Bled, Slovenia

We went on a walking tour of Ljubljana this morning.  We finished the tour with coffee along the river.  It's a gorgeous fall day.  Not too much color in the trees here yet, but the weather is beautiful.

We arrived in Bled shortly after noon.  We toured a dilapidated castle, then went on a boat ride across Lake Bled to a very small island to see an old church church from the 12th century.  After the boat ride we drove up the mountain to another castle; this one was restored and included a restaurant, a museum, a wine cellar, gift shop, etc.

The last castle tour signaled the end of our tour of the Balkans, so we are now traveling independently again.  Will we be able to have a nice and relaxing final week before going home, or are we so used to touring new places every day that we won't be able to break the habit?

We stopped in the middle of town for coffee by the river.  What a great fall day.

The University is located in the city.  It has a little over 30,000 students.

This castle was built in the 12th century.  It is not too long from Bled and was a contemporary to the castle there.  In the 1700 the castle was abandoned and scavenged for a monastery.

This is the view of the castle from our room in Bled.  The castle was started in 1011.  It was eventually given to the Bishop here and remained in the church until the 1600s.

Here is a slightly different view from our window.  The castle is above and next to the town cathedral.  There is also a very pretty church located on an island in the lake (not visible here).

Here is the church on an island with the castle in the background.  The oldest structures on the island date to about 800 BC.  The church was started in the 1100s and reached its present size in the 18th century.  It is said that if you make a wish in the church and ring the bell three times your wish will come true!  Sandy and I rang the bell, but since we are good Lutherans we did not make a wish.

The city of Bled as seen from the castle walls!

The lake as seen from the castle walls.  The church is on the small island you can see at the far side of the lake.

Ljubljana,Slovenia

We have a new guide/driver today.  He picked us up at our hotel in Zagreb, along with the other couple from our Balkan tour group who is continuing to Slovenia, and we headed for the border.

Our first stop in Slovenia was to Predjama Castle - a castle started in the 12th century and built into a vertical cliff.  Behind the castle are limestone caves that run for many kilometers, which made this a perfect place to defend oneself against one's enemies.

After the castle visit we visited Postojna Cave, the 3rd largest cave in the world, with passages up to 17 miles long.  We rode a little railroad car for about 15 minutes, into the interior of the cave, then walked through some of the passages for about an hour.  We've been in several caves around the world, and I have to say that this one is most impressive!

We are spending the night in Ljubljana, which is the capital of Slovenia.  It is a delightful city.  Weather is perfect and people are out in droves this evening, having coffee in the outdoor cafes, biking along the cobblestone streets, and listening to musicians in the city squares.  Up until last night I said Zagreb was my favorite city on this tour, but I think it has been displaced by Ljubljana.

The castle was quite unique having been built into a cave in the cliff.  It was only under siege once by the Austrians.  The siege ended when a lucky cannon shot went into a window and killed the Lord of the castle.

Sandy enjoyed the view from the castle.

You entered the cave by taking a 30 minute electric train ride (at a very good clip) winding through the formations.  It almost seemed like a Disney ride!

The "rain" on the roof was interesting.

After a 45 minute walk around the cave you took another 20 minute train ride back out - a lot of fun!

The town of Ljubljana is dominated by the fortress on the hill.

The restaurant we ate at was excellent.  They even made their own beer!

It was dark by the time we got back to the "Palace Hotel" where we are staying.

Zagreb

Last night we were at a national park and didn't have internet, so if you were waiting, with baited breath, for our blog....sorry about that!

When we left Split, we visited three more cities on the Dalmatian coast, two of them from Roman times, and the other started by the Venetians.

We made it to Plitvice Lakes National Park at the end of the day (that's where we had no internet).  This morning we took a short boat ride and then a 1 1/2 hour walk through the park before boarding our bus for the two hour ride to Zagreb.  Zagreb is the most western city we've been in on the Baltic Peninsula.  It's sometimes called a "Little Vienna" due to the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After we toured the city it was time for our farewell dinner.  We said good-bye to two of our tour participants tonight and we will say good-bye to our tour leader tomorrow morning when we head to Slovenia.

