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Thursday 22nd May 1014

Another fine day and once again it’s a breakfast of pastries from our friendly neighbourhood bakery. It’s then time for M and G to go off to have their root canals fixed while J and I are sent off to collect our ferry tickets from the port terminal. We meet up again at midday with both missions accomplished and after depositing our suitcases at a left luggage counter in the bus terminal we head off to the well- known Sperun restaurant where we have a great lunch to send us on our way to Italy.

We while away a few hours sitting on the Riva waterfront before the time arrives for us to pick up the luggage and get on board the Marco Polo ferry to Ancona. Collecting the luggage was not quite as simple as expected as the girl behind the counter asked us for an extra 10 kunas for each suitcase as we had only paid 15 kunas for 6 hours and we had exceeded the time. When we pointed out that we had in fact come back in 5 hours and 40 minutes she tried a different tack by saying that her colleague who had receipted our luggage had got the price wrong. As we were all convinced that she was in fact the same girl and it seemed very unlikely that she could have an identical twin as confused and stupid as she was we stood our ground and she let us go in what she probably felt was a kind gesture!

The cabins on board are quite comfortable and we have paid for an upgrade which includes a shower and each one is a 3 berth cabin. This means that we are able to allay Maureen’s fear of John falling through the top bunk and flattening her.

As we are due to arrive in Ancona at 7.00 the next morning we opt for an early dinner in the dining room and get off to bed by 9.00

Our last day in Split has only served to remind us what a superb city it is and it stands in sharp contrast to the decidedly underwhelming capital Zagreb.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Wednesday 21st May 2014

Another beautiful day and it’s Danish pastries and strudel from the bakery below our flat for breakfast.

A fairly short walk to the bus station where we pick up a mini bus to take us from Split to Trogir, about 20 kilometres west along the coast from Split. Shannon, Maureen ‘s son had been full of praise for this small town and it certainly lives up to expectations. The Old Town is concentrated on a small island accessed by a by a road bridge and also a small footbridge.  It has a wonderful ambience, with it’s many narrow cobbled streets and alleyways and last but definitely not least its soaring Gothic cathedral.

As always on such excursions our first stop is for a caffeine heart-starter so we stop off at a small open-air cafe in the centre.  We must be the coffee-drinkers quartet from hell with our various idiosyncrasies . I like my cappuccino hot and strong, Maureen wants it as weak as possible with the coffee bean only making a brief contact with her cup, Gail always orders double espresso with an extra jug of hot water on the side to avoid being served the dreaded ‘ Americano’ slop. John is almost normal, ordering either cappuccino or macchiato, with varying degrees of success. One can only hope that the baristas and waiters in the Balkans are not big Facebook users or unionised as we might be facing a boycott!

Leaving behind another stressed-out waitress we continue our stroll around this appealing old town and John goes on his usual solo walkabout, as is his wont. We buy some lunch and stop for a break in a pleasant park near the water and lo and behold the prodigal son returns after about an hour wondering what all the fuss is about.  John’s friends will be familiar with his walkabout tendencies and G and I just assume that he will come back like a homing pigeon. M is a little less sanguine about it and gives him a mild lecture, all to no avail I suspect. Old habits die hard and the one good thing is that I appear to one of  the few travelling companions who can walk at John’s pace when we set off on hikes without the girls.

An uneventful trip back to Split on the bus but it is fascinating to see a few people try to get on at the bus stops along the way without paying a fare. Fortunately, the driver is very vigilant and the potential fare-dodgers are quickly brought into line.

Back in Split we stop off at the restaurant Maslina, recommended in Rick Steves’ guidebook , for a drink and decide to come back for dinner in the evening.

The girls make a quick visit to the Guess shop and John nips into a barber near our flat on Marmontova Street for a trim. The old barber clearly knows his stuff and John comes out looking very smart.

Maslina offers good quality food at affordable prices and our waiter , who has lived 12 years in New Zealand, is all efficiency  and charm.

Rather than go straight back to the flat we talk a walk along the Riva esplanade , stopping for coffee/Baileys along the way. It really is a beautiful city and comes out on top in virtually respect in comparison with the capital Zagreb.

We will leave Croatia tomorrow with very fond memories of this beautiful country and with only one glaring black mark- why do Croatians persist in disfiguring monuments, buildings, with graffiti . We have never encountered graffiti pollution at this level before and clearly the authorities turn a blind eye to this activity.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Tuesday 20th May 2014

Wake up to more depressing news on the tv concerning the floods in Bosnia and Serbia but we are blessed with some great sunny weather with temperatures more in keeping with what we had expected for this time of year.

We take the easy way out and opt not to eat breakfast at the apartment. Instead we stroll down to Narodni Square the much-recommended( by Tea , our agent that is ) No Stress restaurant for an alfresco brekkie. After our large food intake of recent weeks we thought that a plain ‘breakfast menu’ consisting of coffee, juice and toast would provide us with a perfect start to the day. Firstly, our waiter looked as though he wanted to be anywhere else other than serving breakfast to some Aussies. Maureen’s request to substitute the coffee with tea, which was cheaper was met with an abrupt ” not possible” and even worse when the  ‘ toast ‘ arrived it had barely made contact with the toaster and  it was filled with ham, cheese , mayonnaise and some very sad looking lettuce. M couldn’t eat hers, G had only part and J and I , gluttons that we are, cleaned up our own and any other leftovers.

We return to the flat to sort out washing etc and to allow M to buy a Danish pastry for her breakfast.

Time to venture out into this lovely city and after a quick stroll through the bustling fish market we start our tour near to Diocletian’s Palace which was built from 295 AD. G and I take a quick detour to visit the cathedral which proves to be something of a disappointment, although the huge Corinthian columns from the 1st century BC are very impressive.

On emerging onto the Riva, the Nice-like waterfront promenade, we walk past numerous cafés serving breakfast at lower prices than No Stress and certainly causing less stress than our earlier experience.

As the mercury is rising quite rapidly we decide to delay the rest of our city tour until late afternoon and set off towards the Marjan Park at the western end of the Riva.M and G join us for the start of the climb up to the first lookout at Vidilica Cafe where we enjoy some cold drinks and the magnificent view over the Old Town and port.

J and I leave the girls shortly above the cafe while we continue on up to higher vantage points and the chapels of Sveti Nicola and Sveti Jere. Sveti Jere is a simply shed-like structure, pressed hard against a cliff and there is some some evidence of the caves where hermits used to live in medieval times.

We decide not to return along the shorter southern path back to Split and opt instead for the longer northern walk across the rocky spine of the peninsular. This whole coastal area is delightful and Bene Bay appears to be a very popular beach spot. Whilst the beaches are all of the shingle variety the water is absolutely pristine and very tempting on this increasingly hot afternoon. It may come as a surprise to you but J and I deny the locals a view of our tanned, muscular bodies and stay fully-clothed .   

We meet the girls back at the apartment and find that they have done quite a lot of walking and have made appointments to have their roots coloured at a hairdresser nearby.

We knock off a bottle of white sitting on our roof top terrace and then set off, in a ‘ merry’ state, in search of a fish restaurant, but not before J has given us a blog moment when he uses a corkscrew to punch a hole in the top of the screw-top bottle. The evidence is there for all to see in the blog photo.

As luck would have it we meet Tea in the street and she suggests that we take a 15 minute walk along the waterfront to the Nevera restaurant. Tea’ s sense of distance and time was very flawed as it took us over an hour to arrive there. However, we did get a chance to see some outer suburbs of Split and to walk along the apparently famous Bacvice Beach with ‘real sand’ as the guide book states. The sand is in fact brown sludge and we are reminded again that we are truly blessed in our part of the world when it comes to the coastal areas.

In spite of the best efforts of the pleasant waiter at Nevera to sell the ‘ First Class’ fish at 80 dollars a kg we opt for meat dishes and in M’s case a salad. Suitably boozed and a little boisterous we pile into a taxi and arrive back at the flat with the banter and sledging flying thick and fast.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Monday 19th May 2014

Our wedding anniversary!

Breakfast once again down near the harbour although the coffees weren’t up to the standard of the previous day. John and I then sent off to buy the bus tickets for the trip from Korcula to Vela Luka on the western end of Korcula Island.

As required we check out of the flat by 10.30 and Vesa, our ever-smiling host, allows us to  leave our cases in the reception area while we take a last stroll around Korcula Old Town on a very pleasant day weather-wise.

The bus trip to Vela Luka takes us through some beautiful country and as it is something of a milk run we get to see the lovely old villages  which dot the route, the pick of them being Blato with it’s many tree-lined streets. Vela Luka is much as expected, a fairly ordinary port, and the decision to stay two nights in Korcula rather than split our time between the two towns proves to be the correct one.

Boarding Jadrolinja ferry Korcula to Split

We enjoy a very smooth and therefore pleasant boat trip to Split and arrive ahead of time courtesy of the captain’s decision to go through a narrow passage close to Hvar rather than take the longer route round the western end of the island.

First impressions of beautiful Split nestled under the mountains

The walk into Split Old Town is not too daunting and we are met at restaurant No Stress by Tea, the young girl guiding us to our apartment and helping us to settle in.

Flat is very stylish although J and I are not exactly enamoured by the climb up 90 steps with heavy cases in tow. First impressions of Split are very favourable and the famous Riva waterfront is very reminiscent of Nice.

Doors to our 5th floor apartment 3rd on right opening onto an impressive street .

As the girls are not too hungry they settle for soup and French fries while John and I , having worked so much harder during the day, feel we deserve a more substantial meal and settle for a very tasty pasta.

Before turning in for the night we view some tv footage of the severe floods in Bosnia and Serbia, which come as no great surprise, given the torrential rain we had experienced in Sarajevo some days earlier. We are just happy to have moved further to the south-west and away from the affected areas.

More on this unexpectedly impressive city tomorrow when we hope to embark on a more extensive tour of both the centre and its environs.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Sunday 18th May 2014

Sunny start to the day and as breakfast not included we take a short walk into town and find a bakery which has some very tasty pastries and next door a coffee shop offering a highly drinkable cappuccino! It’s only taken 3 weeks to find such an establishment. We also get another glimpse of life on this lovely island when we see so many families heading off to the Sunday service , all very smartly dressed. We could learn a lot from this cross- generational respect and rapport which families seem to have in this part of the world.

After a quick walk back to the apartment to catch up on some clothes washing we set off west of Korcula Old Town for the moderate hike up to Fortress Welliington, a rundown round tower, apparently a remnant of British occupation during the 1800’s. During the walk back we have a Crazy John moment when he finds a discarded toy water pistol which he brandishes with some relish.  As the famous  director of the 7 UP TV series says ” show me the child at 7 and I will show you the man” . John provides us with living proof of this on regular occasions.

John armed with toy water pistol

Back to the pastry shop to buy some pies for lunch  which we eat on a bench overlooking the harbour.

John and I decide to take a hike 2 kms east of the town up to the Chapel of Sveti Antun. I had been fascinated by the word ‘ Sveti’ since we passed the island of Sveti Stefan in Montenegro and I had assumed that it referred to the fact that these people just suffered from the heat and humidity of this area in much the same way as the Aus Treasurer, Joe Hockey, leaks perspiration whenever he is in front of the television camera. However, the explanation is much more spiritual ans ‘ sveti’ merely means ‘ saint’. In a suitably reverent mood, therefore , J and I take the fairly long and in the increasing heat demanding trek up the site of the chapel. The final approach to the church is delightful with 102 steps leading up through an avenue of cypress trees. I take the obligatory photo, without J in it after he had assumed that I I wanted him included to embellish the scene. His exclusion initially led to a quivering bottom lip and a bit of a sulk but he soon got over the blow to his ego when I took a shot of him coming up the steps to the chapel.

The return to town took us through some superb waterfront suburbs and the views along the way only serve to underline what a beautiful spot this is. We meet the girls outside the flat in town and discover that they have also been in a fairly strenuous hike along the waterfront and through the Old Town. We are all ready for a drink so stop off at a sort of bottle shop to purchase some liquid refreshment. While sitting outside a bar we are distracted by the arrival of a large boat, Helena, which it turns out is owned by three families from Australia. It is a magnificent vessel and comes with the obligatory WAGS who skip down the ramp off the boat to gain maximum attention from the increasing crowd who had gathered to see how the other half lives.

We retire back to the flat for a bit of a break before dinner although the hyperactive J and I do take another stroll around the centre to check out possible eateries. We decide to give Planjak, which had been in our Rough Guide a miss and instead opt for Amfora, a modest pizzeria/ pasta bar. Although the service is a bit on the slow side the food is fine and the bottle of local red more than acceptable.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Saturday 17th May 2014

Slow start to the day and after a fairly late breakfast at the flat we walk to the west end of the city, through the Pile Gate to check out the practicality of dragging our cases through the crowds to the taxi rank. The crowds are far greater than on the previous day, presumably due to the thousands heading for the centre from the Fantasia and Costa Magica giant cruise ships in port.

We continue our quest to find a single cafe where they serve anything resembling a reasonable cappuccino but all to no avail. The espressos are fine but when it comes to any type of coffee requiring even a tiny amount of milk they are all hopeless.

We return to the flat armed with rolls bought from our local sandwich bar for lunch at the flat before checking out.

We have all reached the stage when we can’t wait to get out of Dubrovnik. There is no denying the beauty of the city and its spectacular location but there is a sense of a Hollowood film set about it, with its rampant over-commercialisation and the exhorbitant prices. Give me Mostar any day.

We find a very chatty taxi driver to take us to the bus station where we get a close-up view of the two cruise ships. The size of Fantasia is  mind-boggling and as for the Costa Magica my only thought is that I wouldn’t go anywhere near an Italian ship with a ‘Costa’ in its name , given the events of a few months ago. Apparently these ships arrive very early in the morning and leave shortly after lunch so with close to 6000 passengers over the two ships it’s little wonder that Dubrovnik is bursting at the seams for much of the summer.

We set off for Korcula at 3.00 pm on our expected 31/2 hour journey in light showers which have unfortunately become the norm over recent days. The scenery all along the coast as we head north is superb, with some beautiful small bays, albeit with shingle beaches.

At Ston , the entry point to the Preljesac Peninsular, we drive close by the 3 km stone wall on the hillside which the taxi driver in Dubrovnik had described as second only to the Great Wall of China. That’s tantamount to comparing the bridge over Toby Inlet in Dunsborough to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We duly arrive at Orebic, the departure point for the ferry across to Korcula , and after a half hour wait we make the 20 minute crossing under very grey skies.

Crossing to Korcula island via bus on ferry!

We are met in the main square of the town by the delightful owner of the Korunic Guest House and after viewing the rooms we decide to stay for an extra night .

Doorway to our rooms in the old town of Korcula. The boys are having lots of practice lifting our cases up several flights of stairs

On the recommendation of Mrs Korunic we dine at Adio Mare near to the cathedral and enjoy a very fine meal although we are somewhat surprised with the bill which exceeds even those charged in Tinseltown Dubrovnik.

On the way back to the guest house we come across a small group of girl choristers rehearsing in some cloisters near the cathedral and this beautiful sound provides a fitting end to another great day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Friday 16th May 2014

We had planned to get up very early and undertake the walking tour of the city walls before the onslaught of the tourist hordes but we were all a bit slow on the move . After a fairly basic, ie normal breakfast in the apartment, we head off to the western end of the Main Street, Stradun, and climb some fairly steep steps to begin the walk in an anti-wise direction. The wall tour is an ideal way of getting one’s bearings of Dubrovnik’s Old Town and viewing the rooftops from above. Comparing the modern red roof tiles, which are in a clear majority, and the original dark brown tiles provides a clear indication of the wanton destruction resulting from the Serb siege of the city in the 1990’s.  During walk we had noticed ruins in a few areas but a girl at a cafe informed Maureen that these came from the massive earthquake of 1667.

Some sections of the wall are a real test for vertigo-sufferers but Maureen got through the challenge with flying colours. The walk takes about 2 hours and we all came away feeling that the 20 euros ticket price per person was money well spent.

Rather than cope with the ever-increasing crowds we decide to buy some rolls from a sandwich bar and return to the flat for lunch.

Gail and I visit the War Photo Museum, just off Stradun, which offers an all-too-graphic picture of strife,death and destruction in war zones such as Syria, Lebanon, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania.

After a very confronting hour we decide that we need a quiet drink so it’s off to the waterfront for beer and wine.

At one point during the afternoon I had left the other three to check out the streets to the north of Stradun and came across a gem in Prijeko Street, lined with many fine restaurants. On rejoining the group we all visited Prijeko and our plans to make do with  home-cooked meal of gnocchi at the flat went out of the window. We stopped to look at one restaurant called Moby Dicks and the owner turned out to be a guy who spends half the year in Perth and half back in Dubrovnik. However, the fag hanging out of his mouth while he sat at a table was hardly encouraging so we looked at other options.

I returned from another quick stroll on my own to find the girls quite excited about  restaurant, Koboka Captain, which they had found on their second walk down Prijeko. Four people from Umea in Sweden and a couple from Germany were glowing in their praise of the food which was enough for the girls to opt for this eatery.

I had a chance to chat in Swedish at the start of what was a very enjoyable evening. The food was superb and the service excellent although our waiter blotted his copy book somewhat with his fairly lukewarm response to our generous tip. As we had paid he seemed to have moved on, psychologically, to the next occupants of our table, a common occurrence in such tourist cities.

John made the evening memorable by regaling a Canadian couple at the next table of stories of camels, feral goats, dogs and all manner of fearsome feral animals without once pointing out that the sightings  of these animals in Perth or any other capital city in Aus are very rare, in fact non-existant!  We quickly corrected the impression that they, or any other dinner guests within earshot might have gained and avoided a further reduction in visitors to our shores.

Off to the island of Korcula tomorrow.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Thursday 15th May 2014.

Awake to still overcast conditions but a surprisingly good breakfast ( the room was only 65 marks/ 33 euros) gets us on our way with the first stop being the town of Trebinje. We had driven through the outskirts of this town on our way north to Mostar but after reading the notes more carefully in our guidebook we thought that we needed to see it at closer quarters, given its many attractions.

Whilst it did not really live up to the glowing endorsement of the guidebook ( which ranked it as one of the most beautiful towns in Herzegovina , boasting 260 sunny days per year. ) it is a very attractive  town nestled under Leotar Mountain with the fine 16th century Arslanagica Bridge and a charming central square. The view as we approach the city from the north is very impressive and Gail makes the moment even more memorable by mistaking 4 men using whipper-snippers as metal-detectors checking for land-mines!

A drive up to the top of Crkvina Hill with its new Orthodox Church rewards us with a panoramic view of the whole town. On the way back to town Gail mistakes a donkey for a goat but I am putting it down to altitude-sickness.

Short drive over the border into Croatia and on to Dubrovnik Airport where we drop off our Skoda rental car and take a cab into Dubrovnik Old Town.

We leave Bosnia & Herzegovina with some very fond memories of the magnificent Mostar and the wonderful scenery we experienced throughout our travels in this country.  However, it is very difficult not to feel deep sadness at the trials and tribulations which the population has had to endure over many years. There is clearly a real determination to recover from the terrible damage inflicted on the people during the Balkan War but one senses that it will be a very long, difficult road back. Re-erecting the buildings is the easy part but the psychological scars will not be so easily healed.

Our accommodation for the next two nights is a very comfortable 2 bedroom flat right in the centre of this remarkable city. After having checked in and been welcomed by the owners we embark on a walking tour of the centre but decide to delay the city wall tour till the following day as time is running short and we need to get full value from the 20 euro entrance fee.

The city is what we had expected but having spent so many days far from  the madding crowds we’re struggling to cope with the hordes of tourists. June to August must be an absolute nightmare.

Stock up on provisions, including a bottle of local white wine and we return to the flat intending to cook some gnocchi for dinner. Eventually, we settle on wine and a bar of chocolate as the pizzas from lunchtime seem to have satisfied our hunger.

In bed before 10 again so we must be getting old .

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Wednesday 14th May 2014

Pleasantly surprised to find that a continental breakfast is included in the room rate so we take our time getting started.

The weather again thwarts us in our attempt to embark on a walking tour of the Old Town and I was particularly disappointed to miss the Galerija 11/07/95, a museum which exhibits the work of Sarajevo photographer Tarik  Samarah in depicting the horrifying events of the Srebrenbrica genocide on 11 July 1995 and its aftermath.

We leave this city without really gaining a feel for its position at the crossroads between the east and the west. Our visit to the local bar with a decidedly Turkish ambience had whetted our appetite to explore further but the thought of getting soaked to the skin a second time in 24 hours did not lreally appeal.

Dzenan kindly suggests an alternative route down south towards Dubrovnik and points out some of the highlights along the way.

On this route we once again call into the small town of  Konjic but this time take time out to view the Old Bridge and stop for coffee and pizza at Restoran Han overlooking the Neretva River ( the same one on which Mostar is sited ).

We proceed south through the river gorge and glorious scenery, now more visible as the weather brightens up. After Mostar we turn east through Blagaj where we come across the very impressive fortress of Herceg Stjepan atop a very deep gorge. Maureen, whose fear of heights make me look like Edmund Hillary, finds this road a little testing but seems to have confidence in the Obese One who has so far carried out the driving duties.

Route takes us across a fairly high plateau and some agriculture lands where live must be incredibly tough for the farmers. Driving this route is for the most part uneventful we are slowed down for a while as two young lambs decide that they want some milk from mum’s teats right in the middle of the road. The canine population of Herzegovina was also almost reduced by one when a crazy hound suddenly decided to cross the road at the last minute ( almost quite literally ! ).

Eventually arrive at Gacko where we pick up the main road to Trebinje. On the shores of a large lake near Bileca Gail spots a large hotel across the other side which she feels may be our hotel for the night. As we draw closer it becomes clear that the last guests probably checked out some decades previously.

Hotel Konak is a very welcome sight after the long drive and we are soon seated in their very traditional restaurant enjoying a lamb roast and local white wine.

A few dramas when the receptionist at the hotel is very reluctant to accept payment in KMs ( Convertible Marks ), the local currency. When she realises that it’s KMs or nothing she seems to become more cooperative. We have come across this problem previously in countries which want to enjoy some of the benefits of trading in Euros ( which is in fact illegal in B&H) but do not wish to being officially part of the Euro zone.

In bed by 10  after doing my blog duty.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Tuesday 13th May 2014

Our replacement rental car arrives from Split and this time it’s a Skoda. It can’t be worse than the VW Passat and this time it only has 211 kms on the clock.

The usual great breakfast , after which we say our goodbyes to our hosts Nermin and Dzanita and set off, bound for the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. More magnificent scenery as we follow a succession of river gorges and lakes on a miserable day, weather-wise. Find a restaurant at Konjic where we get the usual very strong coffee and some very tasty apple slices which are really baklava.

Press on to Sarajevo amid rapidly worsening weather  and find this city’s traffic by far the worst of any we have so far come across. One way streets abound and the torrential rain only makes matters worse. At one point we end up in blind alley , blocking a resident’s access to his house. The kind man explains that this has happened before and he extricates us from this mess by turning round our vehicle and pointing us  in the direction of  the correct street. We duly arrive at a lovely modern house  set on the hill above Sarajevo and are greeted by  a delightful couple, Dzenan and Alma. After a very welcome cup of tea we wander down to the Old Town and visit the City Museum, mainly to shelter from the pouring rain.

Find a local bar  with a great ambience and Gail tries out a local berry brandy which goes down very well.

Take a taxi to a restaurant Kibe high on the hillside above the centre. Dzenan had suggested this eatery, to which Angelina Jolie had been previously and which is apparently frequented by the in-crowd of Sarajevo. Our arrival looking like half-drowned derelicts would have done nothing for their reputation! The meal was everything that Dzenan had said it would be  so we headed back to our accommodation suitably fed and watered.

Turn in for an early night in expectation that the weather the next morning will allow us to further explore this east/ west melting pot of a city.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Monday 12th May 2014

Put it down to fatigue caused by having been put through the wringer and speaking German most of the day but there were some glaring omissions from yesterday’s blog.

First and foremost I forgot to mention that in a much-appreciated gesture, John, the old fox, had slipped away during our dinner at Hindin Han to foot the bill for our lovely evening meal. Our old mate is full of surprises.

Secondly, we visited a photographic exhibition in the Helebija Tower overlooking the Old Bridge in Mostar. This was by a New Zealand photographer Wade Goddard who visited Mostar at the age of 22 in 1992 and began documenting the hardships of a population without water, electricity and with very little food. The photos provide a graphic record of these terrible times.

A propos these hardships I also omitted to mention the moment when the Bosnian guide whom we met during our walk, in trying to underline how difficult life still is in Bosnia had patted John’s, shall we say well-covered stomach and had suggested that, if he and J could swap places for 3 months J would achieve a weight loss more quickly than any Weight Watcher customer.

I promise to improve my game and try to write blogs before I and my muse have gone to sleep.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Monday 12th May 2014

In  line with everything else in this fine B&B the breakfast is of the highest quality and Nermin is full of information on what happened to his family and the city in general during the tragic and brutal war of the 1990’s. He points out the shell of a high school next door to the B&B which had been virtually obliterated at the time and that his current building had been created from similar ruins. It is now a very fine, elegant hotel with evidence throughout of his wife Dzanita’s interior design flair.

While waiting for more contact from Fleet we check out the Old Town and come across a man who turns out to be tourist guide. He had apparently lost his whole family in the war but had a relative in Australia, whom he was planning to visit. He was a Muslim but married to a Catholic and really was at a loss to understand why enmities continued to exist in this part of the world. He was also touting for business but at 20 euros per person for a 2 hour walking tour we felt that this was a bit exorbitant.

Coffee at a small cafe near Stari Most and then have to return to the hotel to await the arrival of Local VW mechanics to check out the car (  I had previously had a lengthy conversation in German with someone at VW warning me of their arrival ).

Checks using a mobile computer appeared to suggest dirty fuel or more likely a fuel injection problem. Leaving M and G in town J and I go off in our car driven by one of the VW guys ( both non-English speakers ) to their main service facility. We are promised that it will take one hour to complete the full check on their main computer so we venture out to enjoy the ‘ scenery ‘ of the Industrial Park. On returning after one hour we find that they haven’t started yet so wait another 20 minutes. We then told that they can find no problem but on the advice of VW have replaced the car’s computer software.

Tomo, the Service Manager, takes us on a test drive , during which the warning light reappears and the car exhibits the same problems. Another phone call to Fleet to tell them that we need a new car at the hotel early the next morning so that we can continue our journey to Sarajevo. Take our car back to hotel and while we are getting temporarily lost in the Mostar traffics J points out to me that the red roses across the street are very nice. They probably were but at that particular moment botany was the last thing on my mind!

Receive a call from Anna, the manager from Fleet Dubrovnik Airport with the news that a replacement car will be delivered by 8.00 am the next day. Buoyed by this news J and I set off on a walking tour, mainly of the east bank of the river and see further evidence of the catastrophic damage caused to its during the futile Balkan War.

Along the way we visit a small cemetery where almost all of the graves commemorate people who died in 1993, the worst year of the war.

To say this is confronting and heartbreaking is an understatement and to see so many young lives lost underlines the futility of these hostilities.

Back to Hindin Han for another fine meal, overlooking Stari Most.

Gail Maureen & John

We will leave Mostar the next day encouraged by the progress, albeit slow, being made to return this beautiful city to its former glory but also deeply saddened to see the wanton damage  and death caused over a relatively short period in the 1990’s.

On that sombre note I’m off to bed

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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An early start and after breakfast at the apartment Mr Bogdanovic drives us to the Bus Station for us to take the bus to Dubrovnik Airport to pick up our rental car. Much to our dismay we are advised by the lady at the ticket office that the bus does not stop at the airport so we would have to take it to Dubrovnik and then take a bus or taxi back to the airport.

One compensation is that the drive around the fjord towards Dubrovnik and especially the last kms before we reach this world-famous city are quite simply breathtaking.  Why the bus cannot stop at Cillipi to drop us off for the airport is one of life’s mysteries as the terminal is literally only 200 hundred metres from the road on which we are travelling. Ours not to reason why, I suppose.

Do not venture into the city itself as we plans to return later in our journey and find a very friendly taxi-driver to take us back to the airport.

Pick up up VW Passat at Fleet Rent-a-Car and set off on our merry way to Mostar in Bosnia – Herzegovina. Interesting scenery without reaching the splendour of Kotor and the surrounding area and we are very happy with our VW, at least at this stage!

As we head north I notice that the car is rather sluggish and as we approach a town called Stolac we suddenly lose power and we are forced to pull into a side road to check out the warning symbols which have now appeared on the dashboard. What follows is bordering on the farcical. I try to interpret the meaning of the warning symbol by referring the car manual, only to find that it is all in Croatian. Yours truly then phones to Fleet and tries to read out to the office clerk the Croatian notes from the manual. One way or another I get the message through but as it is Sunday it seems very unlikely that Fleet will be able to get assistance to us. While considering our position we meet up with a couple of blokes ( at different times ), neither of whom speak English. One of them speaks German so he manages to say to me that he doesn’t believe the problem is major and that we should press on to Mostar. The second guy agrees with this and while I am on the phone to Fleet John is off engaging in a lengthy conversation with both men. Not sure how he achieved this as they didn’t speak English and as far as we know J’ s Croatian is non-existent. However, in due course J comes back with the news that he has managed to glean from the guys that the building nearby used to be furniture factory! We are still wondering how this startling piece of news might make a contribution to solving the car problem but as we are finding out J’s eccentricities are to provide to a constant source of amusement,

Decide to press on to Mostar, albeit at a very slow pace, and arrive at Shangri La Mansion, our hotel, at about 4.30.  Meet up with the delightful owners Nermin and Dzanita and settle into the lovely 2 bedroom apartment.

Before walking into town we sit on the roof-top terrace to enjoy the bottle of red which had been given to us by the Bogdanovic family in Kotor. Nermin speaks excellent English and works as an interpreter for United Nations. He had previously worked as a photographer in the army and his claim to fame was that he had translated Pink Floyd’ s lyrics into the Bosnian language.

Gail John Maureen

He recommends the Hindin Han restaurant in town and off we go enjoy a fine dinner close to the famous Stari Most ( Old Bridge ). The meal is everything we could wish for and our first view of parts of the Old Town whets our appetite for the following day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Saturday 10th May 2014

Breakfast in restaurant overlooking Kotor Fjord on the way into the Old Town and Gail, John and I set off through the North Gate to walk up the demanding path to the Castle of St John ( 260 metres and 1350 steps to the top ).

Maureen stays in town to do some retail therapy. Gail does a sterling job to get two thirds of the way and J and I press on to the top. It is a walk/ climb not to be taken lightly and much to J’s amusement  this well- known vertigo-sufferer freaks out when we have to cross decidedly fragile metal plate footbridge which is the only way of entering the fortress itself.

John admiring the view above Kotor

On the way back down we meet a couple from Dunfermline who had been to Perth recently to recapture the moment when they had first met in Perth, Scotland many years ago. Who said romance was dead.

Towards the bottom of the descent we met another  couple, he dressed in an England sleeveless football shirt and dripping with perspiration and the wife with her peaches and cream complexion as red as a lobster. J and were laying bets that they wouldn’t get to the top, al least no alive!

