Last day Dubrovnik/London

We spent last day relaxing in Dubrovnik. No more trips and we've seen most of that area. George caught a cold so he stayed at apartment. I had few business meeting with hotels sales in Dubrovnik so I went on my own.Later own I went to the market and bought fresh vegetables and fruit and did small shopping in the bakery and local supermaket "Konzum". This food lasted us for a day. It was a long trip and we are tired to eat at restaurants. Besides, fresh fruit and vegetables are very good quality here. Croatian Prosciutto ("Prsut") is delicious.

We also loved Croatian gelato, it is very similar to Italian.
The apartment we stayed turned out not a good choice . The sound insulation was very poor and we were hearing all neighbors at night. In addition, local nightclubs were playing the most annoying music most of the night and every half an hour bell tower rang. So sleep deprivation also got a toll on us. Next time if I ever to get to Dubrovnik, my choice would be Hotel Argentina or Excelsior or Dubrovnik Palace. I visited them and they were beautiful. Not too many choices of 4* hotels though.. Many locals rent their rooms and apartments and the quality is varied and not possible to put control on it.

As for shopping, there was not much to shop. Our driver Pepo told us that Croatians shop in USA and Europe. So if you come to Dubrovnik, you can spend time browsing Old Town, going to the hill to see memorial to Dubrovnik defenders and great view of the city (car is needed there). Take a drive on Coastal road - beautiful but better let someone else to drive. Nearby towns Cavtat and Ston are great for strolling. There are also Lokrum Island and Elafiti for nature enthusiasts but we did not go there.

Our flight to London Gatwick was at 4:20pm so the driver came in to our apartment and took our bags to the car, that was a big help. The flight was on time. We arrived to London at 6pm. Next flight was next morning from Heathrow so we took National Express shuttle to Heathrow. It always amazes me the size of that airport, it is like a city! We stayed overnight at Renaissance airport Heathrow. It was older hotel of Renaissance more like 4*. Strange shower operation....Next morning, we took a flight from Heathrow to Miami to connect to Tampa.
In Heathrow there were a lot's of security checks. One at entering departure gates and second at the gate. I was delayed at departure security beacuse they random (I was told - chose my purse). I did not have any liquids. They flippes my book pages and that's was it. On another side, they let 2 women in burqas where you cannot even see the face, only eyes - pass securty faster then us. Go figure. Second we went to departure gate and it took 20 mins to walk there. On arrival to the gate, they checked everybody. Patted clothes and checked all carryons. Worse then in USA.

Anyway the flight was fine and we finally arrived home after 18 days of travel. I promised my husband, next trips will be shorter. It was a long time.

So, final thoughts... We visited 7 countries, (incl London on the way back one night), stayed at 8 hotels. Out of 8 hotels we stayed in Castles, Villas, 5* hotels, 3 , 4* hotels and one budget apartment. We also stayed in one spa which is frequented by local Slovenians.

Former Yugoslavian countries are very interesting and have great potential. But not easy to tour and the traveler must come with open mind. Remember, 15 years ago they were at war. I would say they are doing great.

Best hotel we stayed is Schloss Monhstein in Salzburg.
Worst hotel - apartment in Dubrovnik.
Best country we liked - Croatia...
Salzburg and Munich were nice but not that interesting for explorations as "new countries".
Best spiritual trips -"Jewish Franconia" from Munich and a trip to Mostar from Dubrovnik.
Best views - Dubrovnik and Montenegro.
Best food - Germany and Croatia (Adriatic seafood is excellent).
The most friendly hotel - 3* hotel Laimerhof in Munich. Owner Sebastian becomes your friend in Munich. Excellent treatments.

Thank you for reading my blog... Until next time...

Montenegro

Today we are taking a day trip from Dubrovnik to Monetenegro ("Crna Gora" or Black Mountain).
It is a new country, only 1 year old. It is one of the most ancient settlement in Europe. Illyrians (ancestors to Albanians) lived there in 3rd century b.c. Then it became part of Roman Empire . After Rome's decline, Slavs came in and some people converted to Christianity. So currently there are Serbian Orthodox and Catholic religions. The Bay of Kotor has despotic serbian ruler who punished people severely for small crimes so it was very safe place. It was rich country thanks to unique locaton - narrow Verige Strait of the sea to protect from invading ships and deep for keeping their own ships in the bay. They would jut put a chain from one side of the bay to another to prevent from intruders ships to get it.