Trogir was an interesting medieval city built on a small island.  In 1380 the Venetians built this castle at the Baltic entrance to the harbor to protect the island.  Originally there was a most around it.  It was never taken in battle.

In Sibenik we visited the cathedral of St. James.  It is the only Renaissance building known that was built using pre fabricated elements!  It was built by the Venetians in 1431 using a new technique of fabricating sections and then bringing them here and erecting them.

 Originally it was thought that Zadar was founded by the Venetians, however during WWII the town was heavily bombed revealing an underlying Roman town!  Here you can see the foundations of the Roman forum, the Venetian meeting house (yellow), the tower of the Orthodox church (Croats), and the Bishop's church (Napoleon used this for stabling horses - it was never rebuilt after this - it is the concrete structure)!

The park had some beautiful woods, lakes, and falls (we could see the start of fall colors here).  Here we are are one of the larger falls.

Looking down at the valley from above you can see 5 different falls below.

Zagreb is built around 8 different parks.  They all have fountains, statues, gardens. etc.  Quite lovely to stroll around in.

The main cathedral is undergoing repairs.  In the courtyard you can see the remains of the inner defensive wall built in the 14th century to protect the cathedral from the Ottomans.  The statue out front was added in the 18th century when they took part of the wall down so you could see the cathedral.  The square is surrounded by 16th and 17th century Venetian buildings.

The main town square is a mixture of old and new.  In this shot you can see buildings from the 13th, 16th, 20th, and 21st century!

Split

We toured the palace of Split today.  It is the Roman palace of Diocletian from the 4th century - many city blocks wide and many blocks long.  Inside the palace is another palace, (a Venetian one) that has been continuously occupied.  Now the lower squares are filled with restaurants, coffee shops and lots of boutiques, selling everything from shoes to neckties.  Did you know the term "cravat" comes from the word "Croat," the people who made this article of clothing popular?  The cravat has now evolved into the necktie.  So any of you who object to the idea of wearing a necktie have the Croats to blame!

Next to the Roman palace is a medieval town, also Venetian.  One can spend hours strolling these streets, having coffee, ice cream etc.  Then, when you leave the city walls there are many blocks of vendors in the green market, selling fruits, vegetables, nuts, souvenirs etc.

I see Tom continues to post pictures of me drinking beer.  It's true I've been sampling brews from different countries.  Mostly they've been pretty good.  I didn't care for the one from Herzegivina, however.  It reminded me of some of the beer kids were drinking back when I was a kid (or more accurately, a youth), and therefore the reason I never developed a liking for beer.

We have remarked on more than one occasion that our energy level since our last extended sojourn to Europe 7 years ago is markedly diminished.  What's that all about??  What will we be doing on our next sabbatical 7 years from now??!!  Oh well, regardless of the energy level, there is much to see and discover all around the world.

This is a picture of what the palace of Diocletian looked like.  Today there is a walkway along the ocean side of the palace.  Three of the walls still are standing as are many of the interior structures.  Diocletian was the first Roman emperor to retire (rather than die).  He was also the worst persecutor of the Christians in the empire.  As a result, when the Romans made Christianity their official state religion most references to him were destroyed.

We walked along the old sea side wall of the palace.  The wall is intact, but there are shops and restaurants along it now.

The Roman temple to Jupiter was converted to St. John's bapistry during the 7th century.

This was the main gate into the palace.  Diocletian built it in ten years starting in 305 AD.  During the 7th century the city of Selona was destroyed in a battle with the invading Serbs and the residents of that city moved into the palace and adapted it to their needs, preserving the walls and many of the buildings.

By the 15th century the Venetians had captured the city and had built a new area of the city next to the palace   thereby doubling it and giving it the name "Split."

