Four days - four countries

We ended our stay in Croatia by spending a few days in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik. We had been advised by our hosts that it will be full of tourists, but still not to be missed. They were right on both counts. Dubrovnik is one of the classic cities of the world; red roofs on white buildings nestled into the green hillside and hugging the blue Mediterranean.   Dubrovnik came to the world’s attention during the Croatian War of Independence in the nineties, when it suffered bombing and siege. Reconstruction since then allows one to walk around the walls of the old town.

Views of the Old Town from on top of the wall


 

 

 

 

Dubrovnik hugs the coastline, providing for very scenic walking and driving

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next stage of our drive through to Bulgaria was done with a high degree of caution and some apprehension.  When telling people of our plans, comments ranged from from ‘Oh – you’re brave’ to ‘danger’, ‘look out for stones, potholes and donkeys’, ‘expect to pay bribes if stopped by the police’, to ‘the roads are generally good and you’ll fine’.  Well, they were fine and we encountered no difficulty in the drive - apart from the GPS not always recognising addresses, and once taking us on one very long and scenic route.

On Sunday 3rd we left  Dubrovnik (Croatia), and entered Bosnia Herzegovina. The border is not far from Dubrovnik, and following advice from our hosts, we stopped to visit the town of Mostar, an area of Bosnia in which there is a high Muslim population. This is a result of 500 years of Turkish occupation ending in the late 1800's. Mostar is also known for its famous bridge, with the original design built in the 1500's but destroyed in the war of the nineties and since then rebuilt according to the original design.

 

  

 

Mostar bridge (in the distance)

 

 

We had no idea of what to expect in the landscape and after driving through quite marginal country (mountainous, hill, rocky) to Mostar, were astounded by dramatic mountain scenery as we neared Sarajevo (gorgeous rugged gorges). Arriving in heavy summer rain, we were very relieved that our GPS was eventually able to locate a hotel in which to spend the night.

 

 

Early scenery in Bosnia Herzegovina (above and below)

 

 

 

 

Moving into dramatic landscapes as we neared Sarajevo

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city of Sarajevo made a strong impression on us.  Muslim minarets stand along-side of cathedrals. The Old Town has tourist shops with a mix of Turkish and Western wares but it is the rebuilding that is still happening in the city after the war of the nineties that really struck us. Roads are under construction, while large blocks of buildings are still desolate after bombing and many walls bear evidence of fighting, with bullet holes clearly visible. Sarajevo endured the longest siege in modern history, a period of 1,425 days. We took time to visit a photographic exhibition which was deeply moving. There is also a modern side to the city with western style shopping malls and fine hotels. (All of the photos below were taken near our very comfortable hotel)

 

Buildings damaged from gunfire.

 

 Here the restored city hall stands next to buildings not yet restored.

Riverside houses such as these are usually painted and highly attractive, but when a city needs rebuilding some things have to wait

 

 

A mosque at Sarajevo

 

The next day our drive took us across mountain ranges and through fertile valleys where there were small villages and agricultural fields.  We then entered Serbia, initially passing through small towns but as we neared our destination for the night, also passed through very fertile agricultural areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hay stacks

 

 

A horse and cart with a load of loose hay. In the country roads of Bulgaria we see many horse-drawn carts.




We had arranged a two night stay on the edge of a national park, a mountainous area and one of Serbia's top winter ski resorts. In summer however the weather was wonderful and gave us the opportunity to take a day’s walk in the mountains, a pleasant change from the hours of driving we had been doing.


The very up-market ski resort

  Bob went on a bear hunt


Scenes from our mountain walk

 

 

Many people were on the hillsides picking wild blueberries. The wild variety is much smaller than the cultivated ones we know in Australia, but equally tasty.  To pick large quantities people use a special implement (a kind of comb) to take many berries off the bushes at once.

The flowers were beautiful and Anne has many photos of flowers.  We have seen spring flowers in Spain, summer flowers in Eastern Europe and in a few months will catch the autumn leaves.