After Serbians, Ottomans tried to conquer it, since it has unique location on the sea. The geography of the country is that it the fjord - a dramatic Adriatic sea and monuntains meet together. The Slavs turned to Venetians for help and Venetians ruled for about 5 centuries. After that was Napoleon and then Hapsburgs. Then it was Yugoslavia under Tito after WWII.
After seccession of other Yugoslav countries, Montenegro stayed with Serbia. Years later, they wanted independence and it was trial perior from 2003 and then referendum in 2006. By narrow margin of votes, the seccesionists won. In 2006, the country voted for Indepedence therefore becoming the newest country in the world.
It has some dark history with Yugoslav war and there are still tensions between Croatians and Montenegris. We were shown the place where concentration camp was in 1991-1992 where people of Dubrovnik were taken and tortured. Later on Montenegrins prime minister apologized.

So that's about history. The country is located about 45 km from Dubrovnik, in opposite direction then Bosnia. Again the drive was on another road past airport and Cavtat and again it was beautiful rugged coastal mountain road. After border check-in, the first town was Herceg Novi. It was unattractive town and we passed by. Unlike Dubrovnik, the Montenegro was neglected by Tito mostly except famous Montenegrin Riviera (Sveti Stefan) where all celebrities came to relax in this beautiful and quiet location. in 60s and 70s Sveti Stefan beaches saw Sylvester Stallone, Sofia Loren, Kirk Douglas - just a few. By the way, in James Bond movie when he played in casino on Montenegrin Coast, it was actually filmed in Czech Republic, not in Montenegro.

We were told that Montenegrins are very laid back and easygoing people and nothing moves fast there.

The scenery soon improved and we saw fjords, with calm Adriatic sea, unusual dim blue color and mountains in the back. It was almost unreal. We thought Croatia was beautiful but this was rugged and beautiful fjordsside road fishing villages. We stop in Perast, it is a well preserved Venetian town on the fjord. In middle ages, Perast succesfully protected themselves with their cannons aimed at Vertige straight across the Bay of Kotor so no one can go through the strait. So Venice rewarded Perast with tax-free status and the ton prospered until Napoleon and then declined. Therefore architecture is Venetian . In the sea across Perast, we saw two islands - St. George (natural) and Lady of the Rocks (man made) with churches built there.

We continued beautiful road with fjord scenery and arrived Kotor - the most famous and I think the only one town restored enough for tourists. Like all towns we've seen before, it was fortified by walls, sea in front and the river on the sides. It has again cannon at the ain gate. It is a very ancient town, first said to be mentioned in 1st centuryt a.d. Through many turbulent years, Kotor avoided destruction by war but it was damaged by earthquakes in 1667 and 1979 . It was a nice and compact town to stroll and we enjoyed it. We've seen Catholic and Orthodox churches and Venetian like palaces. It was very pleasant. It is not too much to see, but very pleasant for strolling.

The currency in Montenegro was eur so one needs to pay attention to drawing money from atm. We needed Kuna but got euro's instead.

We decided to skip Budva Riviera with it's communist style cheap hotels and at this time Svet Stefan was under renovation, Pepo told us. So we continued back to Dubrovnik by taking shortcut on a narrow strait by the car ferry, it took only 10 mins to cross and we took nice pictures from the sea as well.

Once on the road, we got to the border and there was a line, another confirmation that everything in Montenegro is very slow. I do not know how they work... We saw many ads in Russian for buying real estate and hotels and Pepo told us, Montenegris have good relationship with Russia. Many investors buy properties in this new country so the economy is on the rise. Maybe not as fast as Croatia but still they should be OK due to their unique resources and location.

After crossing the border, we stopped in Cavtat to see Konavoski Dvir, the popular restaurant, it is located in nice forest with a cold river and waterfalls. However we ate in a restaurant across this touristy place, in a small family owned restaurant. The appetizer platter, smoked meat and cheese was delicious and olives were freshly salted. The specialty is "Lamb under the bell" - cooked in ashes and then grilled but it takes 3 hr to prepare it so it has to be ordered in advance. We got mixed grill but we probably should have skipp it whatsover, it was dry. Appetizer was large and tasty enough for lunch.

