Ark

My friends in Cheshire invited me up to see this sculpture exhibition called Ark at the Chester cathedral. It was surprisingly high quality, which I say not to be snooty but because it was free (although one made a donation)

The exhibition mixed well known with lesser known artists, The title "ark" gave a wide range of interpretations as to content, including several abstrat pieces, but it did produce a bias towards animal figures, as can be seen below.

Possibly the most famous (or notorious?) of the exhibited "sculptors", Damien Hurst

Possibly my favourite exhibit

This gorilla was actually sculpted as a commission for Jersey Zoo to commemorate a particularly famous gorilla.

 And another gorilla exhibit, somewhat more crudely sculpted but with an interesting idea - a gorilla looking at it self in a pool.

Even if not keen on the exhibition itself, the cathedral is worth visiting for the architecture alone.

The exhibition continued outside

One of the more dubious sculptures under the theme of Ark

Rovinj

So, sadly, out last day of our Croatian tour. And after all our good weather, cloudy skies and a forecast of thunderstorms later. And when we ventured into town the storm clouds appeared to be gathering. Unfortunately I lacked the courage to follow the weather forecast and go with plan A, to get a little boat and go to a beach for the afternoon, and get back before the forecast storms. Instead with heavy skies we just pottered a little and went for lunch.

The lads on a WWII fortification. Built to last and it has (the pill box, not the guys, necessarily)

  So lunch at a waterside restaurant - gnocchi.

 By which time the weather had improved greatly, so being at a loose end, we decided to take a much advertised boat trip to Lim Fjord, one of the most beautiful inlets on the Dalmatian Coast, a nature reserve and where one could go swimming. Free booze on the boat, and not too many people given the dodgy weather. What's not to like?

 Well, to start with, and this is hardly surprising, the booze was pretty rough. The wine was close to undrinkable. We didn't take up all that was offered to us!

The start of the trip was very nice. The town looks beautiful, jutting out on its peninsular, the buildings abutting the water's edge.

When one got to the fjord itself, well it is well wooded all round but less than spectacular.

 There was the opportunity to fee the seagulls.

 But frankly our destination was a disappointment. There was nothing to do but have a drink in the bar. The fjord looked highly unappealing as bathing proposition, even in the tiny area cordoned off for the purpose.

 On the journey back we stopped off at the "Pirate's Cave", a dubious attraction for which we declined the extra £1 admission fee.

 Most interesting thing there was a crab we found on the water's edge.

 What followed was essentially a race to get back to port before the storm hit. We could watch the black clouds gathering in front of us, followed by the thunder and lightning.

Fortunately when we got into port it was only raining and we just ran back to the apartment. I say only raining because within a few minutes of us getting inside it was teeming cats and dogs.

With the storm having blown past we could also get out to eat. Unfortunately, the best places for dinner were all fully booked, so our last meal wasn't quite up to the usual Mark & Thibault standard of previous holidays.

But overall, Rovinj was not a bad little place, but it could have benefited from the weather we had enjoyed the rest of the week.

The holiday itself was a great one. Would have liked to have spent longer pretty much everywhere we had been. This could have been a wonderful two week trip, with visits to an island or two thrown in. The Dalmatian Coast is stunningly attractive and there are some very picturesque towns along the way. But maybe that is the thing - one should always want to spend longer on a holiday. And Thibault likes to set a cracking pace! Just very grateful he was prepared to do all the driving, some of it on less than perfect roads (although also some on very good fast toll roads too).