September 29, 2022

September 29, 2022

We left Plitvice National Park, Croatia, heading north. It is raining again. The terrain of rolling hills looks a lot like Kentucky or southern Illinois. Once we reached the highway we followed it west to Opatija at the beginning of the Istrian Peninsula that extends into the Adriatic Sea. Opatija, which comes from the Croatian word for Abbey, was known as Monte Carlo of the Adriatic. It was the playground of the rich in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The nearby port of Rijeka was important to the Austrian Navy and later the Yugoslav counterpart. Aimee and I stopped at a cafe on the waterfront to people-watch before strolling the promenade that goes over and around the many hotels and restaurants facing the sea. We admire the Austrian era architecture.

Back on the road we quickly cross the border into Slovenia, another remnant country of the old Yugoslavia. It is one of the smallest but the richest. It joined the EU years ago and now uses the Euro. I can already tell prices are higher here than Croatia. Our next stop is at Postojna Cave Park. The Karst mountains here are full of caves. Postojna is the largest and has been open for tourism for over two centuries. It is very popular. I can’t believe the crowd here. Aimee and I first stop for a light lunch.

Once in the cave our guide loads us on a little electric train that carries us a two miles down a shaft filled with cave decorations. Surprisingly the cave is dripping with rain. We are shocked that the rain has caught up to us, on an indoor tour! But I guess that is how stalactites and stalagmites form, from rain that drips through cracks in the rock. The rain collects and exits the cave system in the form of a raging river that eventually flows into the Sava and Danube Rivers.

We get off the train and walk a mile-long loop trail. Aimee is amazed that the concrete ramp is not slippery even though it is covered in water. The trail climaxes in an area called Paradise. At least paradise for cave aficionados. This section has a white ceiling of ‘soda straws’. They glow almost like crystals. Interestingly, the guide mentioned that these are the longest in the world after our very own Kartchner Caverns in Tucson. It is a small world!

Leaving Postojna, we drive through pouring rain and construction north past the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana into the Julian Alps, where we stop for the night in the resort town of Bled on its eponymous Lake.

September 28, 2022

September 28, 2022

The weather forecast for Plitvice Lakes National Park was rain every day for the foreseeable future. So imagine our surprise when we awoke to sunny weather here. My lucky charm wife is batting 1000.

Plitvice was Croatia’s first national park. It is also a World Heritage Site. Plitvice is very unique. It consists of some sixteen terraced lakes that cascade downhill with thousands of waterfalls. The terrain is all Karst limestone. The water that seeps through the rock picks up minerals which are then redeposited as travertine. Besides forming cool terraced waterfalls it imparts a beautiful blue color to the lake water. It is analogous to Havasu Falls in Arizona. The only difference is that Plitvice has a rainier wetter climate.

We start our day a few miles from our hotel in the lower parking lot entrance exploring the Lower Lakes section first. We descend into the gorge via a series of switchbacks. At the bottom the trail consists of many miles of nice wooden boardwalks. Our first detour is to see the Big Waterfall (Velike Slap in Croatian). It is a thin wisp of a waterfall. From here the water leaves the park as the Korana River that flows into the Sava and eventually the Danube.

We continue upstream along boardwalks that hug the cliff and then criss-cross to the other side. The most striking element is how clear the blue tinged lake water is. The lake bottom and all the swimming fish can be clearly seen. It is stunning. The water is also very calm this morning allowing some nice reflection shots.

Water easily dissolves Karst limestone forming sinkholes and caves. At Supljara Cave, a sinkhole in the cliff wall, we take a detour and climb slippery steps up through it. At the cliff top we get a nice bird's eye view of the boardwalk along the moss-framed blue waterfalls. Beautiful!

Back at the bottom we continue upstream until we reach the biggest lake. There we take another detour climbing the cliff wall along a road. We follow a rim trail back towards the Big Waterfall checking out the several overlooks. Unfortunately the sun is right in our face making photography poor.

We return to the Lake and eat some snacks and rest our legs a while. We then board an electric boat that takes about twenty minutes to ferry us to the other end and the Upper Lakes section. We take the trail that hugs the right side of the first lake and then cuts back and forth between a long series of cascading waterfalls. Unbeknownst to me, Plitvice is Croatia’s coldest region and Autumn comes early. We are already seeing the beginning of the Fall color change. It makes for great photos and is great payback for having cooler temperatures than we are accustomed.