After Cavtat we continued to Dubrovnik and came back after yet another interesting day.

Our driver Pepo was terrific , spoke fluent English and gave us interesting information from local's perspective about war and current life in Croatia. It was well worth it to hire him. Guide was not neccessary for this trip.

Bosnia In Herzegovina, Mostar/Medjugorje

Today we are leaving Dubrovnik for a day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Our driver Pepo picked us up at 8am and were on the way west. We passed Trsteno, botanical gardens and saw huge 500 year old tree.

The road was beautiful, compared to Amalfi Coast in Italy. Mountains on one side, sea with island on the other. We again were thankful that we left driving to someone else and we enjoyed beautiful views.

We passed small town Ston which is a best source of mussels in Adriatic and also this town has the longest wall in Europe.

Later on the part of the road become Bosnian and we had to pass border control , and show passports. Pepo explained to us that centuries ago Croatia sold this part of the road to Ottomans therefore when Yugoslavia was separated to different countries, that part became BiH . Therefore the coastal road is not totally Croatian. Croatian is connected by sea but not by land. So government is planning to build the bridge from Croatian coastal road to the Croatian islands and then from the Island Korcula back to the coastal road to connect the roads and avoid going to BiH. Later on we saw map in Dubrovnik by this new project and local people seemed to be happy about it. Obviously some harassment still goes on on Bosnian border of Croatians and tourists.

We wanted to see Mostar and it's famous bridge. I've read about it quite a bit and to me it is very inspirational site in Europe. Like all of Yugoslavia, Bosnia's history is very complicated. Originally it was inhabited by Slavs and Illyrians (ancestors of contemporary Albanians), then Romans came and then Ottomans. At Ottoman's times many Slavs converted to Islam and called Bosniaks. The rest are Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. There are 3 languages, 3 religions and 2 alphabets. Hapsburgs forced Ottomans out in about in 18 C,BiH became part of Austro-Hungarian empire. Then BiH was art of Yugoslavia under Tito.

As I said, in town Bosniaks (Muslims) and Christians (Catholic Croats) lived on opposite sides of the Neretva river. First it was a simple suspension bridge which was guarded by bridge guardsmen called "mostari" - means bridge watchmen in Slavic hence the city's name became Mostar. In 16C the ruler Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned the construction of the bridge which was the marvel of engineering of that time. It was something as Rialto to Venice or Ponto Vecchio to Florence.
Everybody was coming to see it. After Ottomans were defeated by Hapsburgs, the emperor Josef Franz Hapsburg walked on this bridge.. Then Nazis drove tanks in occupied Yugoslavia and bridge sustained tanks as well.

As for citizens of Mostar, they lived peacefully on the opposite parts of the bridge. They had their differences but they got along. It was a showcase for Tito how under his rule people lived peacefully and the bridge was the gap which symbolically connected two cultures..

In 1991 Tito died and the country erupted in the war, Serb-dominated Yugoslav army attacked Bosnia and Mostar. Jointly Croats and Bosniaks pushed offenders away. But strangely, later on they started fighting each other. The city was divided and two sides were shooting at each other. Finally the world watched how the bridge was destroyed in relentless shelling. Strategically, Croats said they needed to cut off Bosniaks from other side of the river so they destroyed the bridge but it sounded symbolic as attack of Serbs on Dubrovnik, that it was designed to hit where it hurt the most ...

The war was over and as a poet said "We shall pass and leave the bridge behind".
The people of the world had an effort to raise money for restoration and finally the bridge was rebuilt exactly by ancient specifications and even methods (stones were hand carved). Now it is UNESCO Heritage site. President Clinton was one of the participants of reopening ceremony in 2004. The re-opening was endorsed by the world and and also citizens of Mostar and it became symbol by reconciliation of two cultures.

So this might explain why I wanted to visit a small city of Mostar. Also after relatively prosperous countries Slovenia and Croatia, visitors are still haunted with remnants of the war. We encounter daily in news information on bombings and destruction and we become used to it. But when you see the landmine signs and broken buildings and bullet shots in the town you come to see, it becomes real. Besides Old Bridge, other parts of the town, especially Muslim's side are still destroyed. It is not a regular sightseeing.

