A surprising find at Mlini

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There is a promise of a weather change today and the day starts out with dark clouds overhead.It is still quite warm although we expect that once the rain arrives it will cool of somewhat.
We have nothing planned again for today and because of that we didn't even think about getting out of bed until 9am when we started to get a bit hungary for breakfast.
After the problem with getting the poached eggs out of the pan without the right utensil we decide on scrambled egg instead smothered with a generous portion of Vegemite from our sqeezeable tube which hopefully may last this whole adventure.
We had to abandon breakfast on the terrace though as the rain came just as we were ready for the first course of cereals.Thankfully our room is well equipped with a table and chairs indoors as well for these type of occasions.
It didn't take long for the thunder and lightening to arrive as well and so we watched the display from inside but with the terrace doors wide open as it is still warm despite the rain.
The show didn't last long and although the rain stopped,the sky didn't clear completely.
We had enough left over from yesterday for lunch again today so we didn't have to stroll the 100 metres or so down to the shop before lunch.However as we were getting ready to have lunch outdoors the thunder and lightening returned this time with the loudest clap of thunder we think we have ever heard.We wouldn't have been surprised had something been blasted off the roof with the noise!!!
Once that lot cleared and lunch was over we thought we better get back down to the shop for dinner items just in case it closed early being a Saturday.
Gretchen suggested we walk around the back of the shop we had been going to as there was another supermarket further over and it proved to be a good decision as this supermarket had a much wider choice and variety.
We have been hanging out for fish but we don't think we are going to get that here and may have to wait for one of our stops as we head up the Adriatic coast.We did end up with fish for tonights dinner but in the form of fish fingers!!!
We passed the afternoon just lazing on the terrace now that the rain and thunder had cleared.
Before we indulged in anymore beer or wine we thought we better earn it and so a walk was decided upon and in the late afternoon we set off back to the beach with the idea of going further around the coastline than we ventured yesterday.
What we found was a complete surprise to us!!
Between our hotel and the sea is a small rise which from our location we cannot see over the top of and out to the sea in that direction.
As we rounded the corner from Mlini following a concrete path we came across another beach with people swimming.Just back from the beach around the whole curve of the bay were five bombed out buildings,all of which looked to have been hotels.Now they were deserted and badly damaged by weapons.We had had absolutely no idea that the buildings were here yet they are only a stones throw away from where we are staying.
Dubrovnik came under attack and was sieged for 4 months in 1991 by the JUG(Serbs) and the Montenegrians whose border is just a few kilometres south.It would seem that at the time of the siege when 95% of the buildings in the old city area of Dubrovnik were hit and damaged that these 5 relatively new hotels(at that time 14 years ago) had also been attacked by the same forces setting siege to Dubrovnik just 6 kilometres away.
We could hardly believe our eyes as we looked at the shell of the substanial buildings that still stand here in disrepair 14 years after the war finished and we can only sumaise that the building and land are owned by foreign interests who as yet have not come back to reclaim and either repair or demolish the buildings.
We felt we were on another planet as we stood amongst the charred and damaged concrete buildings.What a sheer waste in such a beautiful beach location.!!!The buildings which must have each had at least 100 rooms,were of a design that probably didn't age them much more than 15 years or so old.
We left the area and walked back to our hotel feeling rather astonished by what we had seen.
After our dinner of fish fingers we spent some time on the internet trying to find out more about the damage inflicted on this area by the Serbs and Montenego and ended our day much more informed than we started.

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Photos

What a waste
Who was the smart ass who did the sign writing !!

Comments

[Chris]

Cheap purchase
Perhaps you could sell up in Tauranga, buy the best of the bombed buildings, turn it into cheap accommodation and cater for the British backpacker. What a life!

[MM]

surprising find at Mlini
Actually, the damaged hotel complex is not in Mlini.The destroyed place is called Kupari. In the 80's it used to be a retirement resort for members of the yugoslav army.when the war started in 1991 they had to leave so the burned the place down Mlini is a village where I live, and is located 2 km to the south Cheers M

[samantha bruce]

bombed hotels
I was staying in Mlini in 2005 and took a walk around the coastline and to my amazement came across these bombed out hotels, I still think about them today, so was surprised to find this article. I was actually researching to see if they had been bought up and rebuilt/renevated in some way. Its a shame they are still in the same state in 2009 as they were in 2005. Its now 2011 2 years on and I'm wondering if anything yet has been done to them. A bit more of the history of what happened would be nice to know. Maybe a large hotel chain will consider taking them under thier wing and doing them justice again. What a waste and what an eery experience when you walk around them.