We met our good friend yesterday who used to work at the Villa Dubrovnik before it closed two years ago to undergo a complete renovation. Relaunching in mid 2010 as one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, the new Villa Dubrovnik will be a marvellous contemporary hotel with 56 luxury residence units. Located on the edge of Adriatic with world class views of Dubrovnik Old Town the exclusive hotel will be one to watch for sure. 
Same position for photo, but no view! Yes I woke up to a strange phenomenom today with thick fog! So thick I could not see Hotel Libertas next to me or as above the back of the Old Town - taken from the front door. Hot temperature, but a fast moving cloud of droplets. The islands were shrouded in mist with their tops sticking out. Very weird. The sun burnt off the fog by lunchtime. A case of the coast hotting up quicker than than the land. 
Whilst the Costa Fortuna cannot today claim to be the first cruise ship to visit Dubrovnik in 2009 I certainly believe it is the first ship of the year to anchor in front of the Old Town. Other ships tend to moor in Gruz Harbour which is out of view for me, but summer viewing from home is great. Time to dust down the binoculars! She left her anchorage at about 2pm as you can see above. I checked out the pax capacity of this ship - 2,716 with 1,027 crew. Goodness, QE2 had a mere 1,791 pax and 1,019 crew (and 40 nationalities) 
In blogland they call this 'Fabulous Friday' and today this is the chance for me to dig out some of my favourite images of verandahs. I crave to own a verandah. I may have a balcony but a verandah with a swinging chair leading down to a sandy beach would be heaven! So here are images from Bahamas, Jamaica and the last one above is Uruguay - one of the few countries I haven't been to but would love to visit! 
Here is a nice memory from summer, photo taken by our good Azure friend Tomo. Ston is a settlement an hour from Dubrovnik, a great sight as you can see. The spring waters are ideal for growing the world famous mussels and oysters so you see the unusual growing beds floating on the water. The Peljesac Peninsula is in the distance, a remote area perfect for vineyards and the award winning wines. All an hour from where I live.
Whilst Edin is sailing in Rijeka today, I got down to spring cleaning - the windows. We have two side bedroom windows with a beautiful view to the island of Lokrum. During the summer we had Mari Cha IV massive sailing yacht - 140ft / 42.6m. So no photos of me cleaning, but here's a nice memory of the huge yacht through the window!
Four minutes walk from home there is the sumptuous 5 star Hotel Bellevue. Refurbished a couple of years ago and now one of the Adriatic Luxury Hotels. All the staff are so friendly and service is excellent. Great sea views. The foyer is a stunning mix of dark wood, stone, leather and light blue, but the professional photographers seem to have missed this, so will go with my camera soon. Email me if you want a better rate than usual!
We drove up the hill last summer to look down upon Dubrovnik Old Town. What a magnificent sight! Driving from the airport you see a similar view from the road below, and really has the "wow" factor on a clear day. Mornings are best for the sun to be in the right position.
This was October 2008. What a gorgeous day. I was checking out a property with this view! A view to die for - imagine looking at this everyday from your living room. 