We continue climbing the Upper Lakes until we reach the last service stop. There we decide to have a small lunch. We chose to share the Cheese Sandwich. It is a tasty option in Europe. I was getting ready to order the ‘sandwich’ when I realized the Croatian word ‘Sendvic’ is just our English word with a Croatian spelling. It sounds roughly the same. I guess I know more Croatian than I realized.

After lunch we took the ‘train’ (motorized trolley) back to our hotel stop. Our legs are doing well, it is not raining, and we still have a few hours of daylight, so we decide to backtrack to the Big Waterfall overlook. The light should be good now. To do that we take two boat rides and re-climb the cliff wall for a much better photo.

Back at the lake level, we decide to do the Lower Lakes section again in reverse. It is very enjoyable as the crowds have thinned. Croatian tourism has exploded the last ten years and usually everything is extremely crowded. It is so nice to have this most scenic park now to ourselves. We stroll this section slowly to commune with Mother Nature. Back at the first parking lot, we find that the last train stop is almost a mile away. This hike back is farther than we anticipated.

Finally back at the hotel we take much needed showers, eat dinner, and retire early. It has been a long but thoroughly enjoyable day of hiking. Croatia has done a wonderful job of designing and building the great boardwalk trails to make this scenic park accessible.

September 27, 2022

September 27, 2022

We left Split, Croatia heading north again. It is pouring rain. My lucky charm traveling companion is needing to work extra hard this trip. An hour north we stop at the island of Trogir and see sunshine. We meet our local guide and walk across the canal to this World Heritage Site. Like much of the Dalmatian coast, this city was an outpost of the Venetian maritime Republic. For protection this canal was dug to make this peninsula a true island. A fort and defensive wall were built around the whole island. Today only the fort and a few gate entrances remain standing.

Our first stop was the main square which is dominated by the Cathedral of St Lawrence with its lofty bell tower. It has a very intricately carved Romanesque entry portal. The figures tell lots of Bible stories. Across the plaza is the Gothic City Hall. On a third side is a clock tower and a colonnaded loggia (porch) that was used as an open courtroom.

Afterwards we walked through the winding narrow alleys of the town admiring the maze of medieval buildings. It is like Split on a smaller less crowded scale. We ended at the south side of the island on the Riva waterfront promenade. It is lined with boats of all kinds.

We left our tour guide and continued strolling the Riva. At the far end is the small Fortress Kamerlengo. We don't feel the need to climb any more castle walls so we just peek inside the inner courtyard. We also walked by St Mark’s Tower which was another bastion of the defensive walls.

We are feeling a need to embrace Croatia's cafe culture so we stop at one along the Riva. Aimee has a cappuccino and I have a beer. The weather and scenery are both beautiful. I am so glad we are not still working and can do this.

Afterwards we wander the back alleys for twenty minutes. We accidentally peak inside the City Hall and find a hidden gem. A very cool Gothic stairwell in the courtyard. On our way out we meet a bride and groom coming in to get married. That always makes Aimee smile.

Back on the road we continue north. After crossing the Novsko Gorge, we take the 3.5-mile Sveti Rok tunnel inland and emerge in the wetter eastern side of the coastal mountains. It is much more lush. We eventually arrive at Plitvice Lakes National Park. We settle into our hotel inside the park. It is also noticeably colder.

We have dinner at a restaurant outside the park, where we are serenaded most of the night by a musical trio playing traditional Croatian folk songs.

September 26, 2022

September 26, 2022

We checked out of our hotel and left Dubrovnik headed north up the Dalmatian coast. The weather is gloomy and the forecast is rain. About an hour north we stopped in the town of Ston. It is famous for having the longest defensive walls in Europe. That is astounding considering Ston is just a little town. But this is where the money of Dubrovnik was printed, or at least medieval money. Ston produced salt, which was worth its weight in gold. Oftentimes people were paid in salt, which is how we got the word ‘salary’. The walls go around the city and up and over the mountain behind it to prevent a rear attack.