This was the Roman emperor's mausoleum.  His body was entombed here until the 7th century when the bishop John of Ravenna had it rebuilt into the town's cathedral.  (The emperor's body is believed to have been burned and the ashes scattered.)

We left through the town's east gate.  A large goods market and "green market" starts right at the edge of the palace walls. 

Split, Croatia

Our first stop today was Medjugorje.  That's the place in Herzegovina where a bunch of kids had a vision of the Virgin Mary back in the '80s.  It has gotten to be a huge tourist attraction - or rather, a pilgrimage site - especially for Italians and Irish.  Since we are skeptics we couldn't quite believe how the stories of a bunch of kids could result in such a phenomenon , but there it was - unbelievable!

We crossed the border once again - this time from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Croatia.  We drove north along the Dalmatian coast, stopping in the town of Makarska for lunch.  Scenery along the coast is spectacular. This is a good time to be a tourist here.  Temperatures are a little cooler than in the summertime, and the crowds of tourists have thinned out a bit.  For those tourists coming for time on the beach, the water of the Adriatic is warmer now too, after a summer of warm, sunny days.

We arrived in Split around 3:00.  We are staying in a newly remodeled hotel that is very close to the old town.  We went there for supper tonight and will be having a walking tour there tomorrow.  We had some excellent seafood for supper tonight - including black risotto, featuring cuddle fish and octopus ink - really good!  Squid ink sounds gross, but it sure was good in risotto!

Medjugorje was a small (less than 200 families) village when the village priest decided that they would need this large church - so it was built!  About 20 years after it was built five girls had a vision of the Virgin May on the hillside above the church.

This crowd (I would guess about 800 or so) is listening to prayers in Italian.  Inside there is a service in Croatian (packed) and on the side is one in Greek (also packed).  There are schedules around for prayer services in 6 languages.  We were told that over 1,500,000 people come here on pilgrimage each year.

This bronze statue of Jesus is said to be "miraculous" - there is a weeping (i.e.-a water drip) coming out of the leg.  The woman you see is wiping up the water (and weeping while she does this).  She will later put this in a baggie and take it home.

Sandy had to try the local beer in Makarska.

Makarska is a very quaint little seaside town.

From our room in Split you can see the port area.  Split has a large number of ferries to the various island in the Mediterranean.  (There was also a cruise ship in port)

Mostar, Herzegovina

Mostar is located halfway between Sarajevo and Dubrovnik, and has therefore been an important city for traders throughout the centuries.  The old town here has an eastern flavor, influenced by the Ottomans, although the shopkeepers of today seem to be very "western."

Mostar was heavily damaged during the Balkan war of the '90s.  There has been a lot of rebuilding, but there are still a lot of destroyed buildings waiting for investors to come in, knock them down, and put up something new.  Whereas Sarajevo has cleaned up most of its war damage, Mostar remains a battered reminder of the horrors of war.

We toured the old town of Mostar this afternoon.  It is situated along the turquoise waters of the Neretva River.  We had lunch behind the old tannery (no longer a working tannery!), which is right above the river with beautiful views of the old town, the river, and the historic Turkish bridge.

Although we had fall weather in Sarajevo this morning, temps are back in the 90s here in Mostar, which has "Adriatic" weather.

On the way we drove past this inland lake.  The hydro plant on the lake supplies 20% of the electricity for the country.  Unfortunately the rest is supplied by coal plants - which do not use any pollution devices - resulting a perpetual "haze."

Here is one side of the "old city."  The city did not really start to grow until a bridge was built spanning the river in the 11th century.  After that it grew rapidly.  Most of these buildings date from the 15th century Ottoman period.

The old town spans both sides of the river, running back about 4 blocks.  Most of the buildings are used for restaurants, museums, and shops.

Sandy got to try the local beer for lunch.

