But I did want to capture my last few trips here and share them with you too. So here are some retroactive blogs that I hope you will enjoy about my last few trips around Eastern Europe.
Balkan Delights
Hmm...let's see. Where did we leave off? Oh yes. I had just returned from Budapest and was checking out of my apartment and enjoying pastries and coffee with Mrs. Vukovic. I was very sad to be leaving and it suddenly felt very real that I would no longer be living at 44 Milesevska, Beograd, Srbija. The good part was that I wasn't going to Texas yet. I still had one more trip to go to and 2 more countries to cross off the list!
Good bye beautiful apartment that was so clean, mostly bug-free, and had lots of closet space! I miss you!
After checking out of my apartment (with the comment from the relocation company of "did you even live here? It is so clean!"), I dropped my suitcases off at my friend S's apartment and went into work to turn in my little car. The Fiat did a great job during the Serbian winter. I really enjoyed driving it even though it had a top speed of about 100km/h, yet I still managed to get stopped 3 times by the police while driving it. That little car took me on some great adventures through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, and Romania. It was pretty dirty when I turned it in, but what do you expect after 7 1/2 months of greasy (acid?) rain, snow, city driving, and 5 different countries?
After wrapping things up at work, I headed to the airport. My assignment was officially over and my last Eastern European vacation was beginning! It's hard to feel sad when you are heading to vacation.
As I was waiting at the airport, I was talking on the phone and a Serbian guy came up to me. I was sitting in a coffee shop, and he was on the phone too. He says something to me, which I assume is in Serbian. I ignore him, but he is persistent. Finally, I realize he is asking if I am Mary. I say yes, and he hands me a plastic bag and walks away. Naturally, this is not something that I feel very comfortable with. I am thinking of that TSA question about packing your own bags, and not taking things on the plane if someone hands it to you. But I open the package, and it is a very nice plaque with a quote from Nikolaj Velimirovic (Serbian) that says "Pin to the Heavens all that you Weave". It is signed on the back by the West Balkans sales team. This gesture makes me fall in love with Serbia all over again.
Then, as I'm still sitting in the same coffee shop, I see an older man wearing a jacket and tie walk through security. There are 4 photographers snapping his picture. I don't recognize the guy, but I figured that he is some aging actor or maybe a politician. A week later, while watching Serbia lose to Ghana, I realize that guy was the Serbian soccer coach on his way to South Africa for the World Cup!
I catch my flight to Tivat, Montenegro and meet up with my friend G. We get our rental car and as I walk up to it, I realize that it has Belgrade plates. I was warned not to drive a Belgrade car around certain parts of Bosnia/Herzegovina and Croatia because of the negative feelings from the Balkan wars. Apparently nothing sours feelings faster than ethnic cleansing. But we get in the car anyway, and set up the GPS and I start driving.
Montenegro is incredibly beautiful. It was near sunset, and the mountains are falling into the Adriatic and the roads are tiny little lanes. The GPS took us up over the mountains, which was an adventure. As it got later and darker, the road got narrower and less groomed. There were parts of the drive in which we were anywhere from 6 inches to 6 feet from the cliff's edge. There was thick vegetation on the side of the "road", and the car sounded like it was being scratched the entire time. And this was a tiny European car. There were weeds growing 2 feet tall in the middle of the "road", and I told G that it was like we were hiking in the car. It was incredibly scary and stressful. After 4 hours (keep in mind that MNE is smaller than Connecticut) of very s-l-o-w driving, we managed to make it to the hotel without death.
The next morning, G and I woke up early to head to the Tara River, which forms the border between Montenegro and Bosnia (actually called Replika Serbska at this point). The Tara River Gorge is the deepest canyon in Europe and is only 200m less deep than the Grand Canyon. Yet I had never heard of the Tara River until I started planning this trip! We did a short rafting trip and had lunch at the camp. We were the only rafters that day, but they were very gracious hosts, and we had a great time (except when G almost drowned, thereby continuing the theme started by the treacherous drive "How will Mary and G die today?").
The river was turquoise and very cold. The rapids weren't too strong since the snow had already melted. It took us about 2 hours to go 18km.
We drove to the other end of MNE to stay in Podgorica, which is the capital. MNE has only been a country since 2006, when it split from Serbia. Podgorica was the 4th former Yugoslavian capital I visited during this assignment.
The next day, we drove around the countryside. We wanted to go to Albania (why not?!). As we tried to cross the border, we were denied exit from Montenegro. The border guards didn't speak English, but the best we could tell was that they said the car wasn't insured for Albania (which it was). We called the rental car company to confirm, and they said that there should be no issues except that it is a Belgrade car. Earlier this spring, a new mass grave was discovered with Albanians that the Serbs had killed during the 1990's wars. I'm guessing this is why they didn't allow us to leave MNE and enter Albania.
After that little disappointment, we went to this little village that was recommended by the guidebooks. By this time, we had realized that though MNE is incredibly beautiful, it is very run down and fairly undeveloped. The guidebook said that this little village had the best fish restaurant in the country. We drive up, and the town looked deserted.
I had that uneasy feeling!
This was the little shop of horrors. Neither G nor I could figure out what was going on here.
But the town did have a run down beauty.
This pond was filled with submerged and rotting fishing boats, but the bridge was pretty.
