Went to Dubrovnik for work – a consortium meeting of the STARTS4Water people. Never having been to Croatia, I was quite curious about it – weird how once the map of Europe stopped with Italy, and former Yugoslavia registered as ‘not us‘. Well, now they are us, and very welcoming they were. The fact that after two years of no tourists they finally have guests must be weighed in the balance, but service was rendered with a smile and all the willingness in the world. Eat your heart out, Amsterdam waiters …

The old town was curiously new-looking. It has been shot to pieces in what they call the ‘homeland war’ – and after 30 years repairs have almost been finished. Walking the ramparts we noticed that roofs are cleverly tiled, with old tiles on top and new ones in bottom position. Lots of citrus trees, and Mock Orange (Pittosporum tobira, Australische Laurier) which I came across for the first time. Took cuttings …

Images below were taken at Hutovo Blato, a nature park and bird reserve in Bosnia and Herzegovina we visited. It shelters many species of birds – of which we saw only a few on the boat tour we took. Highlight was the Summer Snowflake (Leucojum Aestivum) growing in its thousands amongs the reeds. Amazing!