The roads also has holes in ancient stones and bridge is slippery so it is very hard to walk. Some steps in town are very high and uneven so it would be difficult for some people with limited mobility to neogitate these streets. These are very difficult cobblestones. We managed it but I worried about George. Some parts he stayed in one place to sit when I climbed very difficult stairs to the local museum - just one example.

The town has distinct Middle Eastern feeling. It resembles Turkey with it's minarets, and bazaars. The tourists might feel somewhat uncomfortable but we came with driver/guide and we were just fine. We confined our visit though, to Old town and bridge only.

I also noticed yellow public buses in town which has sign that they were donated by the people of Japan and has a flag of Japan on the back of the buses.

After that, we went to visit Medjugorje. It is a major site for Catholic Pilgrims. We are not Christians but I was asked before we went if I will happen to be there, so I became curious for my future clients. It is high in the mountains about half an hour from Mostar. It is a windy road and out of nowhere suddenly appears the site. It has been said that Virgin Mary appeared to local people. Officially not recognized by Vatican but this small village became a center of Pilgrimage and already about 30 Millions of Pilgrims visited that site. The site has shrine and modern Church and big crowds of people and usual souvenir's stands.

After that we went back to Dubrovnik. We crossed again the border twice. Back in Croatia, we had lunch and brief stop in Ston. In the late afternoon, we were back in Dubrovnik.
And that was yet another memorable day.

Dubrovnik

Oct 1st, we checked out from Le Meridien , took taxi to airport. Flight was on time, it is only 20 min flight. At 12:40 we arrived Dubrovnik airport and were met by driver who provided transfer to our apartment. In Dubrovnik, we are staying in studio apartment. It turned out to be pretty basic, but it has private bath, kitchen and refrigeration but location cannot be beat. We are just a step from town walls, at the old port. There is restaurant Poklisar in the pier and we are on top of this restaurant (2nd floor). The setup might seem confusing but it is norm in Europe. You walk into restaurant, pass kitchen and find a door (no sign), and go on second floor where few apartments are, one of them is ours. The owner - young man by name Darko met us , gave keys, gave us access to free wi-fi internet, let us a bowl of fruit, explained everything and left. He lives next door. This will do for next 4 days since we are out of budget for expensive hotels for the rest of the trip. The pro's - you cannot be more central then this and when you open windows, the sea is below at Dubrovnik walls. We slept with windowns open and fresh sea air was great. The con's - you fall asleep with restaurant music at night (thankfully nice music) and wake up with 6am bell tower rings.

We had orientation walk through Dubrovnik and had dinner at Nautica restaurant. It was good but not that exceptional for the price they charge!

Dubrovnik is magical. It is called The Pearl of Adriatic and rightly so. Was always free and rich republic until Napoleon. After Napoleon it became under Hapsburgs (Austria) and then was part of Yugoslavia under Tito. In 1991 when Tito died and Serbs started attacking other nations of Yugoslavia, Oct 1st 1991 Dubrovnik was attacked. The siege lasted 9 months and cost 300 lives. Finally Dubrovnik citizens pushed attackers back but there were sporadic attacks afterwards from Serbs. We just arrived at commemoration of this event when Dubrovnik was attacked. There was an exhibit "Defenders of Dubronik" and services in the Cathedral. Afterwards the city was rebuilt and now if you do not know history, you would not think what happened just 15 years ago... If you walk walls you can see how 70% of Dubrovnik was destroyed and most of the roofs are new. Thee is a map of the city which shows the damage it sustained during the war.
Now the the usual tourist the city seems to be back to normal.
But we sensed from local that there is little love between former Yugoslav nations. The tension still exist . Especially few days ago there was Hague Tribunal who did not punish enough Serbian war criminals therefore people are angry again.

The town is very compact and everything in old town , "Star Grad" is within walls. There is main street called Placa or Stradun and it is great for people watching. No cars within old town so you see locals carrying their goods on mechanical carts. Very medieval.

We also got by car to the top of the Dubrovnik hills and saw city from there. It is also a place of memory of Dubrovnik defenders with a large cross which is seen from almost everywhere.
Dubrovnik has sea from one side with islands, and windy roads which lead to the top of the mountain. It used to be a cable car which connected top and old town but it was destroyed at the war and now when city has money to rebuild it, the residents complain that it will bring noise so one needs to take scary road to the top.... The driver brought us there.