Ston is on a long inlet of the sea where the rising tide could fill rock lined ponds. Then the seawater was allowed to evaporate over the summer. Salt could then be raked and barreled. Before hitting the road, I bought an espresso to go. It was just a tiny sip of coffee!

From Ston we continued north. This time we bypassed Herzegovina taking the new Peljeski bridge across Maloston Bay. It just opened in late July. A few miles north we crossed the Neretva River that we followed a few days ago. The flat fertile delta is full of orchards and farm fields. Such a drastic difference from the tall Dinaric Alps that line the rest of the Croatian coast.

The highway then turns inland and ninety minutes later we reach the Split exit. On our way downhill back to the sea we passed the medieval hilltop Fortress of Klis which was another film location for the Game of Thrones. We also passed under and beside the Roman Aqueduct that fed water to Split. It has been recently restored and is in use again 1700 years later!

In the ancient World Heritage City of Split we took a walking tour with a very knowledgeable guide. In 305 AD Diocletian became the first ever Roman Emperor to voluntarily retire. He returned here to his hometown and built himself a massive waterfront palace. It is the size of a small city completely surrounded by tall walls. When the Slavs invaded three centuries later, ordinary Roman citizens took refuge in the fortified palace. Over the years more people moved in haphazardly building structures inside. Today the modern city of Split is built in, over, and around the remains of Diocletian's Palace. Very cool!

We start our tour on the Riva waterfront promenade. This is landfill. In Diocletian’s time the palace extended out over the water. As we enter from the water side we first encounter the substructure that supported this oversea section. In Medieval times it was used as a dumpsite. Today it has been partially excavated. One central section now holds souvenir stores. Another section is part of the city museum where our guide gives us a rundown on the engineering and architecture. These cellars were also where Daenerys kept her dragons in the GOT.

We climb stairs and continue the tour on the above ground structures. Over the centuries people have built all kinds of buildings inside the palace. Most of the medieval construction was haphazard. We passed many stores with Roman interior back walls.

Our next stop was the Palace’s round entry Vestibule. In this domed structure, we stop and listen to three Croats sing a couple traditional songs a cappella. We then passed into the Peristyle monumental courtyard. It is surrounded by columns made from red Egyptian porphyry granite. There is even a black sphinx. Aimee loves the connection with our Spring trip to Egypt.

We then walk down Diocletian's former hallways passing shops and restaurants till we exit the north gate. It is still virtually intact. We walked the west exterior checking out medieval buildings from when the city expanded outside the palace walls.

We leave our guide and return to the Colonnaded Peristyle Courtyard. There we sit on the steps like lounging Romans from two millennia ago. A waiter from the Luxor restaurant next door serves us a lunch of Bruschetta and wine while we watch two Roman centurions pose for photos. I think I could get used to being an emperor.

Back in the present, we bought the Cathedral ticket. We first made a whirlwind tour of the Treasury. It has three floors of medieval paintings and silver relics. We then visited the octagonal Cathedral. This was originally the Mausoleum of Diocletian. His body and sarcophagus are long gone and it is now the world's smallest Cathedral.

We then climbed the adjoining bell tower. It is 180 steps partially up a very tight stairwell. From the top we get a great overview of Split. It is fascinating how the Roman palace is intermixed with the modern town. Our last stop is the Baptistery. It used to be the Temple of Jupiter.

Aimee and I spend the next thirty minutes strolling the palace and the Riva promenade. One store specializes in ties or cravats. Cravat is a French corruption of Croat. This neckwear was part of the uniform of a Croatian mercenary unit serving in pre-Napoleon France. We spend the night a mile away in the modern city of Split. We have dinner at the hotel.

September 25, 2022

September 25, 2022

We left Dubrovnik, Croatia early this morning for a day trip to Montenegro. We drove south down the beautiful Dalmatian Coast along a narrow highway on the sea cliff. It is not long before we reach the Montenegro border and enter the Bay of Kotor. This inlet consists of several winding bays with sheer cliffs that look strikingly like the glacier-carved fjords of Norway and Iceland. Instead it was formed from the dissolution of the Karst limestone mountains that make up the Dinaric Alps here. Its geological birth is more like Halong Bay of Vietnam.

