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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:15:39 GMT
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:17:43 GMT
Sorry, you can't read the sign properly.
Basically it is a map showing where all the bomb damage to the old town was, specifically naming "aggression by the Serbs and Montenegrians" . . Basically theyr'e not going to let it go.
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:20:05 GMT
See those 3 plastic pod/tyre things being pulled behind that boat? That's me and the grrrls in them. And they scudded us at great speeds across the Adriatic (not all the way obviously), pulling us in the stream of the boat, so sheets of water bursting over our heads, bouncing in the air up and down over the waves etc. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life, especially when the boat suddenly stopped, and I opened my eyes to see one of the pods empty, and a little head bob bob bobbing in the middle of the bay . . Queen of the Troubled Teens had fallen out her pod and had to be rescued. She thought it was hilarious. I didn't.
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:22:03 GMT
Sunsets over Lapad Bay (where we were staying). Note big huge mammoth cruise ship on horizon in one of these. A taxi driver in Dubrovnik told us that around 9000 people a day come off these cruise ships and go through the old town.
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:25:04 GMT
We drove from Croatia into Montenegro (more of which shortly), and from Montenegro through Bosnia-Hercegovenia before driving back into Croatia. This meant crossing SIX separate border checks. Some pretty much 'wave-through', but others searching every car, etc. ABSOLUTE MADNESS. Anyway, this photo is of Bosnia, but it was taken from inside a car so it's a bit odd. I just thought I should show you how completely different it looked to Croatia and Montengero (NOT)!
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:26:27 GMT
And this is a Montenegrian cow. We were told this in no uncertain terms, and it would surely be completely offensive to suggest that it in any way resembled a Croatian cow, or a Bosnian cow, or that nobody would be able to tell the difference. Of course not. This Montenegrian cow is a distinct nationality and ethnic group of cow, and it doesn't even speak the same language as Croatian or Bosnian cows. Not at all. Its language is utterly and totally different.
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:27:31 GMT
Not, of course, that we in any way behaved in a narrow-minded and nationalistic way ourselves .. . .
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:29:00 GMT
Bridge photo from the sea. This is the kind of photo you're supposed to show people. So this is a bridge over Dubrovnik taken from the sea, and the building below it is an old house on the island of Kocula which they claim is the birthplace of Marco Polo, but they know they're lying even as they claim it.
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:34:17 GMT
OK, this is a mountain in Montenegro. It's 5000 somethings high, which is higher than Ben Nevis. if you look closely near the top of the peak you can perhaps make out a little road winding round the mountain with a sheer drop down the mountain at the side of the road? This is a very interesting road, 2000 years old (and made of loose stones which skitter around and slip away from the tyres of any car going up) and used by the Romans and then by Tito's partisans. And we went up this road in this. And it was even more terrifying than going on the tube things. The jeep - an old Yusgoslav Army military jeep - slipped and slid along the loose stones. The road was about a foot wider than the jeep. We don't really have photos to prove this as we were too f-ing terrified to think about it. This is the view from the top . . more mountains. There were wild bulls at the top who charged our guide. Oh yeah, and we were told not to turn over any stones in case of snakes, but not to worry as he had the antidote in the car . . .
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 10:34:50 GMT
OK . . one final photo. We had a huge argument as to whether or not this advert for beer is incredibly sexist, or if it's fine. Views please!
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Post by Patrick on Jul 24, 2008 12:15:58 GMT
I think I recognise one or two of those from Mum and Dad's visit to Dubrovnik in the 60's. If I had the family album around I'd know. Then again - all these Mediterranean town look the same don't they! Thanks for sharing! What I love about the Med countries is even the new houses (and France for that matter) have roofs built from the same tiles that go back centuries - No fast buck builder has come along with a crappy substitute that'll take him half the time to put up for the same cost (as happens over here!) I've a Cyprus photo taken from on high - and once again there is just all these beautiful rooftops - all uniform glorious traditional tilework! I took a few pics of the surrounding hillsides in Cyprus thinking how dramatic it looked - only to get home and think - Hmmm Lot's of trees! You want to send the bomb site pics to your Travel Agent............ "Just look at the accomodation we got!!!!!"
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Post by rjpageuk on Jul 24, 2008 12:22:27 GMT
Nice pics riotgrrl, thanks for sharing them.
It seems like you had a lovely time, and I hope the weather is as nice up there as down here as a nice welcome back.
The boards have been really quiet without you!
PS I dont think it is sexist ;D
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 12:28:04 GMT
Nice pics riotgrrl, thanks for sharing them. It seems like you had a lovely time, and I hope the weather is as nice up there as down here as a nice welcome back. The boards have been really quiet without you! PS I dont think it is sexist ;D Be sure to print them off and put them in your shrine to me Rjpageuk. You now know what Gothboy and the grrls look like too! ;D Yes, it was a pretty intense week . . usually we just all live in the same house and ignore each other, and suddenly we're thrown together in numerous near-death experiences. We're all back home today and every single one of the four of us is in a different room doing something different! Croatian red wine btw - absolutely beautiful. Cheap as chips there, but apparently dead expensive in the UK because they don't really import it. I'm not very brown, no. I'm a factor 60 grrl. And the mountain we jeep safarid up was called Orijen (1896m).
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Post by trubble on Jul 24, 2008 12:35:50 GMT
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Post by Patrick on Jul 24, 2008 12:52:04 GMT
I can't say I've ever called a beer a "Babe" so - I don't get it!
It's only when you have wine out there that you realise the shhhhht that our supermarkets peddle at us! When you can buy gloriously flavoured, eminently gluggable wine for a pound litre you wonder what on earth we live here for!
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Jul 24, 2008 22:47:55 GMT
The Glasgae Mafia & the jeep of terror... ;D BTW, RG jnr sure knows how to strike a pose! AH
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 24, 2008 23:07:08 GMT
The Glasgae Mafia & the jeep of terror... ;D BTW, RG jnr sure knows how to strike a pose! AH That would be Queen of the Troubled Teens . . . the girl who thinks Britney Spears would be all right if she wasn't so posh, the girl who thinks Katie Price aka Jordan is a role model of female empowerment. I knew it was the wrong thing when I swapped her at the hospital; my own baby was so ugly that I left it and took a pretty one without considering that it might have skank genes. Only kidding - she's a nice girl, really sweet and funny, but she's one of those very teenagey teenage girls.
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Post by betty on Jul 25, 2008 14:54:05 GMT
great photos riot
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Post by riotgrrl on Jul 25, 2008 15:37:01 GMT
great photos riot Thank you. But a real photographer with a good camera - like Weyland or James SG could really have done something over there. I just have a point and click job, but the light is so fantastic and the scenery so stunning that I'd love to see a really good photographer's take on the place.
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Post by Patrick on Jul 25, 2008 20:22:54 GMT
great photos riot Thank you. But a real photographer with a good camera - like Weyland or James SG could really have done something over there. I just have a point and click job, but the light is so fantastic and the scenery so stunning that I'd love to see a really good photographer's take on the place. Your camera simply over-exposes things, or flattens the light. Before: Adjusted levels and darkened just a tad: My Cyprus pictures came out like that on a film camera, I don't think it could cope with all that sunshine!
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