Greg and Mandy's Travels

The coastline around Dubrovnik is rather steep and rocky, and overlooking the old town is a hill, which they optimistically call a low mountain, by the name of Srđ. I’ve no idea how to pronounce it, but it’s 412 metres high, and it’s top is adorned with Fort Imperijal, built from 1806 to 1816, during the Napoleonic Wars. 

Srđ was once forested with oak trees which locals called dubrava (from the old Slavic word dub, “oak tree”), after which the city of Dubrovnik was named. The southern slope was once rich with pine forests, but in the second half of the 20th century and during the 1991–95 Croatian War of Independence, the forest was almost completely gutted through numerous fires.…

Croatia has a few interesting rules. The first is that you can’t run a free tour. So, in Zagreb they charged an optional 1 euro, in Split they refused to run them (but they would run full fee paying ones), and here in Dubrovnik they seemed happy to run them as long as you signed up. They then threatened to charge you 2 euros if you failed to turn up. No idea how they would get the money off you, but that’s a secondary issue.

Another strange rule they have came to light today when we went to buy an early morning cappuccino.…

Mandy had four inspirational quotes about travel for you today. Only one problem – she’s forgotten two of them. Rather kills the flow of the story doesn’t it?

Anyway, the two she can remember are:

“The World Is a Book and Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page” – St Augustine

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

She tells me that they were written on the wall of the Sarajevo bus station, but I was trying to figure our how to buy a random ticket for 4 Marks and missed them. I’m guessing that the other two were:

“The journey not the arrival matters.”…

There’s many things in life I can’t understand. “Knowing you, I can well imagine that.”, I hear you say.

Take tourism in Bosnia. Now, the tour guides and the AirBnB owners are terrific. The power of the Trip Advisor review is immense. They fall over backwards to be helpful, and beg for good reviews. It’s the difference between being successful, and being hungry.

However, the public face of tourism – bus drivers, ticket staff, toilet watchers, cafe waiters, and so on – fall somewhere on the spectrum between unhelpful and downright surly. I get that a constant stream of tourists day in and day out can be a pain, but without them they don’t have a job, and probably don’t eat, given that the country’s unemployment rate is close to 50%.…

The early 1990s were, to say the least, a turbulent time for the people groups in the old Yugoslavia. The causes for Yugoslavia descending into civil war are complex and have their roots hundreds of years ago, but the three main causes are generally given as:

• the death in 1980 of Josip Tito, the Yugoslav dictator, who held the various ethnic groups in the country together partially due to the force of his personality, and partially due to terror, and which created a vacuum for ethnic aspirations to be pursued
• the economy of the socialist country tanking, causing a gradual slide into financial hardship with unemployment rates close to 70% in many parts of the country
• historical enmity between the catholic Croats, the orthodox Serbs, and the muslim Bosnians going back to Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian times, but more particularly to the winners and losers from the first and second world wars coming to dominate the other groups

By June 1991 Slovenia had had enough of propping up the country, and declared independence.…

It’s only been a short stay in Mostar, but then it’s only a small town – though very pretty. 

What would be the chances of hearing ‘Land Down Under’ while shopping for groceries in a Mostar supermarket?

We’d heard things about the Mostar to Sarajevo train – it’s patronage was struggling, it wasn’t reliable yadda yadda – but when it pulled into the almost deserted station, it turned out to be one of the nicest we’ve had. 

It will probably stay that way due to the overbearing guard, ticket checker, and security guard who took it in turns to prowl up and down the aisles telling people off.…

Rain was threatening this morning when we woke, so we headed off to the train station early than we were going to, and that turned out to be a good thing as the rain set in not long after we got there.

Bedlam at the bus terminal, as expected, and no bus had Mostar displayed on the front, but we eventually guessed which one was ours and piled on board. Left right on time, which was obviously tempting the God of Bus Timetables, and he didn’t let us down.

Took the coastal route east towards Dubrovnik, and when I say the coastal road, I don’t mean the highway that runs somewhat near the coast in the general direction of Dubrovnik.…

For a city as unique and distinctive as Split, it seems that most of their history has revolved around people trying to give it away.

During the Middle Ages, Split enjoyed a period of autonomy as a free city, but then got caught in the middle of a struggle between Venice and the King of Hungary for control over the Dalmatian cities.

Venice eventually prevailed and during the early modern period Split remained a Venetian city, a heavily fortified outpost surrounded by the Ottomans. When Venice fell to Napoleon, the Treaty of Campo Formio gave the city to the Habsburg Monarchy.…

Early morning start, and walked all the way to the top of Park Suma Marjan, the hill overlooking the city. Lots of steps, but a lovely view of the city and the sea when you made it to the lookout. Of course, there were a few people who desperately wanted to go one better, and run up the steps, but we thought it was better not to show them up.

Lunch back at the apartment, and a quiet afternoon.

After tea we walked down to the beach and along the shore till we got to the Riva. Wended our way along, and back through the centre of the old town to the apartment.…

Not much to report really. That’s what happens when you’re on holidays. Decided to beat the crush again, got up early, and wandered into the old town area. This time we worked the perimeter of the palace, and saw the green market, the meat market, and smelt the fish market, before heading down the Riva, and around to the ferry terminal.

It’s wonderful planning to have the ferry terminal, the bus terminal, and the train station adjacent to each other, and would work a treat in a mid sized town. However, Split is Croatia’s second biggest city, and it’s the middle of Summer.…