We worked our way for miles around the edge of the bays going in and out. At one point we stop in the little town of Perast where we board a small boat that takes us out to two tiny islands. We pass the first one that holds St George Monastery and land at the one with the blue-domed Our Lady of the Rocks Chapel.

A volunteer gives us a tour and history. Apparently a painting of the Virgin Mary was found washed up on this rocky shoal. It was considered a miracle so the faithful, mostly seamen and their families, come here with offerings to protect their next voyage. The interior of the highly decorated church is beautiful, especially the colorfully painted ceiling. The chapel is a common venue for weddings and baptisms even today.

Back on shore, we continued around the shoreline to the World Heritage medieval city of Kotor. At one time it was an outpost for Venetian Traders. They built a defensive wall completely around it and high up the cliff. We started with a walking tour by an uninspired local guide. Kotor became rich supplying salted beef to inland caravans. Hard times eventually ensued leaving the city as a time capsule. Walking around the small city, most of the palatial buildings are of medieval Venetian architectural design.

The weather forecast called for afternoon rain. It is not here yet so Aimee and I paid the fee to hike the Stairs of Kotor. This is a trail that follows the defensive works up the steep hillside. About halfway up we encounter Our Lady of Health Chapel that makes a cool backdrop for the very scenic bay and its fjord-like cliffs. We continue further up but the views don't seem to be getting any better. We stop short of the San Giovanni Fort that sits at a crest of the mountain. The weather has warmed up considerably so we are sweating profusely by the time we return to the bottom.

Aimee and I head directly to a little pizzeria where we are able to get a quick slice and a sample of the local Montenegro beer. Afterwards we have twenty minutes to window shop the tiny city while having our desert of gelato. We then have to make the long drive back to Dubrovnik. The most painful part of the trip was the long lines at the customs border in both directions. It is raining as we pull up to our hotel.

September 24, 2022

September 24, 2022

We spent the night in Dubrovnik, Croatia just outside the Old City. After breakfast we drove past it to a viewpoint above and to the southeast. The Dubrovnik area has few natural resources outside access to the sea. The locals made do and become skilled sea traders. Their arch-enemy Venice would have loved to wipe them off the map so they were forced to build an impregnable defense. This small city is completely surrounded by thick castle walls. When the sea trade died and the citizens moved elsewhere, these walls were left standing, leaving Dubrovnik a World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the world.

The small harbor to the south today is filled with pleasure boats. In the Middle Ages a mighty chain could be stretched across the opening to bar enemy ships. To prevent disease brought from abroad, visiting seamen were forced to isolate in a building just outside this harbor. Originally Dubrovnik required thirty days (Trentino in Italian). Later it was extended to forty days (or Quarantino).

We entered the Old City of Dubrovnik from the west through the Pile Gate where we met our local guide. We passed the large public water fountain and toured the Franciscan Monastery just inside the gate. This friary has a nice colonnaded cloister surrounded by a walkway with painted alcoves and floor crypts. It also contains the oldest still functioning pharmacy. The original room is on display. We also visited the museum. It has lots of medieval jewelry and some bizarre saintly religious relics.

We then walked the length of the Stradun (main street). The limestone pavement has been polished ultra-smooth by the millions of shoes that tread it daily. At the far end we toured the Rector's Palace. The Rector was head of the Dubrovnik government. The courtyard is dominated by a large stairway that was featured in the Game of Thrones. We first toured the second-floor state rooms. I like the several Sedan Chairs that the Rector was carried through the city on. The dungeon rooms were next. One contains an interesting collection of iron strong boxes. Of course, these would be vital tools of every trading merchant.

We parted company with our guide, and walked through the market, to the Jesuit St Ignatius Church. The steep stairs leading to it were also featured in the GOT as Cersei Lannister’s Walk of Shame. It is mobbed with people taking selfies. Because Dubrovnik is so well preserved, many movies and TV shows have been filmed here.

We went out the eastern Ploce Gate past the harbor and walked up stairways through a residential area. I was looking for that classic view of the entrance harbor. It seems the best views are probably atop private terraces.

