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Catherine Bannister

@cbannister.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.3K following 4.7K posts

Contumacious and curious, an avid follower of useless information. To learn more about the Smithsonian Campaign for Our Shared Future, go here: oa.si.edu To help #EndALZ please visit alz.org To protect our beautiful National Parks, npca.org

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3h

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekPForPink

A carnicería (meat shop) in San Sebastián, Spain, is illuminated in bright pink light over a grey marble street. Two bold white lines across the top are the fluorescent lights and hanging from a rod directly below them are hundreds of pink and red drying sausages. There is a long glass display case that has various cuts of meats in and atop it.

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 1d

Goodbye, Dubrovnik.

Farewell, Croatia (and your lovely neighbors).

The Main Street in old town Dubrovnik is shiny, beige and illuminated at 4:45 am

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 1d

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekPForPink

Lush, pink bougainvillea growing over a stone pathway on one of the Elaphiti islands in Croatia

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 2d

Spent most of the last day on the water and exploring the Elaphiti islands. These are truly beautiful countries.

The open, glimmering water of the Adriatic just off the coast of Dubrovnik.

The water is varying shades of blue, green and turquoise - here from a cliff on one of the Elephiti islands.

A sailboat far in the distance enjoys the calm blue waters as we explore another island and its stone fortress and churches

Returning back to port, we came under the new-ish bridge that saves drivers the circuitous route around the deep bay.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 2d

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekPForPink

The sun setting between mountains over the Bay of Kotor and town of Perast, Montenegro, creates a pink line in the fluffy and otherwise white and grey clouds.

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 2d

Final stop: Dubrovnik.

The sun is a bright ball of light with rays jutting out from it over the silhouettes of ancient fortresses and shimmering sea

A beige stone fortress is anchored atop a rocky cliffside that juts into a calm blue-green sea

The green trees and sloping angles of Lokrum Island (a nature preserve) behind the old walled city of Dubrovnik and its terracotta tiled roofs

The Main Street in old town Dubrovnik at twilight - street lights along the stone buildings are reflected in the shiny stones of the road that tourists stroll along

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3d

Goodbye, Perast!

The town of Perast, Montenegro, at the bottom of a rocky mountain - seen from the road across the Bay of Kotor with a low stone wall in front of the water

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3d

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekOForOpulence

A split picture - in the upper right corner is a painting of Madonna and child hung above the altar in the church on Our Lady of the Rocks in Montenegro. The right side photo is of the elaborate silver and gold cover plate for the painting, with holes where the Madonna’s and child’s faces would show through.

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3d

Ah well. There’s always next year.
Go Mariners!! ⚾️💙

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3d

True. I’ll just attend vicariously thru your pics 😊

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3d

Dang it - seems my invitation got lost in the mail (again) 😜
Looks amazing as always!

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 3d

It’s honestly difficult to take a bad pic anywhere on this trip - it’s all so beautiful. Aside from last Sunday we have had clear skies and since we got to Hvar the temps have gotten better and better!

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 4d

Another beautiful day in Montenegro.

A brown clay statue of a crouching cat with its tail straight up in the air on a ledge above a stone arch way, brown iron intricate bars and a wooden door in an ancient stone building (in old town, Kotor).

The main square and clock tower in old town Kotor with loads of tourists milling about. In the background are tree covered hills with an Orthodox Church and a fort

The blue and sun-shimmering Bay of Kotor matches the blue sky with a couple of white clouds peeking from behind the green mountains - all framed within a stone archway on the island of Our Lady of the Rocks.

A line of white fishing boats, some covered, are tied onto stone walls behind a stone pier in the town of Perast

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 4d

Montenegro is lovely (at least the parts we’ve visited) and aside from swarms of them off the cruise ships in the old town of Kotor, devoid of other Americans.

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 4d

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekOForOpulence

An exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. A diamond shamrock and pearl tiara made in the 1860s for Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin & Ava, as a wedding gift for his wife, Hariot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton. (They wed Oct 23 1862)

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 4d

We were beginning to have our doubts after an hour standstill at the border and then a long, circuitous drive through a ton of less-than-scenic construction projects - but the final destination is truly magical!

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 4d

Goodbye Hvar, hello Montenegro!
(After a long ferry + equally long drive and border crossing)

The waterfront in Perast, Montenegro in the golden hour. A bride and groom stand on a pier over shimmering water and facing sunlit stone buildings.

Perast looks like a fairy tale village at sunset. The mountains come straight down to the water and the ones in the distance are lit pink by the setting sun.

Puffy clouds are painted pink and orange over the shadows of the hills and various sized boats on the shimmery calm water

A lone blue fishing boat and a bright orange buoy in the glassy gray evening water in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro surrounded by craggy mountains that go straight down to the water line.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

I’m down there playing DJ for a dance party that broke out among my fellow travelers. 🤣 Gianni, the captain, sent the drone up for pics

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

They’re…interesting. First bite is weird because they do taste like chicken (and spices) but they quickly grow on you! Wouldn’t buy another can, but this one will be eaten vs tossed.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

Obligatory odd Pringles flavor trial underway aboard our ferry to Dubrovnik

A can of Pringles Passport Flavours: Turkish Style Kebab flavour being held in front a window on a catamaran traversing the Adriatic. The jury decides: wouldn’t want to eat them regularly but they’re strangely addictive and do, indeed, taste like a chicken kebab with all the trimmings!

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekOForOpulence

A white catamarán anchored in turquoise green waters off the coast of Nafplio, Greece

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

Now this is Cubs baseball worth getting up at 5:00 am for!

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

We tried a traditional Hvar dish, Peka. This one had veal and lamb cooked under a metal bell in embers with potatoes, carrots and zucchini. It was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had - especially the potatoes.

A large round iron pan holds pieces of lamb and veal on top of potato wedges, carrots and zucchini slices that have been cooked for hours under a dome lid covered in embers. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and the potatoes and vegetables had soaked up all the broth as well as gotten crispy brown in places.

Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 5d

Today we hiked from Hvar City to the tiny village of Milna and soaked in more of the beauty of the island.

A patina-ed green bronze statue of a fishing boy sits atop a stone pier above large boulders and crystal clear water

The shoreline along Hvar with a small islet visible with a lighthouse in its center

Deck chairs on a rocky beach next to clear blue water with a couple small boats floating under a mostly clear blue sky and palm fronds hanging down

Mottled green, turquoise and blue water in a small cove of Hvar Island surrounded by lush green foliage and the dark blue of the Adriatic behind

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 6d

Look! It’s Croatian @goodport.bsky.social coming back from a sunset cruise

A lone sailboat sails between two mounds of islands under a pink sky

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