Here is the "famous" bridge.  It was originally a wooden one (11th century) but was replaced with a stone one in about 1533.  The town gets its name from the Turkish word mostari meaning gatekeepers.  There were gate houses located on each side of the bridge where they stayed.  The bridge was destroyed in the 1993 shelling of the town.  It was rebuilt and rededicated in about 2001.

Walking around the center of town we came across this bombed out shell.  It used to be a 9 level shopping center but was bombed in 1992.

These bombed out shells are everywhere in the town.  The people in Mostar are rather angry about the central government's focus on Sarajevo's needs.  In Sarajevo we saw a few shell marks in buildings but nothing like we see here.  This town seems to be getting the left overs.

We are both starting to heal!  I can now manage to hobble around pretty good (I sprained my ankle on the cobblestone about a  week ago) and Sandy's leg has stopped bleeding and is "only" sore and black and blue!  Hurrah!!

Sarajevo

We had a 2 hour guided tour of the pedestrian streets of Sarajevo this morning.  Our guide is a native of the city who was 10 years old at the beginning of the siege and shelling which lasted from 1992-1996. Schools were closed during that time so the teachers came to the students' homes to teach them.  They had no electricity so had to do what they could for lighting.  He mentioned using shoe laces as candle wicks that turned their faces black after an evening of studying.  When water supplies to the city were cut off residents walked to the brewery in town where there was a spring.  It was a dangerous walk and some people were killed carrying water back to their homes.  Our guide is from a Muslim family, but he isn't a practicing Muslim.  He is more of an atheist.  His exposure to religion is that all the religions preach peace while committing horrible acts of cruelty against each other.

These comments on the siege and on religion were an extremely brief part of our tour.  We walked through the city where east meets west, very literally.  One can walk from a very "Turkish" street with mosques, bazaars, coffee houses (Turkish coffee, that is), craftsmen, etc., and passing an intersection, cross onto a street that could be a street of Vienna.  This contrast represents the 4 centuries of rule by the Ottomans and the 4 decades of rule by Austria-Hungary. We saw Catholic nuns in their black and white habits, and Muslim women with the heads wrapped in scarves (no burkas though).  Mostly we saw people in very western attire.

We had a free afternoon which we put to good use by eating some local "fast food", napping, shopping, stitching and reading.  We will be joining our tour group for dinner tonight.

Post dinner entry - we ate dinner at a very small restaurant.  We had to wait a few extra minutes for the place to clear because Penelope Cruz had just been filming a movie there.  Later on, as we were eating, Penelope came into the restaurant with a baby and husband/significant other (I couldn't tell you which because I don't keep up on Hollywood gossip).  Anyway, Tom didn't recognize her.  I probably wouldn't have either if we hadn't just heard about the movie shoot.  It really was a very small restaurant - just our group of 7 downstairs and Penelope and family upstairs.

Yesterday I posted a shot of the museum where the shot was fired that killed Arch Duke Ferdinand and his wife and started WWI.  We went back there today and looked at the roads, etc. where this all took place.

The city is normally considered to be started in the year 1492 when the Ottoman Turks granted land to a Turkish businessman who built a Mosque, a tavern/resting area, and a bridge over the river.  Although there were various settlements prior to this (dating back to at least 800 BC) - they were generally in the overlooking hills and not in the valley where Sarajevo lies.

The city's most famous benefactor lies in the larger of these two mausoleums while his favorite Imam is buried in the smaller one.  His name was Husrev-Beg, was the city's governor, and died in 1521.  He left his estate to endow public toilets, resting houses for traders, mosques, bridges, etc.  Too bad the tradition didn't continue!

Under the Ottoman Turks the city became 60% Muslim, 20% Catholic, 15% Orthodox, and 5% Jewish.  The Catholic cathedral shown here was bombed during the siege in the '90s and has been rebuilt.

In the late 1800's the Turkish Sultan built this Orthodox church for the city.  It too was bombed and has been rebuilt.

Here is what remains of the 14th century Turkish fortress guarding the city.