We were losing energy so we followed the little lane that hugs the harbor-side southern wall until we find a hole (Buza in Croatian). Just outside the walls, atop the cliff rocks used by sunbathers, some enterprising local got the idea to set up tables and sell beer. This Buza Bar is just what we need. Aimee has a Cider while I have a couple beers. We regain some energy by hydrating next to this unbeatable view of the Dalmatian coast.

Refreshed, we buy the Dubrovnik Pass at the Tourist Center. This gives us access to the Wall Walk, several museums and a city bus pass to get back to our hotel. The one-mile Wall Walk is ridiculously expensive but a great way to see the city from all angles. It takes longer than it should because I have to stop and take photos often. By necessity all the buildings within the walls are tightly packed together. Surprisingly though we see two small soccer fields and a couple gardens.

Along the way we stop at the Maritime Museum inside the St Johns Bastion. In the Middle Ages, Dubrovnik was known as the Republic of Ragusa. This city-state got started in the salt trade which was vital for food preservation. Everyone needed it to survive the winter. Ragusans used the local Oak Trees to build ever larger trading vessels. Like Venice, they expanded into the silk and spice trade after the First Crusade because of the enormous profits available. Large sailing vessels were sometimes known as an Argosy, a distortion of the Ragusa name.

Finished with the Wall Walk we visited Fort Lovrjenac. This little castle sits atop a rock in the sea directly west of the Old City. We get a great view of Dubrovnik from it, but we have to make it quick because they are setting up for a wedding on the roof. Based on the American sounding names, Aimee and I think it has to be a destination wedding, so popular now with the younger generation.

We are hungry so we find a nice restaurant just off the harbor. While eating our salad and pizza, we notice a raucous replica Argosy sailing ship pull in. A wedding party disembarks and parades right past us. The bride does a little dance for us.

We finished our Dubrovnik day by taking the Cable Car to Mt Srd, the hill that sits a half mile above the city. The cliff top also has ruins of a French fort and contains a museum about the shelling of Dubrovnik by the Serbian Army during the Civil War.

We take the bus back to our hotel, arriving just in time to see the start of the sunset.

September 23, 2022

September 23, 2022

This morning we did a walking tour of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Our local guide was a very funny irreverent historian. Besides showing us sights we didn't reach last night he gave us a good local’s perspective on the Civil War and current politics.

He took us to an old Caravanserai, Morica Han, hidden inside Sarajevo's Turkish Bazaar. This was an inn for traveling traders. He gave us a lesson on its etymology. Serai means palace, so these inns were ‘caravan palaces’. Likewise Sarajevo was originally ‘palace of Bosnia’. This Caravanserai is now a restaurant and carpet store.

We also talked about how the region has a mixture of religions. We visited a mosque to learn about the easy-going nature of Bosnian Islam compared to the Middle East. We also went to a synagogue to learn how Sarajevo became one of the main destinations for Sephardic Jews after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. Jews were even protected by Muslims during the Nazi invasion of the Balkans.

This is election season and I have never seen so many public political posters. I thought the US was bad! Our guide told us about their high taxes, their ‘too much’ government and the high level of corruption. I hear this the world over, but yet most still vote for more government instead of less.

Leaving Sarajevo, we crossed to the Neretva River that flows southwest into the Adriatic Sea. It is a beautiful drive through the Dinaric Alps that line the western coast of the Balkans. This river has been dammed for hydroelectric power in several places. This also marks our passage from Bosnia to Herzegovina. This region’s name means ‘land of the Herzog’. This Herzog or German Duke kept his land because he wisely supported the successful Ottoman Empire.

After a couple hours we reached Mostar, the capital and largest city of Herzegovina. We stopped for lunch and to see its famous Ottoman bridge, Stari Most. It is a testament to the scarcity of stone bridges in Medieval Times that the town was essentially named 'Bridge'. Unfortunately, this World Heritage site was destroyed during the Civil War and then rebuilt as a symbol of peace. The parking lot is full of buses on day trips from the Adriatic coast, probably cruise line passengers. The bridge is mobbed. Instead, Aimee and I wander to a deserted part of the city for a better photo opportunity. As is often the case, quiet can usually be easily found just a block or two away from the tourist path.

