Author Archives: gillianknitter

Ljubljana, Slovenia

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IMG_20160422_174713I was taken with a similar picture to this in my guidebook so went to Ljubljana Castle today to see it for myself.IMG_20160422_145157Of course I sprung the extra $3 for the funicular ride up and down.IMG_20160422_191758The center of Ljubljana is full of pretty buildings covered in fiddly bits.IMG_20160421_173825The light wasn’t good but I loved this one that was decaying a bit and had flowering bourganvilla (sp?) growing up the front.IMG_20160421_172615The symbol of the city is the dragon, seen here on one of the bridges across the river.IMG_20160421_171242I could have shown pictures of tons of buildings as nice as this–gotta love Europe!

Daytrip…Plitzvice lakes

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IMG_20160420_123018We spent 5 hours on the bus and 5 hours at the World Heritage site park. It was a lovely day. Perfectly doable and easy. The bus from Zagreb lets you off and picks you up at the park gates with plenty if time to see everything.
IMG_20160420_120609We walked to the boat launch (boat ride included in $22 cdn entry fee). Ten minute boatride across the bottom lake.IMG_20160420_150803The park is a series of lakes connected by falling water.IMG_20160420_131632There is this fabulous series of board walks which lead you up and around the lakes and on top of cascades if water.IMG_20160420_131745There is falling water everywhere and the sound of it is deafening at times.IMG_20160420_121909The roar disappears into silence as you walk around the lakes.IMG_20160420_122808There were way more people than I like to deal with near the bottom, but it wasn’t too bad on the walk up. I bet it is a zoo in the summer.IMG_20160420_135337There was a free bus to take you back down. We actually finished what was supposed to take 4-6 hours in three, then sat around waiting for the bus back to town.

Back in Croatia – Zagreb

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IMG_20160419_121640We got to Zagreb after a seven hour bus ride late yesterday afternoon. IMG_20160419_122313Today we took the self guided walking tour of the upper town.IMG_20160419_130059Here I am outside St. Mark’s cathedral.
IMG_20160419_132131We had climbed up the hill and at one point were rewarded with a lovely view of the lower town.IMG_20160419_134524I couldn’t resist taking a ride up and down on the shortest funicular in the world.IMG_20160419_140420And I made my trip to foriegn McDonalds. This time it was roasted baby potatoes as the local entry.IMG_20160419_140625

Sarajevo..20 years later

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IMG_20160417_151945Twin towers. The 16th century mosque minaret and the clock tower which shows dusk as midnight.IMG_20160417_114104Sarajevo was under seige from 92-95. This is the city hall where the university library was. A plaque on the front says 2 million books were burned by the serbs in 92.IMG_20160416_124347We have been wandering around for a couple if days. Yesterday we went to the war museum. IMG_20160416_124234This is the Catholic cathedral outside.IMG_20160416_124106and inside.

Mostar and on to Sarajevo, Bosnia

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IMG_20160415_090941This is Stari Most, the Old Bridge of Mostar. It was destroyed in the Bosnian war, then subsequently rebuilt.IMG_20160415_090549Mostar has a nice old section and as we wandered round, the (ex) quilter in me was captivated by the patterns in the cobblestones.IMG_20160415_091307I have seen this sort of thing before, but there is always a slightly different take.IMG_20160415_091425There was a nice view off the bridge.IMG_20160415_092622We crossed the little crooked bridge to get yet a different angleIMG_20160415_093316After our walk we got on a bus for Sarajevo. We are cooling our heels for three nights here, at Charles’s request.

I found the tourists Cathy…they are in Dubrovnik

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IMG_20160413_141821We have relocated to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We have been travelling for the past week with Marcos from Argentina, who is a year older than Jacob. It just so happens that our plans have coincided. We will be parting ways tomorrow in Mostar. IMG_20160413_093522 This morning we took a private car which cost the same as a bus. I took this picture of the driver with Charles and Marcos in Perast, where we stopped on the way.IMG_20160413_145637This afternoon Charles and I went for a walk around the old city walls. There are great views out over the old town.IMG_20160413_144610And the sea on the other side.IMG_20160413_151556It really is a lovely city.IMG_20160413_151244There are way more tourists here than we have seen so far.

Kotor, only 1300 steps up to the fortress….

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IMG_20160412_073403Wow, wow, wow…I thought some of the other places we have been were good till we got here to Kotor, Montenegro. IMG_20160412_073730 A beautiful old town with a rabbit warren of narrow cobblestone streets.IMG_20160412_081605The old town is surrounded by a city wall with several gates.IMG_20160411_193531High on the hill behind the old town is a fortress.IMG_20160412_083934With 1300 steps leading up to it.IMG_20160412_094112It was built in 1470, obviously to protect the natural harbour 280 vertical meters below.

Beautiful Berat, Albania

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IMG_20160408_090044We spent two nights in Berat. It is a unesco world heritage site. With two beautiful old neighbourhoods on hills on opposite sides of the river.IMG_20160409_125612This is a shot of the neighbourhood we stayed in, Gorica. We stayed at a hostel called Berat Backpackers that wasn’t officially open yet. The owner was a really nice Brit who was very accomodating and a wealth of information. I would recommend both the city and the hostel to anyone.IMG_20160409_111440High on a hill above the city is a great castle with a whole neighbourhood inside the keep.IMG_20160409_120522IMG_20160409_122206IMG_20160409_120928…you get the idea.

Meteora…monastaries in midair

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We had a lovely afternoon at Meteora. It is a complex of monastaries on top of huge rock formations.
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We took a bus up to the first one, and climbed down then up into it.
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When you get to the other side of the chasm, you pass through a metal door, then a tunnel in the cliff face. They were built in the 14th century and back then they really didn’t want visitors. Now they get 3 euros from each one, so they are fine with it.IMG_20160407_143924
We walked a few kilometers along the road that now connects them, very peaceful with mostly just birds and bees and some goats.IMG_20160407_152026
While the walk was lovely, we happily accepted a ride between the last two monastaries and then back down to town with a lovely german couple.

How about a selfie at Delphi?

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We arrived in Delphi yesterday afternoon a bit too late to visit the archeological site. We have a lovely hotel room, with a balcony and viewsIMG_20160405_144829
Of course the sun would be wrong as I post this and snapped the view.
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The site was very good…as you would expect.
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There were poppies blooming so I tried to catch some in my shots.IMG_20160405_090226
It is a very photogenic site, situated on a hillside.IMG_20160405_103918
Well worth the journey.