Dubrovnik

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Orbach and I are just wrapping up our time in Dubrovnik, we leave tomorrow morning by bus to start heading up the coast.

Dubrovnik is probably best known for it's city walls. It has a beautiful old walled city with very high walls. The old town is very beautiful with many churches, cafes, and restaurants. There is even an old synagogue there. Other than the old town there really isn't a whole lot to do in town as it isn't yet high season and we haven't had the greatest of luck with the weather.

So the last two days (today and yesterday) we decided to take some day trips to neighbouring cities,

Yesterday we went to Mostar - a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina about 1.5 hours from Dubrovnik. Mostar was heavily bombed during the war and there is still a lot of evidence of the damage today. It was a bit bizarre. Mostar is also very famous for the footbridge in the old town which joins the muslim and catholic sides of the city. Spending a few hours there was interesting. We had a short guided tour of the old town. Afterwards we visited an old Turkish house which was really cool! It had been left (or had been restored) completely intact with traditional floor coverings, furniture, and artwork. Being on an organized tour in a place like Mostar felt a bit weird. While it was a very interesting and beautiful place, I felt a bit like we were all there to gawk at the damage and devastation from the war.

Today we went to Montenegro - and the day had a completely different feel. We saw very little evidence of the war and the focus of the tour was the scenery and relaxing a bit. Our first stop was a very old town called Kotor. As we pulled up it was raining torentially!!! Thankfully it passed after a little while and ended up turning into a beautiful day. It is also a fortified town and is a UNESCO heritage site. It's city walls are among the longest in the world at 4.5 km. The town itself was very beautiful and we had a great guide which was nice. There is a church in the town dating from 807! I wish we had more time there so that we could have walked up the city walls (I probably should mention they traversed a really steep slope). After that, we continued driving to a more resort type town called Budva. Here we had lunch and walked around. Also very pretty but had none of the charm of Kotor. There is a lot of development happening here - hotels, resorts etc. The drive itself was very scenic (kind of reminiscent of the 18 hour car ride...but shorter!).

Pictures to come soon! Tomorrow morning we are off to Hvar - an island off the coast

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Comments

[Debbie (Mom)]

Really enjoyed reading this. Too bad the weather has not been cooperative, it can make all the difference. I guess you are in countdown mode as this portion of your travel adventures come to an end. XXOO