 

 

On the fourth day, we finally entered Bulgaria, where we are staying for 12 days.  We began in the capital. Sofia, where we were hosted by a couple from the Servas organisation and we are now staying in a small village of Koprivshtitsa at a weekend home they own. Using this as a base we are exploring the nearby countryside before moving onto more Servas hosts in other parts of the country (Servas is a hospitality organisation).

 

These four days of travel challenged us in many ways.

I think we must have read too many spy novels or war stories, for we always held our breath when passing through each border control post. We first of all present passports when leaving one country, then drive several hundred metres until reaching the border control for the next country where the process is repeated.  We also needed to show papers for the registration and vehicle insurance before entering a new country.   This process makes one realise just how much paperwork has been reduced in countries who are full members of the European Union, for there you simply drive from one country to the next.

 

Out of one country

 

 

 

 

And into another







 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the countries we entered also has its own currency, which we needed even for the short time we were travelling through. By the time we arrived in Bulgaria our old brains were struggling to remember what the currency is current, and how it might relate to Euros (and in due course, Australian dollars). At that point it's easier to just pay the amount rather than try to calculate its equivalent.

While we find costs in these Eastern European countries extremely cheap the flip side is that the local people have low incomes. We were told that we would be travelling through 'poor' countries and this is evident in a number of ways: roads that are patched rather than resurfaced, rusty dented guard rails, empty houses or rundown villages, older cars on the roads, lack of major industries. Of course there are variations to this across each country, with some region obviously more prosperous than others.



Older cars, patched roads and  older guard rails (at least there were some!)

 

 

Small scale industry in Serbia (or was it Bosnia? - tobacco) and a larger city (below). A major highway goes from Zagreb in Croatia to the south of Serbia, but we only drove on this for sixty kilometres and the rest of the time on minor roads

Apart from each country having its own language, a Cyrillic alphabet is also used. This makes reading signs impossible and we are thankful that our GPS can direct us in English.   Most of the museums that we have been in have at least some of the information in English.

(For the teachers who may be reading this, it makes one realize just how important pictures and context are when learning to read!)

 

 

Take your pick and hope for the best

Signs English are limited (but welcome when we see them)

 

 

This sign made us realize that we are very far from home!

These four countries are a history buff’s delight. The scope of history really stretches our minds but being here - and with the assistance of Google - helps us get an understanding of the forces of history that have shaped these areas. No sooner had we read up on Austro-Hungarian rule, the former country of Yugoslavia and its break up, which preceded the war of the nineties, when we moved into Bulgaria and have now learned about the Turkish Ottoman Empire which ruled here for 500 years, the rebellion of the late 1800's that overthrew it (with Russian involvement), and Bulgaria's more recent move from communism to a democratic republic. 

There are also differences in religion across the countries. In the same four days we’ve seen Roman Catholic cathedrals, Mosques, and Eastern Orthodox churches. Bulgaria's predominant religion is Eastern Orthodox, and hence the churches are designed quite differently with open spaces, no seating and icons (paintings, sculptures, frescos) covering the walls. (We have not been able to take photos inside)

 

  

 

Each day continues to bring its own surprises, but at the end of every day we are very thankful the blessings received, particularly for safety as we travel through these fascinating foreign lands. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Croatian Creation

 

Our previous was posted from a beautiful coastal town called Koper in Slovenia. Slovenia is located to the east of Venice at the top of the Adriatic Sea, and was one of the nations that emerged from the former Yugoslavia after major wars only twenty years ago. We regretted that we only had one day to drive through Slovenia, as it is a beautiful country with scenery reminiscent of a ‘mini Switzerland’. However, we needed to move quickly through Slovenia as our first 90 day period in ‘Schengen Visa’ countries was up, whereas Croatia, our next destination, is not yet a member of the Schengen Agreement.   Croatia, is another of the former Yugoslav states, famous for its coastal and mountain scenery, as well as for winning World Soccer some years back.

We intend to spend four and a half weeks in Croatia. Two of those weeks have already passed as we commence this posting. We spent those two weeks with private people as their guests, and it has been a marvellous start to our Croatian adventures, adding a richness of experience to our travel.  We had previously organised our stays with these kind people through various hospitality/travel websites and organisations. After communicating with some of them via the internet for over 12 months, it was wonderful to meet at last. To all of our hosts, our sincere thanks.

