Outside looking in
The Old City of Dubrovnik in southern Croatia is very old.
Dating back to the 7th century, it has been built and re-built over hundreds of years.
It has a wide variety of churches and other buildings —
Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.
The restored roof tiles look good
Against the old stone.
The city walls were built in the 14th and 15th centuries
And encircle what is now the ‘modern’ city of Dubrovnik.
About 42,000 people live in those old houses and flats!
For more old perspectives, please go to: Our World.
The charms of old houses
I’ve just got back from a business trip to Roros, Norway (my third visit there) —
An old mining town in the mountains that is now a UNESCO world heritage site.
Modern-day inhabitants live in the old mining huts
And houses dating back to the 1600 and 1700s.
A lot of the old houses have been restored
And keep their dark facades —
Giving parts of the village a medieval feel.
People kept telling me how mild winter had been
And that there was a metre less snow than normal.
(Still looks as if they had some decent snowfall though…)
Even pets in the village
Have their own wooden huts.
And look – the kennel even shares another feature of the old houses:
A grass roof!
I leave you with a final image —
The optimism of drying clothes outside
In the freezing temperatures.
Surely this is a sign of spring in the mountains of Norway?
For more charming stories, please visit: Our World Tuesday.
On the slag heap
As you know, I was in Roros, Norway, last week.
Roros is an old copper mining town so it is dominated by slag heaps (a by-product of copper smelting).
The slag heaps are like small mountains – just going to show how much activity there was here during the 333 years the copper works were open.
If you climb up the slag heaps, you get a great view of the ancient timber town –
And of the other feature that dominates the landscape: the stone church.
Looking the other way, you can see the farms and the mountains –
And yes, there was snow on them even in June.
What moved me most was Sleggveien street: a street with tiny tiny houses,
They must have been about half the size of a normal house,
Where travellers and casual labourers lived and worked.
The old wooden houses must have been very cold in the winter.
They look so poor (and picturesque) as they stand there squeezed right up to the slag heaps.
(Not far to walk though for your ten-hour shift in the mine.)
And oh – those wonderful turf roofs! Some had wildflowers and even small trees growing on them.
I’m away filming in the south of Sweden, so please excuse me if I don’t get around to all your blogs. THANK YOU so much for your visit!
For more great places, please visit: Our World.
The beauty in the grey
High up in the mountains of Norway
The grey sky is laden with snow,
Which turns the slag heaps and old copper works
Into objects of beauty.
Next to the old smelting house, where copper was melted,
The waterways create graceful patterns
Topped with an icing of snow.
Even the brick tower holding the power lines
Is turned into an electric beauty.
Yes, my friends, there is beauty in the grey.
For more skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Who says what?