 | Russ' first beer in Croatia. This is goat beer and as per usual for a southern European lager it is gassy, yellow and tasteless. This is explains the pained expression on this drinkers face. |
 | Gene takes the plunge and tries the goats' pee too. |
 | After a couple of lagers, a nice dip in the briney Adriatic sea seems like a good idea. Unfortunately it was a bit rough and a bashing against the rocks was received upon trying to exit. |
 | The gassy lager does it's worst and a mighty underwater eruption is captured. Russ seems most pleased with his effort. |
 | After the swim another lager is sampled in the idyllic surroundings of Buza 2, a bar found on the rocks just below the walls of Dubrovnik. |
 | A most excellent book is also read |
 | What could be more Croatian than a pint of German beer in an Irish bar getting ready to watch the British Lions play South Africa at rugby. So local! |
 | Fanny by gaslight |
 | Day 2 and ready for doing tourist stuff around Dubrovnik. In the background is the Lovrjenac Fort which guarded our hotel. |
 | On Dubrovnik city walls. The place was hooching with tourists who could do nothing more interesting than walk around taking photos! |
 | Being a tourist I of course took lots of photos. Here's one taken from the walls showing the view down Dubrovnik old town's main street. Pity about the bloke in the green who seemed to be following me around. |
 | A picture of our hotel, taken from the city walls, as indicated by the arrow. |
 | Bar Buza 2 where we had the beers in the previous photos as seen from the city walls. It was just a bit too high for them to throw us up a couple of pints so we had to wait until we got down off the ramparts. |
 | The cannon shot. Your man here risked life and limb climbing out onto the hole in the ramparts and precariously balancing on the end of the cannon. Below, a long way down, were sharp and hard, very hard rocks waiting to receive those with slippy shoes on. |
 | After the walls, Gene goes for a dip to try and remove the smell of fear that the vertigous battlements induced in his trunks |
 | Gene gets ready to score at water polo only to realise at the last minute that he has forgotten the ball. |
 | As there is a Buza 2 then there must be an original Buza and this is it. More lager on the rocky cliffs below Dubrovnik's battlements |
 | Somebody must have stole my camera to take this one otherwise how could I be in it? |
 | So it was late at night and a few beers had been drunk. We'd seen various locals and tourists trying to stand on this statue sticking out of the wall so thought we'd have a go. No idea why anybody was doing this and no amount of web searching has provided an answer. Maybe some local legend said you'd be rich and healthy if you succeeded? This is where Russ makes his fifth attempt. He fails again and has to spend the rest of his life poor and unwell. On such whims are our fates decided. |
 | Next morning we go for a boat trip to Lokrum island. Apparently Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked on this island on his way home from a crusade. We hoped for better luck but the pirate ship in the background was also about to sail so maybe we'd get mugged on the high seas instead? |
 | Russ takes a photo of the pirates just in case they attack and we need evidence for a later court case |
 | A swim off the rock on Lukrum island produced an interesting pair of blue fish |
 | Gene starts to grease himself up for some reason? |
 | That explains it! |
 | I've heard of the blue lagoon but here they have a green one. Gene tries it out. |
 | After Dubrovnik, Croatia it is Kotor in Montenegro. We celebrate making it over the border in the traditional style of having a local gassy lager. |
 | The traditional thing to do here is again to walk the city walls. Unfortunately here they start off at sea level and head upwards to about a 1000 feet above the city. Gene bursts into tears at the thought of the walk as the only exercise he's done in the last year is lift pint glasses and fetch takeaways. |
 | I come out in a sweat just thinking about the walk uphill. |
 | Russ on the other hand looks positively pleased about the impending death climb. Those walls look steep and a bit crumbly |
 | Somebody told Russ you could get real ale out this hand pump and the overabundance of gassy lager was starting to affect his judgment |
 | Even Gene was starting to go a bit mad with lager overload |
 | Viva Mexico. Not what you'd really expect to find in a back street bar in Montenegro |
 | Whilst asleep, some local attempts to liberate the contents of Gene's nose. |
 | The Montenegran cannon shot. |
 | The day of the ascent upon the walls of Kotor. The guide book says take plenty of water otherwise you'll be ripped off but the touts at the top with their overpriced drinks. Also, it should say take plenty of spare pants as it can be a rather scarey climb. This notice informed us of that fact. |
 | Base camp was a church halfway up. As can be seen the water was half gone already so it looked like the touts will be ripping us off. |
 | The steep bit. I wave the remains of the water at Gene in an attempt to lure him up. |
 | Finally the top. Gene is about to die of heat exhaustion, dehydration and frustration at the guidebook as there are no touts selling overpriced drinks. |
 | Russ is about to die from falling over the walls |
 | The view down to the old town of Kotor. |
 | The quick way down. This bit of the wall is closed off to tourists as even the safety unconscious Montenegrans think it a bit too dodgy for tourists |
 | These two prowl the walls looking for water. |
 | What sign? This was there because there was no wall between the edge of the fortress and a large chasm. |
 | Russ takes a final look and states we must make the descent otherwise we will surely die. With the command 'March or Die' we set off |
 | Never has a gassy lager been so appreciated |
 | Ice cold in Kotor. Well worth waiting for! |
 | Several hours later this man is still drinking. To save time he even eats by sticking ice cream into it |
 | Next day Budva. Nothing to do with Budweizer which is Czech. This town is basically Blackpool for Montenegrans. The guidebook talks of 'lovely sandy beaches'. We wonder if the author actually came here as there are only rocky, stoney ones. |
 | Budva old town as seen from its citadel. The lovely 'sandy' beach is in the background and the stones are almost big enough to be seen from this distance |
 | Russ performs a lovely dance routine with the local statue. Personally I think he's just ogling her protruberances! |
 | Back to Dubrovnik for one last night. Dubrovnik city walls as seen from the Lovrjenac Fort |
 | The cannon balls of the fort are no match for Dr. Rowe who spends an happy half hour dropping them over the battlements onto the tourists below. He gets three Germans, two Americans and a cat |
 | Russ is disappointed because the can't get past the bars on the cannon and dangle over the edge of the battlements. |
 | Does the painting remind you of anybody? |
 | The statue of Roland in the main square of the old town. Gene would have nicked his sword but couldn't persuade Russ to hide it in one of his orifices so he could smuggle it through customs. |
 | Shark bait off the Croatian coast. |
 | This year's diving competition. The first competitor gets ready |
 | The launch |
 | Oh dear. He'll lose marks for that. Diving off the side of the photo is bad form. |
 | My attempt is sabotaged. It was the worlds greatest dive but due to technical incompetence by the cameraman (Russ) only my splash down is recored and hence Richard Russell wins this year's event. |
 | Dubrovnik, Kotor and Budva, well worth writing home about |