We drove into Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city, on Sunday 6^th July, completing our 1,300 km drive from France. For once, we and our GPS navigator easily located our host’s suburban address. Upon arrival, our host (Annie) gave us a short lesson on the pronunciation of Croatian letters, and a few handy words. Croatian words seem to have less vowels than we are used to in English, so this was a valuable lesson. She also helped us identify top tourist destinations and hikes that we might like to get to see or do. In the next days, we visited a handful of such sites in Zagreb – the main square, a series of museums, restaurant streets, and scenic walks.

 

On one day, our plans for a drive to the top of a mountain near Zagreb and subsequent long walk were scuttled when I struck a kerb with the right rear wheel of the car, causing the tyre to slowly go flat. That incident triggered a litany of dramas for the day – such as having to find a street in downtown Zagreb where we could change to the spare tyre without disrupting peak-hour traffic, then driving to the nearest garage – who it turned out could not be authorised by the Peugeot lease people to repair it, so we drove across town to Peugeot’s address - which turned out to be their head office, not their repair garage... More hiccups driving to the real repair place, because the GPS maps we were given are partly out of date. We’ve learnt to see the good in all that doesn’t go according to plan, and the good from this day was that: we learned all about Peugeot Roadside Assistance in a convenient city over only a trifling problem; although heavy rain fell on the destination mountain region, we weren’t there so didn’t get wet; we went on to visit other places of interest. We stayed with Annie for four nights, enjoying her hospitality, her guidance for travelling within Croatia and accounts from her life story, hiking and travel adventures.

World Cup soccer audience in Zagreb's main square

Monuments and street scenes in Zagreb

To buy or not to buy

Anne and Annie

 

After four days in Zagreb, we made our way to our second Croatian hosts, Igor and Nina, a couple in their fifties who again opened their arms in welcome. We went with them on a sight-seeing tour of nearby hills and on the weekend they took us to their apartment on the coast. En-route, we called in to see a dramatic gorge, waterfalls etc.

 

View through a cave entrance

 

 Once at the coast, we were ready to cancel the rest of our holiday plans and just stay there. Clear blue Mediterranean water, leisure boats, and tourists soaking up the sun. From what I (Bob) could make out, all of them were women, and all were clad in skimpy, colourful bikinis – especially noticeable because all the women on the Morocco beaches, where we’d been only a couple weeks earlier, were drably garbed from head to toe! Our hosts also drove us to nearby Krk island (connected by a bridge), where we again captivated by the scenery – beaches, vineyards, towns. All picture-book scenes!

 

 



A standard beach scene



Beaches are popular, but they are not all as crowded as this one was





Bob with our hosts at the coast



When out walking on the Saturday evening we came across groups performing traditional music and dances, which we really enjoyed watching.

 

On another day, we looked around our hosts' town/city – the museum and markets etc – ending the day with a wonderful twenty km bike ride through the surrounding hills and dales. Throughout these parts, the vegetation is so vibrantly green and healthy, houses are extremely well-maintained (painted and landscaped), that we find it hard to believe it when people say that the economy is weak.

 

All in a day's bike ride



We found out where the witches leave their brooms while they are out shopping

Fatty sausages and pork chops. Yum. These were being cooked in a large 'kettle' full of what looked like a gravy

Our third Croatian host, Vedran, is also from the northern part of Croatia. We spent three nights with him, high in a mountain village. Vedran took us on several guided walks to vantage points overlooking the border with Slovenia. He also took us mushrooming through the dense forests and with his knowledge of what is safe to eat and what is not, picked various types of fungi that we would normally walk straight past….and left the ones we might consider picking. We also had time to ourselves, which we used to walk/hike up another narrow waterfall gorge. Vedran is an accomplished cook and insisted on preparing and serving all our meals – and plying us with various home-grown brandies and wines. We particularly appreciated his giving us a copy of a beautiful sound track from a Croatian coastal tourism movie he’d produced some years ago.



Vedran and Anne at his mountain home



Vedran prepared breakfast for us each morning and insisted on doing all the food preparation

Croatia experienced severe weather conditions several months ago which damaged large sections of the forests

Slovenia to the left, Croatia to the right

Would you eat these?

