The Ancient wallled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia

My first view of the old town as seen from the bus

I had a few hours before my taxi arrived so I walked around near my hotel until it was time to go to the airport and fly to Dubrovnik.  I had read up on this walled town so I was looking forward to visiting it. I caught a shuttle bus at the airport and I knew the bus station was close enough to my hotel to walk. It was raining  lightly when I arrived at from bus station. Luckily it was about a 15 min walk from the bus station to the hotel Petra and someone showed me the quickest way to walk which was past the cruise ships.  I took a nap, still exhausted from the time change and then it stopped raining so I walked near the hotel.

Pile Gate

I woke up early and after breakfast caught the bus to Dubrovnik which left right across the road from my hotel.  The bus dropped me off by Pile Gate the entrance to the old town.  I started exploring the town by 9 am it was not too crowded yet and thankfully not to hot at the moment.  I  stopped in St Blaise church, then I climbed a lot of stairs and visited the church of St Ignatius considered the most representative Baroque example on the whole Croatian coast.  I then wandered some alleyways and then back down the stairs and walked to the port. It was quite lovely as the sun was shining and there were boats in the harbor. I  decided to take a glass bottom boat ride and as I was waiting to ask about it I was suddenly surprised to see wait for it Yellow Submarine, I was excited  about that.  I said to girl selling tickets hard to pass up the Yellow submarine since I am a Beatles fan and then she pointed to her John Lennon t-shirt she said my dad is a huge fan so I grew up listening to the Beatles, she was young and it was nice to hear.  She then told me that it was hard to climb on and sit on top but I could go below. She was selling tickets for both so I knew she was being truthful. I have since seen a review where someone said it was hot and smelly so  I am glad I choose the glass bottom boat ride instead.The ride was about an hour and it was nice to see the old town from the water as far as glass bottom it was closed until we got to a spot and he opened the "shutter" and we could view the bottom the guide said at one time you would have seen a lot of fish but that has not happened for many years.

St Blaise

up to St Ignatius

St Ignatius Church the stairs up ended and the church began

We all live in a Yellow Submarine

along the shore

Pile Gate as seen from boat

I saw some people holding signs for a walking tour but by now it was getting pretty hot and I asked if there were any later and he said the next one was 5.30; apparently they stop them for a few hours because of the heat. I decided to go inside the Assumption Cathedral, it was built on the site of former Cathedrals the money to build the basilica was partly contributed by Richard the Lionheart as a votive for having survived a shipwreck near the Island of Lokrum. It was almost pretty much destroyed by the earthquake of 1667 and was rebuilt in Baroque style.   By 2 pm it was quite hot (I found out later it was 90 degrees) and I tried to avoid the sun and that was not easy to do I walked into a church I had already been in and sat down at one point while in the church I felt very strange and had to sit I awhile I think I was dehydrated I had to keep from passing out.  After when  I felt better and drank some more water I  went back out and avoided direct sun until the shade came. Luckily the sun dropped enough to make walking in some shade possible.  I saw some ice cream and decided it might be good way to cool down and I got a cone of what was probably the darkest shade of brown I had ever seen. another interesting spot was Big Onofrio's Fountain which is a 16 sided container with a cupola that was build in 1438-1430. The ancient water supply supplied the town with fresh water for 500 years.

on top of the Cathedral

Big Onofrio's fountain

At this point had enough time to either take a walking tour or to walk The Walls of Dubrovnik. I had read about the walls and decided to see if I was able climb up the stairs so I got a ticket and started the climb. The Walls of Dubrovnik (Croatian Dubrovacke gradske zidine) are defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the citizens of the proclaimed maritime city-state of Dubrovnik since the city's founding prior to the 7th century.   There were so many great views from up there and I walked along taking photos and just stopping to enjoy the views. I got to one point where you could see a lot of cats laying around in one area and others saw them and were counting and pointing there were 17 in all. I became a challenge to find them.  Found out later that the restaurants feed the cats because they kill rats who carried the plague. All in all a good day in Dubrovnik.

climbing the stairs to the Wall

on the walkway 

views from the wall

crazy cats on the wall

A Day in Athens

Monastiraki (little monastery)

After breakfast at my hotel, I set out to explore Athens, I walked towards the Metro station and came across Monastriaki Square which is known for  its many shops the the restaurants and the flea market.  There were some colorful items for sale, it was early morning so it was not yet crowded.  I decided to get a metro ticket for the day and just explore. I first headed to Piraeus, on the metro. I arrived only to find there really was not much there, mainly consisted of shops I walked several blocks in each direction but did not see anything of interest. Since it was a port there were plenty of ships in view  I snapped some photos of a colorful church Ieros Naos Agia Triada  in the distance but it seemed to far to walk too, so I headed back to Athens.

