Bosnia

Sorry for the late entry.  I've been working evenings for the last bit.  This is the last one though!

From Dubrovnik I headed north into Bosnia and Herzegovina, more specifically, the town of Mostar.  Mostar was hit hard during the fighting of the early 90s.  Initially the Serbs were attacking the predominantly Muslim (Bosniak) city, but there is/was also a large Croat population as well.  The Serbs were driven out, but then the Croat inhabitants became afraid of losing their ground in the area and started fighting within the city against the Bosniaks.  The city became literally divided into two parts with a major road in between being the front line.  This ethnic separation was not nearly as strong in pre-war times, and there were many people who did not even know what their heritage was.  The Bosniaks are pretty liberal Muslims and many identify with it as a culture and heritage, but not so much with the Islamic religion.

The fighting decimated a lot of buildings, many of which still lay ruined today.  Some, with international funding, have been repaired, and others were partially prepared by original inhabitants.  The ethnic divide is larger than ever with fights breaking out between youth on opposite sides frequently during events like soccer matches.  While there used to be one secondary school, police station, etc. there is now two of everything.  Perhaps the biggest property loss in Mostar was a 16th century bridge in the old town that the Croats bombed.  It has since been rebuilt in the same manner, with the same materials, as the original bridge.

Destroyed building in Mostar

Stari Most (old bridge) in Mostar

From Mostar I continued north to Sarajevo (where, unfortunately, it was still 36 degrees!).  Sarajevo is probably the most well-known area of fighting from the Yugoslavia breakup as its inhabitants were held under a medieval style seige for almost 4 years by the Serbs.  11 000 people died from starvation, snipers, bombings.  Snipers were positioned on all of the high buildings and would literally pick of civilians crossing roads and whatnot.  They would have to run or hide behind UN vehicles to avoid (or try to) being shot.  The main road for this has been dubbed "Sniper Alley" and runs by the infamous Holiday Inn which housed a lot of journalists and UN workers.  The UN was able to maintain control of the airport so some supplies were able to make it through that route.  The Sarajevans managed to build an 800m tunnel from the city to an outlying farm to transport supplies through, even running gas and electricity through it.  There was a really well done exhibit at the museum on personal stories from the seige that was also pretty chilling.  I can't imagine what four years of living in constant fear would be like.  There was also a museum at the entrance of the war tunnel.  

The War Tunnel

The Holiday Inn (yellow building) along Sniper Alley

Besides the terrible war history, Sarajevo was a neat city.  It is very multicultural with mosques, synagogues, and Christian churches all sharing the old town.  It is also the city where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, which fueled the start of WW1.  There is a very lively night life with bars and restaurants everywhere (and packed with tourists and locals alike).  There are many festivals throughout the year, including the Sarajevo Film Festival which was actually started during the seige as a way to lift people's spirits and has continued since.  I went rafting again here on the Neretva River which was great in the crazy heat wave they were experience.

And that's my trip!  I also met a ton of interesting, friendly, amazing people from all over the world along they way.  Honestly, they made my trip and gave me inspiration to keep travelling!  This will unfortunately be my last longer trip for quite some time, but that's ok as I need to figure out my next destination anyways.  South America?  Tanzania?  Western Europe?  Middle East?  

Dubrovnik

My last destination in Croatia was the quintessential Croatian destination, the Pearl of the Adriatic - Dubrovnik.  It is the old town located on the rocky shore surrounded by formidable walls that attracts all the tourists, and there are LOTS of them.  Every day cruise ships land here offloading their passengers for a day of perusing the town.  I spent 3 days here so was able to sometimes avoid the major crowds by hitting some of the places in the early morning or evening.

The walls are something like 1.5 miles around and walking around the old town gives some great views.  It sits right on a cliff by the sea with a port in it.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site and houses some great architecture within the walls including one of the world's oldest pharmacies, cathedrals, and a rectory.One of my favorite features was the fountains in old stone statues and fixtures that constantly spewed fresh, cold, clear, drinking water.  The streets are a labyrinth of stairs, shops, and restaurants, with one main drag down the middle.  You would never have known that the Serbs attacked the Old Town and its walls directly with mortar shells and whatnot in the early 90s.  It has been repaired and the only give away is the slightly less worn, brighter stones, that are replaced replicas.

I was lucky enough to catch the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra playing in the open-air Rector's Palace.  It was a beautiful and intimate concert made all the more magestic by its venue.

The symphony set up in the Rector's Palace

Besides swimming in the Adriatic of the concrete pier (very refreshing in the heat!), I also took one morning to hike to the top of "Mount" Srd (more of a hill).  It offered some beautiful views of the city and at the top was Fort Imperial, built by Napolean's cronies in the 1800s.  It was put into use again in the 90s and as the Serbs held Dubrovnik in a seige, this remained one of the only Croat strongholds that they never lost, and were able to mount a defense from.  

Panorama of Dubrovnik from the hike up Mount Srd with Old Town and walls to the left

Split and the Islands

Before leaving Slovenia I made a quick morning detour to Skojcan Caves. Because of all of the limestone, there are a couple massive cave systems secondary to underground rivers. It was very cool to walk through (temperature wise as well as jaw dropping). I couldn't take pictures inside so I recommend googling it!

