Coast, visiting key islands in the Adriatic waters. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking....

Quite a trek up these dangerous stairs, but totally worth it!

I spot a bride... hurry!

She never turned around, but the music and festivities were really fun!

Open air markets are very much a part of the Croatian culture; they were teeming with everyday life to document. Although most of the cities where very muted in color tone (lots of neutral golden, tan hues), the markets were where I found the most vibrant colors:

We saw this little guy parading throughout the small town of Trogir, weaving and sniffing in and out of the small alleyways, wagging his short, stubby tail. It wasn't a complete day until we had our daily sighting of him!

Where we had breakfast each morning:

We took a quick ferry ride over to Split for the day... The predominant color outside of the towns of Croatia is blue, by far. I love the water and the smokey, faded sapphire of the mountains in the distance:

The basement of Diocletian's Palace housed a small art gallery....

Next stop was Hvar, a quaint little resort town... Many people go there to bask in the sun and wade in the beautiful water. We were definitely due for some relaxation, but instead decided to take a very active safari jeep tour, which will be shown in a bit.

This is the view from our hotel room:

Limes grew just below our balcony...

I'm sure my mom will be thrilled I added this in! wah-ha-ha

...and now for the 8 hour Jeep tour!

So... One of the stops on the excursion was to see the highest point of Hvar. Our tour guide parked the car and led us up a very steep mountain; one little slip could land you down 2,060 ft into the ocean's blue abyss below. Pretty crazy!

It was hard to show how much of a drop there was, but I think my mother actually captured it pretty well. Check out her photo:

Beautiful Dubrovnik:

It would be hard to do a post on Dubrovnik without mentioning the recent war. Most of the city endured massive amounts of destruction, although to the quick eye, you wouldn't believe that there was ever a war there. Many of the roofs have since been restored... Here is a comparison between the old and the new:

There are other hints of the devastation.... We had a walking tour from a man who encountered the war first-hand as a teenager. He described the shrapnel hits in the ground as looking like sunflowers. Seems like such a strange metaphor to liken two things so different: war and flowers, but I guess it's a testament to the Croatian people that although they have been through so much, life still wins out in the end.