Around the World with Marsha & Joel

A couple hours drive to the border between Croatia and the Republic of Montenegro. We’ve been doing a lot of border crossing during this trip, but we’ve been getting a 15 minute early jump on the other tour groups, making our wait time a bit less excruciating than having five busses ahead of us.

The drive toward Montenegro offers more spectacular views, but when you pass some of the villages you begin to understand that the Republic is much less affluent than it’s neighbor Croatia. Montenegro gained independence in 2006, much later than other Yugoslavian break-offs from Serbia. Inflation there was terrible so they borrowed the German Mark, and took on the Euro when Germany joined the EU. We’re getting pretty confused with all the mixed coins in our pockets. The population is 670,000+ and they have their own language. It’s surrounded by Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania, Slovenia.

The Bay of Kotor represents the best of Montenegro with it’s dramatic cliffs rising out of the Adriatic and it’s ancient towns, packed with history. The geography is undeveloped and rugged, very different from Croatia. The bay is actually an enormous fjord, one of the largest in Europe. As we drive, and drive around it, we see our destination. First this Island of St. George, a monastery now closed to tourists, and then…

…Our Lady of the Rocks, a flat island with a dome-topped Catholic church. Locals built the baroque church on this holy site, filling it with symbols of thanks for answered prayers.

A carver with a sense of humor created this cartoon-like table just outside the entrance.

And a ceiling, done by a local artist, that belies the exterior. An articulate young local man gives an unusually clear and extensive explanation of the history of the church and the many, many artifacts.

Imagine the likes of these filling every inch of space in the holy place. Many were done by locals as tribute.

If you look closely, these are dried flower bouquets left by brides who have married in the church. Unfortunately we are missing some un-loadable photos (that we’ll link to later) of things like silver votive plaques with images of ships and battles. Part of the church is a museum filled with an amazing, eclectic collection of artistic contributions.

We take a launch (the only way to get to the church) back to our bus and head off to the impressively located town of Kotor some 20 minutes away. There’s been a settlement at this location at least since the time of Christ. It’s beautiful preservation has earned it a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

Restored and preserved palaces inside the town…

…backed up by a steep cliff that that has an amazing network of fortifications. Take a close look at the stone walls, fortress and churches. It’s a long and arduous walk up (we didn’t have time…or energy) with no roads for vehicles. It’s a truly unspoiled Adriatic town.

There are a large number of varying churches and palaces since it’s 2,000 year history is layered with control by foreign powers like the Ilyrians, Romans, Serbs, Venetians, Russians, Napoleonic soldiers, Austrians, Tito’s Yugoslavia, and now Montenegrins.

Montenegro never had a coast until after WWI. The Ottoman Empire kept them from feeling safe, stranded on the plains, so they moved toward the coast to control that at least.

They have no real industry other than tourism – just a little bauxite mining for the aluminum industry. Russians tend to buy property here and the Orthodox religion plays a large part. The area is often called “Little Russia” – the Russian Adriatic Rivera. Montenegro also has the longest tourist season because it’s further south than the other Balkans. As we drive outside Kotor, cranes can be seen everywhere on the coast building extensive tourist facilities.

It’s been a long and exciting day, and we’re rewarded for our “hard work” with a beautiful change in the weather and some views that could easily be framed. Back to Dubrovnik where we’ve made reservations for one of the best and most scenic restaurants in the area (recommended by some good friends who took this trip a couple of years ago).

The atmosphere ain’t bad at Restaurant Orsan, just a five minute walk around the harbor from our hotel. It’s al fresco dining and with a little chill in the air, the maitre’d brings us all blankets. But it feels warmer as the sun sets and the wind dies.

The food ain’t bad either. Scrumptious tuna carpaccio (again) for an appetizer. Then grilled squids (as they say) over chard and potatoes. Lots of other goodies for everyone.

And a great time had by all with some of our favorite travel companions. Andi (left foreground) was celebrating her birthday (like Marsha, for at least three weeks according to husband Stan). Her sister Ruth from Connecticut and Don from Pennsylvania rounded out the table and helped get through the really good local wine. Splitting the bill was a lot of fun (in retrospect) since we had a group of three, a group of two, and a group of one. Thank goodness Stan is a CPA – he needed all his skills for this one, including wrapping paper napkin totals around each credit card. You should have seen the looks on the waiters’ faces. I think they’re still shaking their heads.

Off to bed to get ready for our last full day. Some are staying to further explore Dubrovnik and relax a bit, while “crazy” ones like Marsha and Joel will take the three hour trip to see Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina…and three hours back.

Talk about picturesque, or storybook, and Dubrovnik has to come to mind.

Sorry to be blocking the view. We arrived in the early morning for a guided tour of the traffic-free, winding cobblestone streets and red tile roofs within the walls. We realized immediately what the cruise ship industry is doing to charming, small places like this.

Busses circled the walls and we had to hold hands so we wouldn’t get separated as we entered the gate. Fortunately there were only two or three ships that day. We had the same problem in Venice last year as cruise ships have only recently been permitted to dock nearby. The jury is still out as to how the balance of pristine beauty and swarms of onlookers will effect these places. Hopefully this “Pearl of the Adriatic” will fare well.

