Posts

Showing posts with the label island

Croatia and a couple of Balkans, day 2, Lokrum Island

Image
A short boat trip from Dubrovnik lands you at a small jetty on the island of Lokrum. The boat was packed and there had been trips going all morning but the island seemed large enough to accommodate everyone without any crowds. Lokrum has an interesting history. The Benedictines established a monastery here in 1023 and legend has it that Richard the Lionheart came ashore when his boat was wrecked, returning from the crusades in 1192. Richard wanted to donate a church to the island for the hospitality he had received but was implored to build the church on the mainland instead, and so Richard is rumoured to have funded the first cathedral in Dubrovnik. The island was later owned by the wife of Archduke Ferdinand of Hapsburg who had a mansion and gardens built here in 1859. Maximilian was executed after he had become the Emperor of Mexico and his wife became insane. The mansion has now all but disappeared but some of the gardens remain and a botanical garden was established here in 1959.

Cumbria day 2 - Walney Island and Roanhead

Image
Walney Island is separated, just, from the Furness peninsula at the tip of Barrow. It was a stomping ground for Alan when he was a kid and so brings back fond memories of sand and ice cream, although it lies between the mouth of the River Duddon and Morecambe Bay and there are dangerous currents in the channels. We had lunch on the Barrow side as it was very windy and so more sheltered here, but then we stopped at various places, finally crossing back to Barrow and visiting Roanhead, which has a fine view over to the hills of the south lakes. On the beach in Walney there were strange clusters of crab skeletons which had been bundled together by the tide. The first 6 pictures are from Walney and the rest from Roanhead. They are a mixture of straight and ICM images.