Dubrovnik to Montenegro to Albania

So, I had a visitor knock on my door first thing in the morning. It was my friend Craig who is working aboard a Princess cruise ship, which happened to be docked in Dubrovnik. We were able to chat and catch up a bit over breakfast. It was too short a reunion, but at least we got to see one another and what were the odds that we'd both end up in the same town on the same day? Such a small world!

After saying our goodbyes, the group piled into our bus and made our way to Montenegro, my 92nd country!!! Our first stop was Kotor, which was a walled city along the coast. We toured the small town, had lunch, and then made our way up to a panoramic stop where you can see the whole bay , and the view was truly spectacular!

We continued in the road to a small town where we stopped to sample local cheese and prosciutto, and then continued on to the town of Cetinje. We toured a museum and a monastery which had some amazing relics. It was an orthodox monastery and a practicing monk showed us around. We also were able to see their relics, which were the mummified hand of St. John the Baptist, and a splinter from the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

We continued our journey and finally made our way to Budva, where we stopped for the night. I'm glad we were only there for one night because it is owned almost entirely by Russians.

The next morning we were up and off to Albania (country 93!)! We stopped at the town of Kruja, which is where the Albanian hero Skanderbeg declared independence in the 1400s from the Ottoman Empire, and then visited the fortress where he defended Albania from them until it finally fell in 1478.

We also visited an ethnographic museum which was an old general's house from the 18th century that showed the way of life for people of that time. Afterwards we had a little time to shop in the old bazaar that specialized in local handicrafts. I got some placemats and a hand-painted wooden serving platter.

Then we went down to the most bizarre thing we've seen this trip: a statue of George W. Bush who visited Albania in 2007. He was the first US President to ever visit, so it was a big deal... He was here for all of 7 hours.

We then made our way to the capital, Tirana, where we will stay the next three nights! It will be good to explore this country because it truly has an interesting history which spans back to before the ancient Greeks.

Croatia: Dubrovnik

So today we were up early to meet our guide and begin our exploration of Dubrovnik. When we made our way to the old city, our guide warned us that there was a Carnival cruise ship with 5000 people on it who had come into town early this morning, and that it would likely be crowded. It was.

We were first given some facts about Dubrovnik, which has an amazing wall surrounding the old part of the city. The walls are 35 meters high and have towers at strategic locations along the wall that are twice as high (or more). The walls are 6-8 meters thick. The town itself was founded by the Greeks in the 2nd century BCE. It's gorgeous.

We walked into the "pearl gate" which was the main entrance to the city. Inside, we were shown a map which displayed the locations bombs went off during the war. Interestingly enough, I worked on the case of one of the higher ups involved in the shelling of Dubrovnik at the Yugoslavia Tribunal, so I found the town particularly interesting. We then continued to a monastery located within the city with the second oldest pharmacy in Europe located inside. We continued down the Main Street, toured a palace, a church, and then made our way to a lunch place.

We ate a quick bite, and then made our way onto the walls of the city and walked around them, enjoyed the birds-eye view they provided. After that we were given spare time which I used to do a little shopping and then visited a museum to the war in and the effects of the war on Dubrovnik. Very interesting, especially all the pictures.

I then made my way to the hotel for a little down time before dinner. When checking email, I found out that my friend on a cruise ship was going to be making a stop in Dubrovnik earlier than expected (due to a medical emergency on board). We made plans to speak later that evening to figure out a plan for getting together!

The group had a nice meal on top of a restaurant on a terrace with live music. Tres chic! And then I ran back to the hotel to talk to Craig (my friend on the cruise ship). We decided to have breakfast the following morning before I had to leave, and I was very excited! What a small world it is!!! I went to bed filled with excitement for the next day!!!

Sarajevo to Dubrovnik

Sarajevo is a gorgeous town nestled between several hills. In fact, in stark contrast to the flat terrain of Serbia, all of Bosnia and Herzegovina is fairly mountainous. The towns are found in valleys and it really is quite picturesque... We started our day by driving out to the tunnel museum, which was the lifeline for the city during the three+ years it was under siege by the Serbs in the 90s. The tunnel is almost a kilometer long, a meter wide and 1.6 meters tall. It was truly a harsh time in modern history. We got to talk to a fireman during the siege and another guy and we heard about starvation, what people were doing for food, etc. Over 11,000 people died during the three year siege, but many more would have had it not been for that tunnel. They smuggled supplies, food, guns, ammunition, etc through the tunnel and it really did become the lifeline of the city during the war.

After the tunnel museum, we walked through town, stopping at the highlights of the city, including the spot where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, starting WWI.

After the walking tour and lunch, we had some free time, which I used to explore more of the city. Our day ended with a lovely dinner, and the. We were off to bed because we had an early morning trip to Dubrovnik the following day.

On the way to Dubrovnik, we drove through some gorgeous terrain, spending a lot of the trip following a river nestled between two mountains. The scenery was very gorgeous. We passed through the town of Celebići which was an important case from the Yugoslavia Tribunal, where there was a POW camp. We didn't stop, but I found it interesting just knowing what happened here and knowing the rule of law that came from the case. It was nice to finally put a location to the name.

