Bosnia Blog-Mon. 9/21/09, 11:45 p.m.
We arrived in Dubrovnik in the late afternoon on Saturday. We stayed
at the same hotel as before, the Hotel Dubrovnik, and our rooms were
very comfortable.
Saturday night we went to Dubrovnik Old City for
dinner.
In 1991, the Old City was shelled over several months during
the Balkan conflict. Hundreds of historical buildings were blown apart
or seriously damaged. Fortunately, Dubrovnik is now restored to its
former condition and it is such a beautiful city.
That night, we walked down Stradun. It is the marble-paved main avenue
that bisects Dubrovnik Old City. The street is constructed of these
beautiful marble pavers that glisten in the night lights.
The street
level is full of storefronts and cafes, which are a wonderful place to
sit and people-watch. Above the street level are apartments/homes
which are mostly occupied by the store owners. There was a cathedral
in the middle of the town and the streets were filled with restaurants....just one after another.
It's very difficult to describe
this area....while we were outside the entire time, because of the way
it's constructed, we almost felt as though we were inside. But then we
would look up and see the night sky.
It was a beautiful evening, we had a wonderful leisurely meal and enjoyed a walk after dinner where we stopped for ice cream.
On Sunday we enjoyed breakfast on the hotel veranda overlooking the Adriatic Sea.
Some of us traveled to Dubrovnik Old City by boat and walked the wall around the city. From the wall, you have beautiful views of both the city and the sea. We had our final meal in Dubrovnik that evening and spent a little time reminiscing about our time in Bosnia, our experiences and thoughts about women traveling out of the US. We then headed to the airport and flew back to London, arriving at Gatwick around midnight.
We were taken to our hotel, the Soroptomist Residential Club on Bayswater Road, across the street from Hyde Park.
Monday was Angela’s opportunity to share a bit of her home town with all of us.
After breakfast, we took the Tube to Westminster Abbey and from there, caught a tour/cruise boat and headed down the Thames River. There was so much to see and we enjoyed another beautiful day in London.
We traveled to Greenwich, seeing the London Eye, the Tower Bridge and many other sights along the way.
Did you know that the word WHARF is an acronym for “Ware House At River Front”? This was news to me. I indulged several of you who had insisted that while in London I go to a pub and have a beer, so I did just that while in Greenwich.
I even have the photo to prove it…..I must admit though, that it isn’t my beer that I’m holding in the photo….I only took a sip of it….I just don’t like the stuff….sorry!
After a mediocre Pub lunch of meat pies, yorkshire pudding with roast beef and fish and chips we headed back down the Thames. We traveled on the Tube to Marble Arch, got off and walked to Marks and Spencer, a department store with a wonderful culinary section. We stocked up on fruit, salads, scones, pastries and miscellaneous “you can only find this in London” items.
We had about 30 minutes to change and get ready to head out again, this time to the New London Theatre near Drury Lane to see the play Warhorse. It was in a beautiful old theatre and we had wonderful seats in the balcony, front row and right in the center. The play was very well done and the horses were, well, I guess you’d call them puppets. They were life-sized and were operated by 3 people. It was amazing how life-like they were….I almost forgot that I wasn’t looking at live horses on stage. It was a wonderful story and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to go.
We were exhausted by the time we arrived back at our hotel and I know that I’m not the only one of us who is beyond excited to be going home tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment