YOU GO SLAVIA! - Part 8: Dalmatia 101 in the Morning, War & Peace in the Afternoon

August 21st, Montenegro:

We woke up early from our tents in the Montenegrin campground (you can see the bay in the background)....

As we cleaned up and packed up I took a look at the waterfront where we swam the night before...

The sun was just starting to come up over Kotor Bay...

We loaded the Green Machine and took off northward.

Before long we found ourselves crossing the border from Montenegro into Croatia.

Our drive continued for a bit more as we drove along the hilly Dalmatian coastline. Eventually we came over a hill and caught a stunning view of our first stop for the day:

"The Pearl of the Adriatic" - Dubrovnik...

Dubrovnik was once one of the great maritime powers on the Mediterranean even boasting the third largest navy 500 years ago.

With its thick walls, wealthy houses, and the riches gained from shipbuilding, and trading (especially salt), Dubrovnik remained, for much of its history, a free city-state on the Dalmatian coast.

Through skillful diplomacy, the Republic of Ragusa (as Dubrovnik was known through much of its history) paid off and played off the powers of Venice, the Hungarians, and the Ottomans in order to main its freedom.

Ragusa's decline began with a major earthquake in 1667 that destroyed much of the city. In 1806 the city surrendered to Napoleon's army and after brief French rule became part of the Hapbsburg's Austria-Hungarian empire.

After World War I, Austria-Hungary was dissolved and Ragusa (along with all of Croatia) became a part of Yugoslavia. The name also changed at this time to Dubrovnik. Throughout the Yugoslav years Dubrovnik was one of the main tourist destinations and so avoided much of the communist architecture that characterizes other Yugoslav cities.

During the war at the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990's, Dubrovnik served as a refugee city since it was believed by the Croatians that the Serbs would not bother attacking a tourist city far in the south of Croatia.

October 1, 1991 proved them wrong. Serb forces made a surprise attack on the city of Dubrovnik, shelling it from the surrounding hilltops. The siege lasted for eight months and destroyed some of the old rooftops and a few buildings in the old town. The Croatians trapped inside the old town of Dubrovnik took shelter from the attack by hiding in the thick fortified walls built centuries ago.

As we looked on to Dubrovnik we could see the island of Lokrum to the west. King Richard the Lionheart (played by Sean Connery) was shipwrecked on this island as he was returning from the Crusades. A cruise ship was anchored nearby...

Pristine bay...

We drove down to the city and parked in a garage. From there we walked a short distance to the old town of Dubrovnik surrounded by the ancient walls...

We crossed the bridge leading to the gate and could see the Adriatic shining blue to the west...

We entered the city and found ourselves on the main walking plaza, the Stradun...

We explored the narrow alleys, ritzy walking streets, and sleepy stairways. The entire old town of Dubrovnik is a pedestrian-only zone and quite touristy. In it's heyday, however, this was one of the richest cities in Europe...

Looking back on the Stradun in the other direction...

Some of the architecture reminded me of Venice, though Dubrovnik had a style and a feel all its own. You can see here the hills where Serb guns attacked the city...

The thing I love about these old well-preserved cities is that ever building is unique, every arch and pillar, window and door, alley and street, has a story to tell and a history behind it. Even if I don't know what those stories are, part of the fun is to imagine and wonder who came here before, who called this place home...

chips break...

Of course there were street musicians adding to the festive atmosphere...

Old pillars...

Laundry hanging to dry in the sun over the marketplace...

The crowds were growing as the morning wore on. The guy in the lower left had a most unfortunate haircut...

The newly rebuilt Serbian Orthodox Church...

and inside...

I peeked in the door of a cluttered old barbershop...

I thought the name of this pizzeria was funny...

This fat cat was obviously living well hanging out around the pizzeria...

And these cats didn't have it so bad either. Sleeping in the walls, they had a great ocean view...

And this little guy was just waiting to get stepped on...

"I dreams I flies like superkiddy"

There was a small passageway through the walls to the rocks on the west side of the city. From there we had a great view of the sunny Adriatic and the city walls from the outside...

It was here I gathered my Croatian rock...

The Slovenians: Peter, Rok, and Janez...

Cruise ships, sailboats, para-sailors, and swimmers on the rocks... the day was hot and the water looked SOOO inviting. Unfortunately our swimsuits were in the car.

That didn't stop Rok, however, from doing some cliff jumping...

This was just practice for the dangerous jump he would be making later that day. But he didn't know that yet.


We went back into the city and visited the main cathedral...

We walked down through the marketplace. You can tell that it's just set up for show and to make a few tourist bucks on over-priced strawberries...

We walked back to the Stradun and took our last looks of Dubrovnik...

The crowds were thickening considerably as noon approached. Hoards from the cruise ships were descending upon the city.

