DAY 108 So we are on our way from Split to Ljubljana, Slovenia (Loo be yarna). Francine and Angie thought that they would be really really smart and take the back seat of the bus so that they could stretch out during the night and have a good night's sleep. So we raced to the back seats and were lucky because there were very few people on the bus. Our luck held out until about the 6, 7 stop and then a women and daughter had to sit in the back with us. But people got out a couple a stops later and they moved. Then about 11pm a group of 4 people came on the bus and there were no other seats so 3 of them had to seat in the back with us, Francine ... read more

DAY 106 Dubrovnik to Mostar to Split?! VIA Makarska We have decided to take the 8:00 AM bus to the Split this morning via Mostar, Bosnia & Hercegovina. It's about three hours to Mostar. We drive along the coast of Croatia is the most beautiful of all coastlines. The little villages tucked into the valleys and the small marinas scattered along make this such a scenic picturesque drive and we then head inland. The border crossing is uneventful and we don't even get a stamp in our passport. Nobody even knows that we have been there. The customs officials look at our passports for a second and nod. We want a stamp to add to our collection. 11.30am and Mostar. We check the bus time tables to see if it is feasible to go to Medugorje. ... read more

DAY 104 What can we say about the 12 hour bus ride from Belgrade, Serbia to Kotor, Montenegro, other than we now have 101 ways to sleep on a bus seat. Angie's favorite one is to stretch our with her legs going across the aisle resting in the empty seat. No one needed the aisle anyway until the stops. Francine's most comfortable way to sleep was to curl up facing the seats and her head on her blow up pillow. The only problem was when the bus breaked and she nearly fell on the floor. During the night around 2am we stopped at the Serbian border, the border patrol kept looking and leafing through Angie's passport like something was missing. He said something to her in Serbian and Angie replied that she didn't understand. He just ... read more

DAY 101 We depart Delphi for Athens this morning. We take a two hour bus ride to the west side of the city then taking the Metro to our hotel. Since Pearle can not walk for any distance she is put into a cab and so is much of the groups luggage. This helps as we can use the metro with better mobility than being laden down with the heavy bags. We arrive at the hotel and we are once again rearranging our luggage as we have left some things at the hotel storage room prior to going to the Peloponnese. We have heard that two of our group can't find their passports and then Yvonne goes back to her room to check hers and finds that she also is missing a pouch that contained her ... read more

DAY 96 Waking up in Sparta. The town of about 60,000 people had been built pretty much on the old ruins. So the town appears to be realitively new. There are a few ruins exposed but not really that much to spend time searching out according to our guide. So we take a day trip to the ancient city of Mystras, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mystras is the only surviving expamle of a Byzantine palace complex in all of Greece. The complex was the seat of the despot of Moreas. There are several monasteries and many churches in the palace complex. Many started in the 1300's with the fortress being built in the mid 1200's and sits at the top of the mountain. The last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, was despot at Mystras ... read more