Or these?

 

 

 

 

On our way to stay with our next host, we stopped at the Plitvice National park for one night. Plitvice is one of Croatia’s top tourist destinations.  The tourist route follows a series of waterfalls for several km down the lakes. Because of the geology and particular rock formations, the falls are spread out and constantly changing.

We had heard so much about Plitvice that we feared we may be disappointed, but not so for it was like walking in the Garden of Eden. Anne described it in her journal as “fairy rings of waterfalls, with ribbons of lace tumbling into azure blue lakes”.  We took many photos on the day and have included just a selection of these.  

 

 

 

 

 “fairy rings of waterfalls, with ribbons of lace tumbling into azure blue lakes”. 

Many fish swam in the crystal clear waters, which also gave rise to great reflections

 

As you can see, its a very popular tourist destination! We started early in the day and for some time had the paths to ourselves, but as bust loads of tourists arrived some of the narrower paths became very crowded




Oh deer - do be careful on the road!

 

 

Paths from above enable views of the cascades as they work their way down the lakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As you travel from north to south the scenery changes, with the green patchwork being replaced by a white, rockier landscape

 

 

 

 

 

 



Our plans to stay with our next host, Goga, in a nearby mountain village changed somewhat, because she was actually resident at a small coastal town at the time. We joined her there and spent another three wonderful days based in her upstairs unit, again soaking in the coastal ambience. A highlight was when we all went on a day boat trip to the Kornati Islands - which are designated as a National Park. The beauty of these islands is in their spotted starkness (hence the term Dalmation coast); bare hills covered with rock formations that swirl around the land, cliffs rising straight up from sea and the numerous small bays and inlets set in pristine blue waters. We enjoyed a hearty lunch on the boat and the ‘one drink’ provided with it turned out to be one bottle of wine, not a glass.  This all set the scene for a three hour stop for swimming or just lying about, although Anne had the energy to climb to the top of the nearby hill.

 

 

The bay where we stopped to swim



Patterns of rock on the hills

A spotty "Dalmatian" island

Cliff ahead captain


 

Two happy travellers at days end

The grandchildren would love climbing Croatian trees

Even tourists need a holiday and that’s what we are doing now. We booked a unit in a small town on Hvar Island, listed as one of Croatia’s top ten islands. Upon arriving in the town of Split to catch the ferry, we were caught in an electrical storm with heavy rain, which didn’t seem like a good start. But once on our way the rain cleared and we have had beautiful sunny weather in which to enjoy the beach just 100 metres from the house.

Cars driving onto the ferry.
Below is our ferry's 'twin'. There are many ferries and catamarans that take passengers to the islands Many private vessels use these waters, from small sail boats to the yachts of the very rich.

We swim every day, drive around a little, rest a lot and generally relax. Yesterday we drove to the main town of Hvar and while there climbed to the top of the hill to an old fortress, being rewarded with great views of the town.

Blue waters, white houses with red roof tops against a green or rocky white background make up a typical coastal Croatian scene of which we never tire

We returned via a narrow back road that wound its way up and down the mountains, with blind corners, no guard rails and steep drops down the side.  The views, when we were able to look, were marvellous being able to see the coast on both sides of the island.  

The hill tops are patterned with lines of rock, evidence of past lives in this area

Beaches in Croatia are different than our Australian beaches. There are very few sand beaches; instead you enter the water from the rocks (sometimes concreted to make a small platform) or from a pebble beach. The absence of sand is made up for by the clear waters with no waves, and no sharks or stingers. Having learnt to see the good in everything, we note that there is also no sand-grit to remove from cars, clothes or carpets. 

Our 'beach' and bay on Hvar Island

 

Relaxing at our apartment

 

 

Upon leaving Hvar we intend to go further down the coast to Dubrovnik, again a top tourist destination in Croatia. From there we drive to Bulgaria, arriving on the 6^th August, to stay with another host. This requires driving through Bosnia- Herzegovina and Serbia, countries of which our only recollection is of the war of some 20 years ago. It will be good for us to have these images changed by the reality of people who have moved on to rebuild their lives, just as has happened in Croatia.