As we came to the main gate we found a massive people-jam as a small stream of tourists were trying to exit while waves of tourists were trying to get in. We waddled through as best we could in the afternoon August heat...

The view from the other side was comical...

Travelers' Tip: Do not visit Dubrovnik in August. If you do, go early!

Guards protected our exit back to the rest of the city...

We only spent a few hours in Dubrovnik, which was just enough for me to get a taste of a fascinating city. I have every intention of returning someday for a more complete tour... but definitely not in the summer if I can help it.

We drove a little ways to a grocery store to pick up some drinks and a few goodies. The store was right next to the cruise ship port...

The cruisers weren't having as much fun as we were, however.

We drove on up the Dalmatian coast passing one of the huge new bridges...

We drove until we found a nice place on the beach to take a dip. We parked the car and were finally able to take a refreshing dip in the sea after sweating in the hot sun...

A lonely Catholic chapel overlooked the small harbor where we swam...

The water was perfect...

After enjoying the sun and the water for a few hours we climbed back in the car and drove further up the coast until we came to the border. We left Croatia...

And entered Bosnia and Herzegovina, my 34th country and the last of our Yugo-Balkan tour...

We drove north away from the coast through wide valleys where orange trees grew. Eventually we came to the town of Mostar.

As you might remember from the news during the early 90's Bosnia & Herzegovina was country hardest hit by war. Damage from the war was still evident everywhere...

We parked the car near the Neretva River and walked to the bridge for a stunning view of Mostar...

Mostar's iconic Old Bridge spans the river symbolically linking East and West. Though there were mosques and Muslims in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Albania, it was in Bosnia that I really felt like I was stepping into the Middle-East. The whole feel of the city had an oriental flair.

Mostar suffered through some of the most bitter and tragic fighting of the Bosnian war, however. Originally the Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croatians joined forces against the Orthodox Serbians. Soon enough, however, the Bosniaks and the Croatians turned against each other and fought brutally in the town where they once were all just each other's neighbors.

The scars of the war are still there and impossible to miss as one strolls through the city...

They've done their best to fix up the area immediately surrounding the river, however, and on the afternoon we were there it was peaceful, calm, and a truly breathtaking setting...

Nearly the same view 17 years ago...

This was, yet again, a new and unique city unlike any I'd ever visited with a character all its own...

Luckily there were few tourists at this point in the day and it made for a very peaceful and relaxed experience. The trinkets and souvenirs for sale were mostly quite Middle-Eastern in flavor...

The heat of the day was tempered by a cool breeze that followed the river...

We only had a short time in Mostar. Peter and I wanted to eat some dinner, Rok and Janez weren't hungry so we decided to part ways and meet up at the car later.

Peter and I found a cool restaurant on the river bank with a stunning view of the opposite side of the river. A dumpster fire behind one of the bombed-out buildings was casting black smoke into the air and it really looked like we were transported back two decades to the war...

The damage was unfortunate but fascinating. Even as we sat on the terrace of this restaurant we could look up casually and see bullet holes pock-marking the walls.

Close-up of the buildings on the opposite side of the river...

We also had a great view of the Old Bridge...

We could see Janez and Rok chatting from the bridge...

When more tourists are around during the day, performers often jump from the bridge for money.

From our restaurant we noticed a bit of a commotion on top of the bridge. As we took a closer look we noticed Rok perched atop ready to jump 100 feet into the freezing water below.

He stood there for quite a few minutes trying to decide if he should make the jump. He was gathering more attention from people around and we started hearing shouts in different languages telling him to jump!

Before he could jump, however a few of the "professional" jumpers showed up and talked him off of the bridge. They told him that he couldn't jump unless he signed a waver, took a practice jump off a much lower platform near the Old Bridge, and paid €20.

He did all of those things and the trainers said he was ready to make the big jump. He got back on top of the bridge as spectators gathered around to watch...

The 30 meters (100 feet) probably looked higher to him than it did to me below...

Did he do it?

He made it!

And the river flowed onward towards the Adriatic...

Now Peter and I could finally enjoy our Ćevapčići (sausages, onions, with pita bread and a yummy sauce)...

We took our last views of Mostar...

And got back in the car. We drove northwards as the sun set over rugged mountains (impossible to photograph in low light from a moving car). I found the Bosnian countryside to be quite beautiful.

A few hours later we arrived tired and sleepy in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. We found a small hotel on the outskirts of the city and settled in for the last night of our great road trip. They were nice rooms...

I fell asleep almost immediately and slept soundly. It had a been a long day since we had woken up that morning in the campground in Montenegro.

Here's our route for the day in blue (or is it purple?)...

View Yugobalkantrip in a larger map

Coming Up Next: Sarajevo, Arizona, and the road goes ever on and on...

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