Split

The last place on the trip before going back to Frankfurt was Split, Croatia.  Split was like Dubrovnik, only bigger, older, and (to me, at least) with more personality.

 

 



 

 

It was also hot.  It was supposed to get up to 70 degrees that day, but I think it was closer to 80...and I didn't have clothes for that kind of weather.  In Dubrovnik I had bought a Croatian national soccer team jersey for my brother, and I had to wear it in Split (Sorry, Will!). I was much more comfortable (some gelato helped, too), but I have never felt more like a tourist.     

 

via

 

 

 

 

24 Hours in Bosnia

After Dubrovnik, it was on to Bosnia. We stopped in Medjugorje, a small town that has become a pilgrimage site for Catholics. In 1981 several children from the area reported seeing the Virgin Mary on top of the hill; her message to the children was that members of all faiths are equal under God.  It makes perfect sense to me that Mary would appear and give that message to people in Bosnia; what I don't get is what those kids were doing up there.

I am sorry to report that I didn't make it to the place where the children saw the Virgin Mary.  I tried, but I went about halfway. Some of the rocks had sharp points, and most were slippery because of the rain.  I am a wimp.

I got this far...



...and then I stopped. You can see part of what I didn't climb below.

Next stop was MOSTAR.

 

Above: the famous Mostar Bridge; when it is warm, guys will dive off the bridge for money (the water was still too cold in April). Below: the marketplace in Mostar; it reminded me a little of the bazaar in Istanbul, but without people hassling you to buy stuff. 

We only had a few hours to spend in Mostar, because we wanted to get to Sarajevo before dark. We barely made it. By the time we checked in the hotel and made our way to downtown, the sun was going down, which is why I don't have many pictures of Sarajevo (Who cares about photos??? We had to buy stuff before the shops closed, and we had to eat!)  I can't explain it, but I just got a good feeling about the place...so much so that I have already booked a ticket to go to Sarajevo on a long weekend next fall. So, consider this a very short preview.

 

The famous bridge where Serb Gavrilo Princip shot Franz Ferdinand and set off WWI. Its original name was the Latin Bridge, but after the assassination, it was named after the assassin, Princip! Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, it is again called the Latin Bridge.

 

 

 

 

I took a picture of the restaurant so I will remember it for next time.  We feasted on cevapcici, sudzukice, salata sopska, and kajmak--all for about four Euros per person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

downtown Sarajevo

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we were drove through the Bosnian countryside, en route to our last stop on the trip: Split, Croatia.

 

 

 



Dubrovnik

I was so excited to get to Dubrovnik! I had heard so much about the walled city that I was sure I would fall in love with it.

I guess I had heard too much.  Dubrovnik was beautiful, but was it more amazing than what I had already seen in Montenegro? I am not sure.

 

I think I had imagined Dubrovnik to be a lot larger than it was. We seemed to be walking in circles, asking, "Is this it?"  I was also wondering how where we were could be the "old town". Dubrovnik was shelled a lot during the war, but it has all been restored.  It may have been an old town, but it all looked pretty new.  Nothing seemed out of place; it was too perfect for me. I'd be willing to give it another try, though, if I had the opportunity. :)

The restored post office; the posters show what the building looked like during the war in 1991 

 

 

 

Montenegro

After Albania, we headed to Montenegro.  Our destination was the Bay of Kotor, but I didn't know for sure if we were going to make it that day. One reason: JG was agressively driving through the mountains and the rain; two, there were lots of narrow roads, some of which were under construction; three, it was so beautiful that we kept stopping along the way to look (and take pictures, of course).   

above: the coast on our left; below: mountains on our right 

short detour: Orthodox monastery on the coast near Petrovac



Above: Orthodox icon at the entrance of Budva...it's a little fuzzy because of the heavy rain. Thanks to the weather, though, we had the old town of Budva to ourselves!

Three of us were on this road trip, and all three of us had Montenegro as one of the highlights of the trip. That's pretty amazing considering it rained about 75% of the time we were there. Maybe it was because we had more time to relax there than any of the other places (we were in Montenegro for TWO days!), or maybe it was just that the whole country looked like a postcard. 

 view of the Bay of Kotor from our balcony in Muo

old town Kotor; at night the fortress in the mountains is lit up

more clouds than tourists in old town Kotor

On our way out of Montenegro, we still kept stopping to look. One place we stopped to look at more than once was Perast and its man-made island, Lady of the Rock.

above: town of Perast; below Lady of the Rock island, created in the 15th century

Albania

We arrived in the capital of Albania, Tirana, a little later than expected because we spent more time in Kosovo.  I thought we might actually make up some of that time when I saw how nice the highway was...until we got closer to Tirana.  Then the road went from this

to this.

I had heard that Albanian roads were bad, and I had heard a lot of other things about Albania, too, and most of them were not good. When JG told the Serbian border patrol guy that our travel plans included Albania, he threw up his hands. "No! No! No! Macedonia, Montenegro, it's OK, but no Albania!"  Our Macedonian host was more diplomatic about it, but he, too, said that Albania had the reputation of having lots of mafiosos and criminals.  I honestly didn't see that. I can't give more than my quick impressions of Albania, because, truth be told, we were there about 20 hours, at least a third of which I was sleeping, and another third we were on the road. This is what I know:


1. Some of the Albanian roads were the worst I'd seen on the trip. I was wondering if some of them are left that way on purpose, since some of the drivers were the worst I'd seen on the trip...maybe the bad roads slow them down?!

The car on the right drove on the shoulder until the exit...and drove the wrong way on that, too. (photo courtesy of LC)

2. The name for Albania in Albanian isn't Albania. In English, Spanish and Italian, it's Albania; German: Albanien; in Albanian, it's SHQIPERI. (I would love to know where "Albania" came from.)

3.  Albanian people are really friendly. Not knowing what to expect, I did hang on to my purse more tightly there than in other places, but really, Albanian people were super nice! Tirana was the only place where people stopped and asked us if we needed help, and they took the time to give really good directions.



4. Albanians are hard-working people. People in the countryside seemed pretty industrious.  We saw lots of small farms and gardens in front yards. Even right outside of Tirana you can see people walking their cows or goats (yes, walking them).

6.  Tirana is a bustling city. People were dressed up and ready to go out...on a Monday night. Contrary to the impression you might get from movies, people generally looked happy and appeared to have full sets of teeth. 

downtown Tirana

6. Two words I learned in Albanian: faleminderit (thank you) and shitet (for sale). One I said a lot; the other I read a lot.

7.  Albanians ♥ America. Tirana is the only place outside of the U.S. where I have seen so many American flags: they lined the main highway, they were on official Albanian buildings, they were even in random restaurant windows. There were more Albanian flags, of course, and some EU flags, but American flags far outnumbered the EU flags.  It was an unfamiliar, yet very comforting, feeling. (It's not just my opinion, either. The Albanians' love for the U.S. was the subject of this NYT article.)

 

restaurant in downtown Tirana with American flag and Albanian flag in the window (courtesy of LC)

George W. Bush has his own busy street in downtown Tirana; the cross street is named after an Albanian writer/politician/hero

roadside paintings of flags--I can't remember if the one on the left is a EU flag or Kosovo flag (courtesy of LC)

8. Albania is a place I'd like to go again...maybe not to sight-see, but just to hang out.  The food was good and inexpensive, the people were great, and the country isn't very tourist-y.  I'd like to see the coast, too!

roadside map of Albania