Dubrovnik

We spent the last 5 days of our trip in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The old town was attacked badly during the war in the early 1990's and has been rebuilt by world heritage - which you can notice from the new terracotta roofs you see when up on the city walls. The city is surrounded by large walls and you can walk around them and view over the city and sea.

Below is the main street of the old town at night.

A typical side street in the old town, very steep!

Dubrovnik

Pictures of the old town of Dubrovnik

Austrian Lakes

Some pictures from the lakes and mountains tour. It was a bit of an over 50's tour but there was another young couple! Our tour guides name was Wolfgang! The town below was really pretty with all the colourful buildings and we stopped for apple strudel and hot chocolate! One of many apple strudels during our time in Austria.

Salzburg & Lakes

We spent 2 days in Salzburg and really enjoyed it, probably should have stayed longer. We went on a lakes and mountains tour just outside salzburg but didn't do the sound of music tour. The shops and streets in Salzburg were gorgeous, note the christmas shop below - there was also and easter egg shop which just sold gorgeous little decorated eggs! We went to Mozart's birthplace and house - really commercial.

Food In Salzburg

Salzburg was one of the most authentic places we visited and there was a festival of food and culture etc while we were there. The streets were filled with markets and food stalls packed with locals getting stuck into sausages and beer! I ate the biggest pretzel in the world - it was chocolate coated. We had sausage with sauerkraut and mustard but didn't try the wheat beer.

Below a typical market stall full of bread, cheese and pretzels, notice the big cheese cutter on the right!

Vienna

We spent a couple of days in Vienna, lovely city but not alot to do unless you are keen on museums etc.
We went to the Spanish Riding School (middle photo) which was a big highlight for me! It is a very famous riding school in which they practice the highest school of dressage and it still functions just as it did many years ago. We saw morning training - where I got 3 photos before they announced photography is not allowed. We also went on a tour of the stables.

Below is the summer palace of the Austrian Royal Family

Murren - Switzerland

Murren - as the lonely planet describes "you might think you have been to heaven and back" was stunning. It's the highest alpine resort in the Swiss Alps and is everything you imagine the Swiss Alps to be. We stayed in the cute Chalet Fontana below which is a ski chalet during winter. We did several hikes around the area, caught the cable car up to the Shilthorn and enjoyed glorious sunny days surrounded by the 3 famous peaks - the Eiger, Monch and Junfrau. We stayed in the loft room of the chalet (the little windows at the top) and had views of the peaks. We ate lots of swiss cheese and chocolate!

Below is the view from the Shilthorn

Murren - Switzerland

Pictures from Murren

Paragliding in Interlaken

Here we are paragliding in Interlaken! It was a big achievement for Liv who isn't so keen on heights and adventure sports! We also went canyoning which was fun but very scary. Paragliding was really peaceful and really like flying with the swiss alps behind you.

Switzerland

Switzerland was no doubt a major highlight of the trip. It would be hard to show it all on here but here are some of the highlights. Below we are at the top of the Jungfraujoch - the highest train station in Europe. The train passes through the rock of the mountain and is very steep! Up the top there are many attractions including the ice world we are standing in.

Interlaken - the view from close to our hostel in Interlaken.

Slovenia - Ribcev Laz

Slovenia was a little hidden treasure! We went there on Ben & Corinne's advice and it was beautiful. We stayed in the Julian alps in a tiny village called Ribcev Laz. The scenery was amazing and all the little farms and gardens were just perfect. It was pretty cold as you can see by the look on my face above. We hired bikes and rode through tiny villages where they cut and rake the hay by hand then hay it on the famous hay racks. The view of the lake from up high is taken from a ski resort which you catch a cable car up to. We spent most of the time walking to waterfalls and lovely views.

Rovinj - Croatia

Rovinj - Croatia

From Venice we caught a ferry across to Rovinj in Croatia. It was absolutely gorgeous. We splashed out and stayed in a nice hotel on the island of St Andrea just off the coast of the old town of Rovinj. Rovinj was at one stage under Italian rule so it was essentially Italy across the sea. We spent 3 days relaxing in the sun and enjoying yet again more pizza, pasta and gelati as well as some seafood.

Venice

Venice is a must see but neither of us actually enjoyed it very much. To start with we had a hotel disaster and the place we booked on the internet was actually located on the mainland and not in Venice (should have known 50quid a night seemed too cheap). We decided to forfeit the room and ended up in a cute little hotel in a private home where Signora ... spoke entirely in Italian to us the whole time despite us not understanding anything but the bit about capuccino for breakfast! Eating out etc in Venice was expensive and a rip off, cover charges, service charges etc but overall it was still great to see the famous city on water.

Pisa & Siena

Leaning tower of Pisa! below is Liv's wonderful photography (notice the hand not quite on the tower) but I wont publish the
first attempt! It was boiling hot but another great day.

Florence

Florence was wonderful! Of course made memorable by the big engagement which took place on the Ponte Vecchio bridge. After a lovely dinner (including a 700g Florentine steak) beside the bridge the question was popped. The streets and piazzas were gorgeous and in the evenings filled with street buskers and performers. The weather was great, really hot. Food and drinks abundant - above is Downy drinking beer at a Florentine wine bar! Most of all I loved wandering the streets and looking at all the shops and markets.