During the tour we walked by Dubrovnik’s Synagogue. It’s Europe’s second oldest Synagogue and Croatia’s only Jewish Museum. Later in the day we returned on our own (SmarTours is good in that they give you plenty of free time) to explore the museum and the active temple.

Here’s a view from the back past the bimah to the holy ark. There was a balcony just above where the women joined the services when the Synagogue was Orthodox. It’s not anymore, but there is still an active, 45 member congregation that has a Rabbi from Zagreb come in just a few times a year to conduct services. The museum has a 13th Century torah and many holocaust-era artifacts.

Since the old town and the wall are swarming with tourists we decided to take a boat to the nearby island of Lokrum. It’s a natural preserve just 15 minutes ride from the Dubrovnik harbor and an oasis of quiet, natural beauty and welcome surprises.

It’s a real contrast to the man-made charm of the old city and boasts a botanical garden…

…a dip in the “Dead Sea”, a pool fed by an underground tunnel from the Adriatic that non-claustrophobic swimmers (who can hold their breath for a minute) can navigate…

…to out of this world views (of the old city too)…

…to one of the most delicious lunches we had the entire trip. Lightly smoked tuna carpaccio with capers, local shrimp, white anchovies, and an amazing octopus salad with tomatoes and local herbs that converted Marsha into an octopus lover (really).

We returned to the old city of Dubrovnik in mid afternoon, after the hoards from the cruise ships had departed and pretty much had the place to ourselves. We explored the back alleys, medieval churches and palaces and then made our way up to the “City Wall” for the piece d resistance of the day.

The thick, age-old walls encircle the entire city (about the size of Bordentown) with hundreds of levels, steps and exposed vistas both to the inside and out. Besides defense, it has always been a place for romantic walks by city residents.

In fact, people still live there, evidenced by this basketball court (by a school?), and many apartments where we could see the residents enjoying their yards and hanging their laundry. A VERY expensive place to live, and a bit of a fish bowl…I don’t know???

But oh what views in every direction. Here are a few with no annoying comments….

(Have to break the silence to point out Bar Number 2, set on the ledges outside the wall, overlooking the Adriatic sunset. A unique place where locals, and knowing, brave visitors can have a beer or a glass of wine…and a VIEW!)

One last look (Lokrum island in the background) and we reluctantly walk out the gate to catch the number 6 bus back to our hotel and dinner at a local restaurant. What a gorgeous, highlight-filled day. Tomorrow we venture out of Croatia again, this time to the Republic of Montenegro. Get to bed. It’s an early wakeup.

Picturesque Split lies on the center of the Dalmatian coast between the sea and the mountains. It’s an ancient town built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

The Emperor’s Palace was built in the 3rd century and is the focus of our visit to Split. Just beyond the facade you see above was Diocletian’s walkway under arches stretching 600 feet in each direction.

The palace is an engineering marvel. As you enter this lower space you have to understand that this great area was built just to support the emperor’s living space above, echoing it exactly. He wanted to have his quarters and walkways literally touch the edge of the Adriatic.

To accomplish that he had crews of workers build wooden rooms into the slope of the Adriatic shore and push out the walls while evacuating the water to make space for these support structures that mirror the spaces above. They needed s0 much material that they even developed an ancient mass production system that speeded up the process.

Perhaps this was the place where Daenerys Targaryen’s’ dragons entered and were held. For our “Game of Thrones” devotees, many of the scenes were filmed here (we think during season six). Much of the “Game’s” scenes were filmed in Croatia. More about it later…if we remember (remind us).

Not much of the original palace remains above the vaulted basement, but what does is extraordinarily graceful and a marvel of architecture and engineering.

Diocletian ruled as empower for an extraordinary 20 years – A.D. 284 to 305 and actually retired here – very unusual for an emperor. He lived to be c.75 in an age where the average age for men was in the low to mid forties.

The palace took only 11 years to build. More than 2,000 slaves died during construction.

Exiting the palace we get serenaded by a group of Dalmatian musicians. They were good, but we skipped the CDs.

Instead, we walked the farmers’ market just outside the gates where they were selling these really fresh, skinny asparagus, local strawberries and cherries. A 1/2 kilo of cherries helped ease any infrequent hunger pains.

Lunch on the Riva, overlooking the Adriatic was ok…the bread was good, but hard to taste the one slice of prosciutto and the bit of lettuce. Not indicative of the delicious food in the area. But we laughed ourselves silly watching a clown following and imitating strollers along the walk. (Unfortunately photos of the clown didn’t download, but we’ll add them in the addendum when we get home).

Now we drove a couple of hours down the coast until this vista of romantic Dubrovnik opened up.

We stopped the coach for a vista of the area and the old city before heading down to our hotel on the waterfront.

The weather has really been cooperating, even though each day’s prediction has been for overcast, rain and much cooler than we’re experiencing. We’ll cross our fingers for the next few days here. tomorrow we’ll be touring the old city and walking its 3 km wall. Put on your walking shoes and let’s go.