at the market

Ieros Naos Agia Triada

even the metro station had statues

The next stop for me was the Temple of Olympian Zeus the first thing you see before you get to the temple is the Arch of Hadrian which in itself was quite interesting but was strange to see this ruin right at the street which was very busy with traffic.  The ruins include an enormous temple, although only one corner of the temple is still standing it was amazing. There was an entrance fee but I decided just to take some photos  I was busy snapping shots  with my camera I started to realize that maybe the zoom lens was going to come in handy, after all.   I looked was now at the Plaka district and found a place for ice cream so decided since it was hot I needed some, I sat on a bench and people watched. I then walked along and decided to walk up a steep hill past many lovely spots I was thinking that this was going to lead up to the Ackropolis that I could see up higher but in the end there was no place to get up to it.  I came across a cat on the way back down, there was a wall,  that had ledges that were like steps and the cat decided to follow me down and I had to keep petting it, as we walked.  I stopped to rest a bit then put my bag down to get my camera out and the cat decided it was his place to sleep.

Arch of Hadrian

Temple of Zeus

my adopted cat

The Ackropolis from below

not quite

the beginning of the hike up

I then started walking to the first entrance to the Ackropolis  but I found that it would be too long of an uphill walk for me besides it being steep climb it was now quite hot.  I came across the Herodes Atticus Theatre and then rested a bit and watched a man dressed in costume he looked interesting so I placed some coins in his bucket and took a shot.   I just continued walking and looking around and then I came across the Areopagus Hill, which is bare marble.  The hill is a historic rock,  the Aereopagus according to Greek mythology, Ares the God of war was tried here by the gods for the murder of Poseidon's son Alirrothios; and the site where St Paul delivered his famous speech to the Athenians.  By taking my time I was able to  climb the stairs and got an excellent  view of the Ackropolis and using my zoom I was able to see it close and also get some great photos. I could see that once you were up there was still a lot of stairs to climb and I knew I had made the right decision, for me I never would have made it.

a top  Areopagus Hill 

view of the Ackropolis

view from Aeropagus Hill

Herodes Atticus Theatre

 I managed to make the climb back down and was walking along and a man came up to me and started talking we walked awhile and he said he was from Venice he then asked me to go for Vino and I said no thank you and he said you do not drink vino and I said not during the day as it makes me tired. I spotted a toilet and headed over to it and thinking he was gone but he waited on the side for me. He then asked me to in the shade and talk but I wanted to carry on walking and I told him no politely no. So he walked away and I headed down hill again. I got on the metro and headed back to Syntagma Square Square and looked around and then decided to get something to eat and had a pork soulvaki pita. I then took the metro again back to Monastriaki Square. I explored some more and then just sat and rested and people watched. There were quite a few police officers around the area and I noticed they all were young and good looking, and decided that might be the criteria for the job.  Wow I was ready to say arrest me officer I am sure I have done something bad somewhere one time.

a Living statue

Flying to Athens Greece

It was time to start my latest adventure to Europe and I started in Athens Greece. It was a good flight over and I managed to sleep some after a good meal and a glass or maybe it was two of white wine.  I decided to hire a ride to take me to the hotel and it was from Welcome Pickups, I liked the fact that I was sent the name of the driver and a photograph a few days before I left. The driver said I could sleep if I wanted to but I was ready to see some of Athens so he pointed out some sites to me and mentioned taverna were more likely to have authentic food. Upon the arrival to my hotel which was in the Plaka area I had to wait for my room so I decided to explore the local area. I was very close to some of the most famous ruins.  I stopped at the Ancient Agora I saw a cat inside a ruin peering at me I decided to take his photo and then I was wondering why it was not focusing. I looked at the camera and realized I had accidentally brought my zoom lens 55 to 200 instead of my 18 to 55. I was quite upset at this because I was not going to be able to take photos with wide angel which meant I had to stand a bit away from everything. I then returned to the hotel to check in and take a 45 minute nap.

The church of Panaghia Kapnikarea

Mosaic of Madonna and Child

The Agora

Sneaking through the ruins

After the quick nap I headed to Syntagma Square which was not too far away I decided to walk across to the Parliament and  I was lucky when I arrived the changing of the guard had just begun the Evzones wear traditional Greek uniforms with a Foustanella which is a kilt like skirt  The guard the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, they were also inspected while I was there and the man doing it was straightening the shirt of one (shades of Beatles movie Help) and when he was done we were able to have a photo taken with one. I decided I could use my SONY for the wider angle photos but now I was upset that too was acting up and that many of the photos were coming out too light.  I explored some more and then realizing I was hungry I decided to have my first souvlaki it was chicken it was wrapped in a huge pita and had a couple french fries in it and it was so cheap paid 2.20 euro it was so good. Then I started the walk back to my hotel and stopped in the Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea which is an excellent example of a well preserved Byzantine building. I realized exhaustion was sinking in and I went back to my room for the night.