Honeymoon

Alex and I finally took our belated honeymoon at the end of September. However, it was well worth the wait!

We went to Croatia and stayed in a small seaside town called Cavtat. It is just a short ferry ride from the larger and well known city of Dubrovnik. The view from our villa was unbelievable! See photo below. And that's Alex lounging on the front patio.

Dubrovnik is probably the most visited city in all of Croatia and is also where many cruise ships in the area dock. We actually saw a cruise ship come in one day while we were in Dubrovnik and it was quite a sight. The water is too shallow so the ships drop anchor off shore and then ferry all passengers to land in these big, futuristic looking boats that they lower from the side of the cruise ship. We were tempted to try and sneak on once we saw it's next port of call was Venice!

Croatia is known for it's beauty. We were in awe with one look at the red-tiled roofs and the translucent, turquoise water.

Dubrovnik is a very old fort city on the Adriatic. It is surrounded by huge, dramatic walls to protect it from invaders. These actually came in handy again during the 1991 conflict between Croatia and Serbia. Most people sought refuge inside the old city walls. There are places in the stone where you can see the walls were shelled in 1991.

Everything about the Old Town is beautiful. Marble streets are lined with old baroque style buildings and shops and cafes line the quaint alleys. The main street in Old Town is called Placa. It is marked with a clock tower at the end and Pile Gate is the entrance. There is a walkway on top of the city walls. Alex and I walked the entire length of the walls and admired the ocean on one side and the city on the other. There are many steep hills in this region (being from Colorado I just cannot call them mountains) so there were more stairs than we have ever seen in our lives. Alex and I climbed and walked off most of the calories of delicious food and wine that we consumed (most!). The local wine and seafood was amazing!

We had rain for the first 3 days we were there, but since we don't see that in Dubai we didn't mind too much. We actually had a waterfall coming down the back stairs in the villa we rented!

The last few days we had sun and warm temperatures. We got the best of both worlds while were were there. You can see from the pictures what a pretty place this is. There are even "swimming pools" that are literally just walled in areas of the ocean.

To get from Dubai to Dubrovnik, we had to layover in Vienna (I know, poor us!). We stayed the night there on our way to Croatia and visited the main street in Vienna. We were so excited to see some changing leaves and fall colors!

This town is very proud of it's musical heritage and being the home of Mozart. Mozart statues were everywhere and even kleenex for sale had little music notes on it. The other thing Vienna is famous for is chocolate. It was delicious! So, naturally the city combines its two main attractions and what do you get? Mozart selling chocolate! Mozart is on the wrapper of every piece available in the city!

Vienna is a typical beautiful, old European city. The lifestyle is very laid back. People seem to sit in cafes and drink lattes all day while their dog roams the streets or shops nearby. Even the McDonalds was in an ornate historic building!

Even though we only had one day in Vienna on our way to Croatia and another day on our way back, we managed to hit the highlights. We saw St. Stephens cathedral (a.k.a. Stephansdom - see pic below), we ate bratwurst and sauerkraut, sampled the famous chocolate, and sat at cafes drinking coffee while watching the horse drawn carriages trot past.

This is a city that would be very easy to live in. I didn't want to leave!

We had a wonderful and very memorable trip. I think we took a million pictures, but I somehow have managed to get it down to about 200. Click on the link below to see the entire album of our amazing honeymoon! The album starts with Vienna photos and then continues on to the Croatia pics.


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