The "best fish restaurant in Montenegro" was pretty good (and pricey!). After lunch, we headed back to Tivat to meet my friend D, who was flying in for the rest of the trip. As you may remember, this is the same friend that I have travelled with a lot during this assignment. G and I picked him up and then drove along the coast. It was beautiful.
We stayed in Herceg Novi on Wednesday night in a very nice hotel right on the sea. Herceg Novi was a charming little town and we had a great dinner on the hill over looking the sea.
This was the view out of our hotel room.
The Adriatic and sea islands
The next morning, we drove into Croatia to visit Dubrovnik. I'm sure that many of you have heard of Dubrovnik, and it was definitely the most developed and touristic place that we visited on this trip. Thankfully G had some Hilton points, so we got to be high rollers in a very nice hotel just outside of the old city walls for free!
Here is the view of Dubrovnik from the road as you head into town. Just stunning.
It was very hot in Dubrovnik, so we meandered around town, stopping to window shop, eat, and rest. It was pretty crowded, especially compared to MNE, but it was very beautiful. I wouldn't want to go here during peak season in July and August, but we were there at a time when the weather was beautiful (but HOT) and the crowds weren't too bad.
Looking down the alleys and streets
An old church. Dubrovnik was damaged by the Balkan wars of the 1990's, but has been rebuilt in the old style.
These were taken from the walls. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to walk around the city on the walls.
D and I went swimming from here. There was no sandy beach, so we had to climb down the rocks. There were kids jumping off the cliffs, but I just climbed into the water. It was very European; there were even topless women sunbathing.
You can see the walls and the path. Beautiful!
I had a great time in Dubrovnik, and the next morning, G was headed back to the UK and D and I were going to head into BIH. I was a little nervous about heading into Bosnia and Herzegovina with our Belgrade car. To drive from Dubrovnik to Mostar, Herzegovina, we had to cross 3 borders (into BIH, back into Croatia, then back into BIH). BIH is an interesting place. It is divided into 3 separate areas and is controlled by non-nationalists (meaning the people from there don't run the country). It is stable now politically. The border area around Serbia is called Republika Serbska. The middle is called Bosnia and the southern part is called Herzegovina. We were going to Mostar, and this is Herzegovina. It is predominately Muslim, and we arrived in town it was very hot (100F). We relaxed at the hotel restaurant with iced coffee, and then headed out to explore the town. Mostar is famous (relatively speaking) for the bridge that was built in the 15th century. In fact, Mostar means "Old Bridge". The bridge stood for almost 500 years before being destroyed by the Balkan wars in the 1990's. Mostar was nearly completely destroyed. It has been rebuilt in the old style, but there are still many abandoned buildings and buildings that have holes from bullets. It has a distinct Ottoman feel, and was very charming.
The "Old Bridge", reconstructed since the 1990's wars.
We had dinner here on the banks of the river. It was very charming.
Notice the minarets of the Mosques. A very Ottoman feel.
There were all sorts of stalls and shops selling stuff for the tourists. They even had pens and key chains made out of bullets. I guess that is taking lemons and making lemonade.
A pretty walkway, but notice the building at the top of the street is empty due to the bombings.
These signs were everywhere in English and Bosnian (which is very similar to Serbian).
See the bullet holes? And the minaret from the mosque?
Empty buildings were everywhere
I really enjoyed Mostar. It is so tragic that this town and country were ravaged by economic collapse and war for 10+ years. They are slowly rebuilding, but you can see that there is a long way to go. In fact, though BIH has it's own currency, they also take Euros and the Croatian Kuna. The people were remarkably kind and accommodating. I really recommend visiting this little city next time you are bumming around BIH.
D and I left the heat of Mostar and headed back to the coast. We stayed in Budva, which G and I had visited before D came. It was very nice, a smaller and less crowded version of Dubrovnik.
Another walled city on the Adriatic! We went swimming on the rocky beach, and had a delicious dinner of fresh fish. It was a very nice way to end the trip.
The next day, we were going to be heading back to Belgrade, but before we went to the airport, went on a short drive to Sveti Stefen. This little village is often the photo you see on the front of guide books for Montenegro. It is very picturesque. Unfortunately, it is privately owned, and you can't actually go inside of the village. It is being renovated and turned into a high end resort. I feel that this is a real shame. They are Disnifying a beautiful village.
The Bay of Kotor. This is the Adriatic.
Sveti Stefen
D and I went for one last swim and then with the Adriatic salt on our skin, we headed back to Belgrade. As we arrived in Belgrade and headed to S's place for my last night in Europe, we realized the Serbia was playing in the World Cup! We quickly dropped off our suitcases, and headed downtown. We sat in a cafe on Knez Mahalia (the pedestrian zone) and watched the second half as Serbia sadly lost to Ghana. It was great to be a part of World Cup mania in Europe, even if it was my last day.
We walked around, stopping for drinks (as it was very hot!). We had dinner at Skardarlja and ate cevapi for the last time. We ended the evening at the World Traveler's Club, and underground cafe bar. D took this picture, which I think wraps up my assignment nicely. Jelen Pivo was my favorite Serbian beer, and this place is symbolic of my Belgrade, and I visited it on my first trip to the country.
Good Bye Belgrade
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