Behind the ramparts and the glitzy hotels, the shops, bars and restaurants, the local population of Dubrovnik live in steeply stepped streets like these. It would really focus the mind on up-dating the shopping list if one had to think of negotiating these steps every time a litre of milk was needed!
Linked to Lost in Translation’s Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word
I’m a newbie on this site but love having an excuse to showcase my images by linking them to a word provided by Paula. Hope you like them.
ESTIVAL
To me this photographs is summer writ large. It’s a 3-year-old member of my city dwelling family on her first morning on holiday on the Isle of Wight. The sheer delight on her face as she ran towards the sea, without fear, was wonderful to see.
SPAN
The Bridge at Mostar
We arrived at Mostar to find the town packed with divers who had come to take part in the Red Bull Cliff Diving Championships, their friends and managers. At first I was annoyed as the crush prevented us from doing the sight-seeing we’d planned but we soon became fascinated onlookers at the event. We were lucky to find a restaurant with balcony overlooking the river from which to view the diving so we settled in for lunch and watched the proceedings for most of the day. The boats in the water are there in case of any accidents (they have been known) and as you can see, some dive from the top of the tower and some dive from off the bridge.
We did manage most of the sightseeing later, after the crowds had gone and it was worth waiting around and getting back to Split much later than planned as history came to life as we wandered alone through the back streets in the early evening.
Dalmatian Sights:
Modern day Mostar – Mari Nicholson
Famous for the bridge that was destroyed in the 1990 conflict in the Balkans, the historic old town of Mostar in Herzegovina that spans the deep valley of the Neretva River, is somewhere that should be visited by anyone who travels to Dalmatia. Most of the old town, as well as the bridge, was destroyed in that dreadful war, signs of which are still in evidence around the area.
Mostar, Astride the River – Mari Nicholson
Dating back to the 15th century, Mostar was developed as an Ottoman frontier town and was further developed during the 19th and 20th centuries when the Ottomans were seemingly unstoppable as they pushed at the gates of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
Long known for its old Turkish houses and the iconic bridge, Stari Most, after which the town is named (mostari meaning the bridge-keepers) many of the dwellings in the Old Town were restored or rebuilt in 2004 with the help of UNESCO. The Old Bridge was originally designed by the architect Hajruddin, under the direction of his famous architect teacher Sinan, and its reconstruction was based on thorough and detailed analyses, use of authentic materials and techniques: the reconstructed portions have been left visible.
Before the war, Muslims, Christians, and Jews, mosques, churches, and synagogues existed side-by-side indicating that the Roman Catholic Croats, the Eastern Orthodox Serbs, and the Sephardic Jews, had lived peaceably together with the Bosniak-Muslims for more than four centuries and the town is an outstanding example of a multicultural settlement with its pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and western European features. 
It is hoped that the reconstructed old bridge and city of Mostar will serve as a symbol of the coexistence of the diverse cultural, ethnic and religious communities in this region.
MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA 