The falling waters of croatia

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Howdy everyone,

This next chapter will be taking us from the coast to the mountains, back again and back to the mountains!

Last time we signed off we were just about to leave Dubrovnik and head to Bosnia-Hercogovinia to visit the town of Mostar. Mostar literally means 'bridge-keeper' and is named in honour of the elegant and beautiful 'stari most' (old bridge) which was built on order of Suleyman the Magnificent during the reign of the Ottoman empire back in the mid 1500s! And the bridge stood for an incredible 427 years - seeing out WW1 and WW2 before it was tragically shelled by the Bosnian Croat forces in November 1993.

The scars of the civil war are very potent and moving here in BiH (as the locals abbreviate the country's name). In this country at various times Serbian, Montenegran and Croatian forces were fighting over control. Stuck in the middle were the local residents who were doing their own battle for survival and Bosnian independence. At various times alliances broke down and at one point the Muslim and Croat forces who had been fighting together against Serbia fell out and began shelling the crap out of each other in the Mostar region. In Mostar we were driven down a main city street which was during the conflict the front line. It was just an ordinary street with apartment buildings and a school and shops. And it was the front line of the war in that city. It just seemed so inexplicable to us. Even now, more than ten years later, there are bombed out buildings and rubble that hasnt been rebuilt. The saddest part is definititely the destruction of the bridge though. It was rebuilt in in 2004 using the same building techniques as the original bridge.

We spent a lovely time walking all over the old city on either side of the bridge. Mostar is one of the prettiest and most charming cities to visit. The old city is small and compact and the focal point is either the bridge or the gorgeous mills which run on sloped cobbled weirs through the city streets. At night the town is lit with beautiful yellow lights and the bridge is lit up artfully. Naturally obtaining a 'bridge view' table was our priority for dinner!! Unfortunately we had picked Bosnian schoolies week to visit Mostar and the town was throbbing with high school graduates celebrating the end of their exams! Gotta say though - much classier celebrations than ours!

From Mostar we caught a train to the capital Sarajevo. The train wound its way through dramatic switchbacks, sometimes seeming to double back around particularly difficult mountain terrain. The scenery was dominated by glass still lakes and rivers in which the surrounding mountains were reflected. All in all some truly stunning landscapes.

Sarajevo was the other key site during the civil war conflict. For a harrowing four years from 1992 to 1995, the city of Sarajevo was surrounded and under seige by hostile forces, mostly Serbian. The local residents settled into a surreal lifestyle of growing vegies in their living rooms, crossing streets in the 'dash' to avoid sniper fire and other hardships. We toured the city museum which still had shelling damage and saw incredible material from survivors including concert programs where the orchestra played amidst rubble to keep people's spirits up! After the war, some 10,500 Sarajevans had been killed. In both Sarajevo and Mostar we saw graves where every single date in the plots was 1993 or 1994.

We mounted an adventurous visit out to a house near the airport runway to visit the Tunel Museum. During the seige the Sarajevan army engineers dug a 800m tunnel under the main runway to allow people, arms, food, soldiers to get in and out of the beseiged city. The beginning of the tunnel was concealed in a normal house. A section of the tunnel has been turned into a museum which is run by the family who still owns the house. This museum has been visited by dignitiaries and celebrities from around the world and was quite an eye opening experience.

We dont know if it was just the fact that we were visiting on a Sunday, but Sarajevo was a bit quiet/dead while we were there. We still undertook all the essential touristic activites though - a stroll through the main streets, visited the historical site of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinands assassination which kicked off WW1 (where Ev accurately re-enacted the event), visited a beer hall next to a brewery and had burek, turkish coffee and turkish delight in the Ottoman section of the old city. Leah considered the burek the absolute best she has ever had and she has had a LOT of burek in her time so this is a considered and expert opinion!

Next stop was a 7 hour bus ride back to the coast and Croatia. This was a long and tough bus trip which was rescued only by our lunchtime stop. Evan was transfixed by the alluring spectacle of an old fashioned wooden water wheel that was being harnessed to turn the spit on a whole roasting lamb. Only the lure of actually sampling the lamb was enough to drag him away from watching the spit turning!! Evan decreed it the best lamb ever.

Our destination on this trip was the intriguingly named Split. On intial reading up on Split we were not greatly inspired but once we arrived we easily fell under the spell of this lovely old city. Unlike many of the other old cities we had visited, the heart of Split is not medieval but an older palace built for Emperor Diocletician's retirement. The palace was completed in AD305. The pillars and temples to deities such as Jupiter are incredibly well preserved and as with all these places we marvel that the same streets and shop fronts are still being used over a thousand years later!

That night we set out on a mission to secure Evan the local delicacy of pasticada - a stew of beef in a combination of spices and flavours that is commenced some 48 hours before serving! Having tracked down a purveyor of this fine dish we enjoyed a night of fun at a tavern frequented by locals which we needed a lot of their help in finding!

Next day, after checking the weather forecast, we booked a ferry ticket to the island of Hvar. Unfortuantely when we had arrived in Split it had been raining heavily and the forecast was for more rain but we were determined to have our Adriactic island experience. Fortunatley our first afternoon was bright and sunny and we made the most of the sun by hiring deck lounges and setting up camp by a delightful stretch of beachfront property. After the setting sun finally forced us to relinquish we had a fabulous dinner on a terace where Evan sampled seafood and Leah had the one traditional vegetarian dish - a delicious spicy vegie stew.

The next day was raining so instead of hiring scooters Evan manned up and undertook to drive on the wrong side of the road from the wrong side of the car. After only one moment of wondering why we were being honked at and another car had screeched to a halt on the same side of the road as us, Evan took to this challenge in his stride. We toured the island including a couple of wineries which are really some guys garage where he sells his own wine from barrels. When we were offered a taste a glass was put to the spigot and we got a very fresh taste indeed! As the wine was only sold by the litre we handed over two 500ml water bottles and had those filled for 'half price' (the white was about A$4 per litre!!) The wine, particularly the local prosek - a dessert wine - was surprisingly good for such a young vintage!

The next day we bid farewell to the islands which looked set to continue their sad weather for the rest of the week and headed to Plitvice. At this point we need to say a huge big thank you to Tan without whom we would not have known to come here!!! And in this place we didnt mind that there was water falling on our heads! This visit - to one of Croatia's national parks was a true highlight of our trip so far. Plitvice is a region of turquoise-clear mountain lakes and waterfalls. The lakes and falls are so pristine that you can see all the way to the bottom of the deepest parts. The park is navigated via a series of walking trails, boardwalks, boat and bus trips. We opted for the 4-6 hour tour to make sure we got to see all the available sections of the park.

The waterfalls were truly stunning and amazing - particularly the Big Waterfall - Karlicky Slap. The Croatian word for waterfall is the delightfully onamatapoeia Slap!! Leah had her heart set on a particular view of the main falls and Evan helpfully figured out where the hell that was and found her a perfect lookout with the perfect view.

That night we splashed out on a fancy hotel right in the park which was greatly appreciated after our long walking tour! A much appreciated first bath with lots of hot water preceeded an eccentric meal in a Soviet style cafeteria restaurant where we just pointed to dishes which were then slapped onto our trays and we proceeded bemusedly to the checkout and ate at big communal tables. Very romantic!

Next day we headed to the capital of Zagreb. Zagreb, like Split, was a welcome surprise and exceeded our expectations. The city is perfectly designed for walkers and we had a truly wonderful time exploring the upper and lower old cities, visiting an art gallery, museum, the world's shortest and most ridiculous funicular (built in 1889) and a huge open air market.

A word about funiculars. We are obsessed with them. It is not just a passing thing with us. Ever since our first funicular in Santiago in Chile, if we are in a city with a funicular we must, absolutley must, ride on it. This is therefore why we waited ten minutes, paid 80c and rode in what must be the lamest and most pointless vehicle ever built which traversed a distance we could easily have walked in less than 30 seconds!!

Ev's Travel Tip: Never ever send your vegetarian wife out to forage for sausages on her own in a foreign city. She is just as likely to come back empty handed but for a button with a pig saying 'Dont Eat Me' in Croatian that she picked up at a PETA sponsored tofu tasting fair.

All in all we accorded our visit to Croatia a fabulous succcess and prepared for the marvels awaiting us in Slovenia.

Hope you are all well,

Lots of Love Leah and Evan
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Evan has kind of lost count of his beer and sausages. This is mostly due to the cevapcici in Bosnia and Croatia which is commonly served in buns in lots of three or four. Needless to say he is continuing to consume lots of both!!

We have seen Chinese restaurants in Sarajevo and Zagreb but nowhere else recently!

Castles have eased off a bit but will come back into their own very soon with Slovenia. Strudel however is going well - latest flavour is apricot, poppy seed and wild strawberry (all together) from a stall in Plitvice! Mmmmm.

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