We continued our drive south reaching the Adriatic Sea at the town of Neum. The road to the sea was very winding and the terrain became considerably drier and rockier as we approached the coast. 

Neum is the only point Bosnia reaches the Adriatic. This little strip of land was sold centuries ago by Dubrovnik to the Ottoman Empire to provide a buffer zone against attack by their arch-enemy Venice. Neum cuts the Croatian coast in two creating a customs headache since Bosnia is not yet in the EU. To solve that problem a new bridge has just recently been built across the bay to 'bridge' the gap.

Back in Croatia, we finished our drive today in the coastal town of Dubrovnik. We have a nice buffet dinner at the hotel.

September 22, 2022

September 22, 2022

Today is a long travel day to explore more of the old Yugoslavia. Surprisingly it is not technically my first time. Many decades ago I took a very long slow train ride down the length of Yugoslavia to reach Greece. While Yugoslavia was communist it was not aligned with the Soviet Union and not behind the Iron Curtain, so I was free to take the train across the country. Unfortunately it was not part of my Eurail pass, so I never got off the train. I came back to see what I missed.

Zagreb, Croatia sits on the north bank of the Sava River that flows east into the Danube River at the Serbian Capital of Belgrade. We followed it downstream for several hours until we reached the border with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The terrain of eastern Croatia (Slavonia) is very flat farmland.

We crossed over the Sava River and then followed the Bosna River upstream through a deep heavily forested valley. It is very beautiful, reminiscent of West Virginia. We pass lots of buildings that were destroyed in the devastating Civil War of the 90’s that broke out after their President Tito died. Many buildings were never restored because of the ensuing population decline throughout the Balkans.

The Balkans are almost all Slavs who emigrated here some 1500 years ago. Despite their ethnic and linguistic commonality, they have often been at each other's throat. This is because this region has long been the frontier between kingdoms and subjected to raids by migrating barbarians. Croats are Roman Catholic while Serbs are their eastern Christian Orthodox counterparts. In the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire pushed into the area from Constantinople, conquering the region and bringing Islam. Bosniacs are the Slavs that converted. The converts mostly did it for the social and commercial advantages this gave them within the Ottoman Empire. The arc-shape of Croatia around Bosnia reflects the Ottoman invasion path.

After a couple hours the valley widens and we see steel mills and coal plants with a modern highway and mountain tunnels. And just to the south we reach Sarajevo, the capital and largest city of Bosnia. Sarajevo is famous to me for being the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics. During the Civil War, the Serbs laid siege to the city.

After checking into our Hotel Europe accommodations, our first destination is around the corner to see the spark that lit WWI. On an infamous street corner by the Latin Bridge, a young Serb shot and killed the visiting Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914. This Austrian heir to the throne was headed to the hotel we are staying at.

We visit the small Sarajevo Museum dedicated to the event. While the world considers the assassin a terrorist; many Slavs, especially Serbs consider him a hero for helping throw off the yoke of Austrian rule.

Aimee and I then walked along the little river to the historic City Hall built in an Islamic style. We then hiked up some narrow streets past an Islamic Cemetery to the Yellow Bastion, an old Ottoman hilltop defensive fort. There we get a great view of Sarajevo nestled in this scenic river valley. We had to be careful dodging cars speeding up these very narrow and steep lanes.

Back down at the river level we visited the old market. This area is famous for making hammered copper tea sets. We bought some Turkish Delight snacks with the few Bosnian Marks we got as change from our lunch stop.

We then walked down the main promenade street. At one point the architecture suddenly switches from Ottoman to more modern Viennese reflecting the change in historic ownership. On the street is painted a sign honoring this Meeting of Cultures, the joining of east and west, where 'Istanbul meets Venice'. The melting pot of the Balkans has been both the highlight and bane of the Yugoslav countries.

In the street we notice a Sarajevo Rose. This is a bomb crater filled in with paint that makes it resemble a red flower. At the end of the promenade we find an Eternal Flame monument dedicated to the victims of WWII.

At the hotel we had a nice dinner of stuffed peppers and stuffed zucchini with baklava for dessert. We finished this long travel day with a nice sunset out our room window.