We continued on to the town of Mostar, which was heavily bombed during the war. We were told they currently have an unemployment rate of 44%. There was a famous bridge from the 1500s that was bombed during the war and then rebuilt that we visited. We had lunch here, and then stopped at another town where Mary supposedly appeared and is a big pilgrimage site for Catholics. We visited a church and a statue there that was supposed to weep tears from his knee, but I guess he wasn't sad while we were there because nothing was weeping while we were there other than the crazy old women who were rubbing pieces of cloth all over the statue...

We then continued to Dubrovnik and made it there just as it was getting dark. We had dinner and then I called it a night because I was tired and knew we would be touring the town tomorrow!

Belgrade to Sarajevo

So I arrived in Belgrade and was taken to the hotel. It was a rainy, cold day, so I slept most of the afternoon and got up in time for our welcome dinner. I am the youngest in the group.

The following morning we are up and out for a bus tour of Belgrade, which has a history going back to at least the 3rd century BCE. It has been called Belgrade, which means "white fortress" for a little over a thousand years now. It is found at the confluence of two rivers, the Sava and the Danube.

Belgrade has been bombed 47 times in recent history. It is a strategic location between Europe and Turkey/the Middle East, so has usually been a hot spot whenever there was any kind of war... Most recently it was bombed in the 90s by NATO to end the Yugoslavia conflict.

We drove all around, had a nice lunch, then had a walking tour of Belgrade which included the largest Orthodox Church in the Balkans (and maybe the world?). It was still under construction on the inside. Our next stop was the Fortress. We walked all around the large complex, which also housed a museum of large artillery weapons and tanks. Then we walked around town, and then had a dinner on a small boat restaurant on the Danube.

The next morning we were up and had a very long drive to Sarajevo. We only had one sightseeing stop along the way at a bridge that dated back to the days of Turkish caravans when this part of the world was under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. The scenery was nice, but it was an all-day drive. We were all glad when we finally arrived in Sarajevo in the evening.

Poland: Gdansk

Today I was up early to meet my guide in the lobby, and we piled into a car driven by our driver, Wictor, who looked just like Prince Harry. It was a nice surprise.

We drove out to the Westerplate, which is a peninsula that juts out into the Baltic Sea. It was where on September 1, 1939, the Germans blockaded the port of Gdansk and started shelling the little military installation there. Now it has a tall monument that stands where the Poles held them off for almost two weeks before they eventually fell to the larger invading force.

We then drove to Oliwa cathedral, where I was treated to an organ concert. The interesting thing about this organ is that its pipes are contained in the wooden base, but carved into the wood were figures of angles and cherubim and stars and two huge suns. The angles were holding trumpets, that move as do their heads. The cherubim were holding small bells, that made noise as they moved their arms. And the stars and suns would spin at certain points. So essentially, it was an organ with all sorts of moving parts, carved in baroque style. Very interesting and the concert was quite enjoyable.

After the concert, we walked along in the French gardens that surrounded the church. Very relaxing and so pretty with all the flowers in bloom!

We then drove to the Solidarity Monument, which was located at the No. 2 gate of the steelworks formerly known as the Lenin steelworks. During the 80s some major uprisings and strikes against the communist government in power (placed there by the USSR). The leader eventually won a Nobel peace prize and it was the beginning of the end of communism in Poland and of the USSR.

It wasn't quite as simple as that, though, as I learned in our next stop, which was the solidarity museum. The first strikes in 1980 led to capitulation by the powers that be, but in 1981, the government declared martial law for nearly three years where people were detained and sent to live in exile in Siberia. How I ha never learned of this was a bit of a shock to me... Anyway, more strikes at the hands of the Solidarity party/movement eventually led to free elections, the end of communism in Poland, and within three years, the USSR had broken up, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the other former Soviet States had declared independence from the USSR (minus the Ukraine, which wouldn't declare its independence until 2004). The museum was very informative, as I've never heard anything about this before, I'm ashamed to say. Apparently there were also uprisings in Budapest and Prague. Never heard of them either, but I have vowed to read up on the subject.

After this, it was time for a lunch break and I had an hour to grab a bite to eat. I then met back up with my guide for a walking tour of the old city. We walked all over, first visiting Arthur's Court, which was kind of like an old guild for wealthy craftsmen and merchants back in the 14 & 1500s. It had been almost completely destroyed (as had most of Gdansk) by the Soviets towards the end of WWII. They had done an amazing job restoring the inside and out.

We then continued our tour, checking out the old gates/entrances to town an viewing what was left of the city wall (there wasn't much left...). We kept walking to St. Mary's Cathedral, which is the largest church in Europe made of brick. It, too, was almost completely destroyed by the Soviets in 1945, but they have done a great job restoring it. Inside there were lots of interesting pieces of art, and a fantastic organ that if I understood correctly came from another church but was moved there during the restoration process.

After the church, we kept walking along the canal to the former site of the Teutonic knights' castle that used to be on the outskirts of the town. It was dismantled and used for building materials like 500 years ago, just after the decline of the order of Teutonic knights.

It ha been a long, informative day, and I was glad when the guide said we were done, because I was honestly beat and didn't know if I could have taken too much more. We said our goodbyes, I walked around a little more before heading back to the hotel for a little rest before dinner. I walked around and finally found a place to have my last taste of Polish peirogis, which have become my favorite Polish food. After a leisurely dinner, I headed back to the hotel to pack up and sleep, as I have to be checked out of the hotel in time to meet my ride to the airport at 5am tomorrow (that's gonna hurt...).

I have had a great time in Poland, and will definitely have to come back as there is so much more in this region to see.