Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Croatia 8















Croatia 8

Today will be the last in the Croatia Series for now. I do have photographs of the inside of one of the churches in Dubrovnik that I will share later.

Today's photos show a few scenes taken during our tour of the countryside of Croatia. Several of them were taken through bus windows as we drove to our stops at an old mill and a country home. As you can see, the scenery in Croatia is spectacular.

The last two photos show corn being ground into flour. The photos were taken in a very dark room with my Nikon Coolpix P500 without a flash. I was pleased with the quality of the images taken with the Nikon in low-light situations. The photos of the window, material and statues were taken in the city of Dubrovnik and the others taken outside the city.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.
They can also be purchased as slide shows
and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Croatia 7














Croatia 7

Croatia was the first country in which one of our tours stopped in the countryside and today's photos show some of the images I made of the sights there. On the way, I noticed a house with bullet holes near every window. I assume this is one property that had been attacked during the war in the early 1990s. We were told that many of the houses in this area were occupied by Serbs during that war. Imagine how upset the lives of Croatians must have been during a war that occurred only 20 years ago! I've uploaded three images of this building to my Blog today.

Roses are beautiful no matter where they grow and the beautiful pink blooms were not an exception. I've uploaded photos of yellow roses this morning as well. The third image shows a fig growing on a tree near the country home where we had dinner. I've also uploaded more photos of vegetable gardens, beehives and cypress trees to my Blog.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.
They can also be purchased as slide shows
and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Croatia 6














Croatia 6

As we ate lunch and drank home-made wines and liqueurs at a country home that's been owned by the same family since the 1300s, I took a few minutes to make photos inside that part of the house. Our guide told us that this home, like many others in the area, was ransacked and occupied by the Serbs during the war in the early 1990s. Fortunately, when the war ended, the government paid for repairs and reconstruction of houses in the rural areas and encouraged owners to return by offering a tax-free period to let them get on their feet again.

I liked the wine bottle on the table and made three of four images of it from different angles, one of which I have hanging on my kitchen wall now. There were several old paintings on display and I have uploaded a few of them to my Blog today. I also photographed several bottles of liqueurs fermenting in the sun just outside the door.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.
They can also be purchased as slide shows
and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Croatia 5














Croatia 5

I am back on my email version of Photo of the Day after 10 days. Even though members of the email list didn't receive the email version I have uploaded at least 60 photos of Ravenna, our last stop in Italy, and over 80 of Croatia to my Photo of the Day Blog. I invite those of you who don't check my Blog to check it out at Photo of the Day Blog.

Today I've chosen images of Croatians dressed in traditional costumes. In the first photo you'll see a gentleman illustrating the process of making corn flour. The young lady with a tray of drinks greeted us as we got off the bus. She had samples of several local brandies and a couple of sweet wines made from local grapes. As we approached the country house where we had a local, three-course meal, three musicians played some traditional music Croation music for us.

From comments heard afterwards, everyone on this tour seemed to enjoy it as much my wife and I. In fact this was our favourite of all the tours we took in the Mediterranean.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.
They can also be purchased as slide shows
and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

Tulips

Tulips Tulips are a sign of spring, but my tulip gardens are under a foot or two of snow. It will be a while before we see the beauty of the...