From Slovenia I made a loooong overnight train journey through Zagreb to Split, down on the Dalmation coast of Croatia. It wasn't terrible (there were only 2 of us in a compartment so I could lay down across 3 sleeps and sleep), and was MUCH better than the overnight bus trip I took later in my trip. So I arrived in Split in the wee hours of the morning and had lots of time to do some wandering before I could even check into my hostel. Split is the location of the palace of the 51st Roman Emperor, Diocletian, around 300 AD. The city has been built around the palace and it is fully integrated in the streets of the main pedestrian area of the city.  A museum of the underground chambers of the palace is open to the public, as well as the bell tower.  In one of the above ground alcoves a male a capella group was singing traditional Dalmation songs.  It was beautiful and the acoustics were amazing.  I climbed the bell tower (a couple hundred old, narrow steps) for a great view of the city and harbour.

 Underground chambers

View from the Bell Tower

From Split I took a ferry to the island of Hvar, one of the more touristy stops along the coast.  The water of the Adriatic Sea is clear and blue, but much colder than I expected!  It is also the saltiest water I have swam in and would leave a visible film of white salt on your clothes and body.  The majority of the beaches here are pebble, not sandy beaches so not quite as nice for lounging on (Unless you're willing to pay for a chair of course).  It was HOT by this point too.  30+ everyday, without a cloud in the sky.  I spent one morning kayaking with a group to nearby small island.  It was a little hairy going across the channel as there are many boats whipping around, all of which are significantly larger and more powerful than my kayak!

An island off Hvar

Next was onto another, sleepier, island called Korcula.  There actually was a sandy beach on this island which was a nice change, but the most fun part of this stop was the hostel I stayed at and the people in it.  There was a great group of backpackers (both short and long term), including one who was a chef by trade. He had gotten in the habit of buying groceries everyday and making a delicious family style meal for the whole hostel (around 10 people when we were there).  Everyone chipped in 5 bucks and we ate like kings (and queens).  To go with our supper we had a very classy 2 litre coke bottle of red wine from a elderly man who didn't speak a word of English and made wine in his house.  At 8 bucks for 2 litres, it was pretty decent wine.  After this we headed into town for some drinks by the seaside, and ended the night crashing a Croatian neighbourhood party and having an interesting conversation with a gentleman there.  This is a story better elaborated in person so ask me if you get the chance!  All in all, a very good time.  

Lake Bled, Slovenia

From Ljubliana I continued to Bled, also in Slovenia. Bled is a town on the aptly named Lake Bled and is a quaint little town with lots of tourists (both foreign and Slovenian). Think a scaled-down version of Clear Lake, except there is a church on an island in the middle of the lake and a castle on a hill. From here I took a day trip that included hiking in the Julian Alps and rafting down the Soca River. The mountains were beautiful although it took 50 hairpin turns to get up and down from the pass we hiked.

You could see where one of the major front lines of WW1 was. Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungary Empire. When Italy joined the war, the front line (mostly defended by Germany) wove its way through the Julian Alps, some pretty intense terrain. Germany built a cable car from the mountains down into valley towns to get supplies up. We could see the remnants of this while walking, as well as some old bunkers. After driving back down into the valley we walked along the Soca River and some of its tributaries. This river is very clear, blue, and cold (about 8 degrees)! It was on this river that we went rafting, timed perfectly with the start of a thunderstorm. Nothing better than being on water with a metal paddle with lightening on the horizon. It was a lot of fun. Not too crazy, but almost fell out once. Definitely got drenched and was glad I had a wetsuit!

My last day in Bled, I did some hiking around the lake and to a nearby gorge. I went up to a viewpoint that gave me this postcard perfect view of Lake Bled.

Zagreb and Ljubliana

So as you know, I've already gone on, and returned from, my trip to the Balkans, but I decided to write this blog afterwards, figuring I could do a better job with my laptop than my ipod. And this way, I can include some of the lovely pictures I've taken. Enjoy and leave a comment or two if you like. I flew into Zagreb first, which is the capital of Croatia. It's population is similar to Winnipeg, but as there is a limit on the number of stories buildings can be (not very high), plus all of the old European architecture (don't ask me what kind - old pretty stuff), it definitely didn't feel the same. There is a main square close near the old town. Every city seemed to have an old town, usually with tons of pedestrian-only streets lined with cafe/bar/restaurant patio tables. It's a concept that I really wish we had adopted more in Canada.

Zagreb also has some neat museums. One I went to was the Museum of Broken Relationships. Basically people from all over the world have submitted objects that are emotionally connected to a relationship that ended, accompanied by a short paragraph about the object/relationship. Some of them ended due to a death or abuse, others were just bad, some were short lived young love, or just ran their course. The majority were happy or thoughtful, although some were sad. The objects were everything from toys (of both the child's and sexual variety), clothing, random trinkets, letters. Overall really neat. I also checked out a large cathedral (also old of course) that was pretty impressive.

I did a day trip from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes which is a huge complex of tiered waterfalls and lakes. Even though it was raining when I went, it was beautiful (although packed with people in some places). It is also the first of several UNESCO heritage sites I visited on my trip.

From Zagreb I took my first ever train ride (what a great way to travel!) to Ljubliana, the capital of Slovenia. The main old town/pedestrian area flanks and runs along the Ljublianca River (really creative). There are an obscenely large number of bridges across this river, majority of which are pedestrian as cars aren't allowed in the central old town area. Again, cafes everywhere, and gelato! There was a neat food market when I was there that had vendors from around the country selling sample sizes of food. All in all, a pretty little city.