Meet up with Maureen, who has managed to buy a very elegant outfit in town, and sit at an alfresco cafe outside the walls of the Old Town to enjoy drinks. We also manage to arrange a private boat trip on the fjord for 4.30 pm. In the interim J explores the waterfront while I head off in the opposite direction to the supposedly more modern part of the town. Very sad to see this area in such a state of disrepair and the former pre-eminent Hotel Fjord overlooking the water in totally derelict state. While taking a photograph of this once glorious building I was approached by a man who had worked there in its heyday ( and probably from his appearance his heyday as well ). He regaled me with stories of its former splendour and gave an insight into why it had gone into such rapid decline ( corruption, poor management among other things )

The boat trip on the fjord with Ivan, the skipper and his wife, is an absolute delight which ends with him phoning a friend on shore whose father owns a restaurant, Tiha Noc ( quiet night ) specialising in lamb dishes. We are dropped off on shore and driven to the restaurant by the restaurant owner’s son. The meal lives up to expectations and we later take the short walk back to the flat after a day to remember in this fantastic location.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Friday 9th May 2014.

Start off the day with a quick trip to the town for breakfast at an alfresco cafe in the main square and subsequently find The Blue Palace which had proved so elusive on our stroll around the town the previous evening. For history buffs this was built during the 1890’s and served as a model for other royal palaces around the country. The heir to the ruling house of Montenegro, Prince Nikola Petrovic Njegos regularly visits Cetinje and he lives in part of the palace when visiting.

On the way back to our flat we are accosted at the bus station by the same driver who took us to our accommodation the previous day. He is very keen to either take us on a panoramic tour of the mountains near Kotor or just take us to Budva, half-way between Cetinje and Kotor, our next overnight stop.

We left him with a promise to contact him we needed his assistance. However, on returning to the flat Branka, the owner, tells us that his neighbour across the road, Milos is a taxi driver and will take us to Kotor via Budva ( where we can have a 2 hour stop ). We take out the offer with some alacrity.

The drive takes us through some superb scenery as we reach a vantage point above Budva Milos stops so that we can take one of the most awesome sights as we look down to the bay far below us and the tourist town of Budva.

We duly get our 2 hour break at Budva , during which we stroll down to a busy and very pebbly beach and make a tour of the interesting old town.

More great scenery between Budva and Kotor and the setting of the latter on the shores of a splendid fjord and under the imposing peak of Mount Lovcen ( 1749 metres ) is really breathtaking. Arrive at the two bedroom apartment owned by the Bogdanovic family and toss a coin to select the bedrooms. Maureen and John win the toss and are rewarded by the view towards the fjord. We are in what Gail describes as The Kiddies Room. Nevertheless it a lovely apartment and the owners could not be more helpful. We decide that it is time to take a bit of a breather so we book the flat for two nights instead of one.

J and I walk down to the magnificent Old Town to check things out and find a likely looking fish restaurant Cesarica which had been suggested to us by Mrs Bogdanovic.

Return to collect the ladies and head off back to town for dinner. Little time after a fine meal to tour the town so returned to the flat to plan following day in Kotor.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Thursday 8th May 2014

Breakfast in the 5th floor restaurant of the hotel with good views over the city.

The evening before G and I had decided that we had brought too many clothes and that trudging around with such heavy cases was proving to be a hassle .  Surely it would be a simple task to pack some items together and send them back to Aus from the local post office. Wrong again!  No help from the front desk at the hotel so I head off to a mega-market nearby to buy the necessary packing paper. No joy there but a very helpful English-speaking shop assistant directed me to a small post office where she thought I would be able to find the required materials. Two very elderly ladies in the post office spoke not a word of English but did get the message through to me that they only accepted letters, anyway. Back to the mega-market to ask ( maybe plead would be a better word ) the same shop assistant for help with a box or something similar. Eventually, get an ideal box to accommodate our surplus clothes and head off back to the Ramada to do the packing.

All packed and ready to go so John and walk down to a larger post office near the bus station. After signing my name at least 7 times on various documents I receive the news that it will cost 131 euros for the postage to Australia! Decide to suffer the financial pain and treat the whole thing as a learning experience. John and Maureen’s cases way 10 and 15 kgs respectively so we supposedly experienced travellers are obviously a bit dumb.

No time to visit the centre of Podgorica so off to the bus station for the short trip Cetinje, the former capital of Montenegro.

Check into flats above this delightful town where we meet the owners Vojo and Branka Stankovic and their friend Bojo Popovic. Bojo is former merchant seaman who is a real larrikin.Take a walk in the centre to view the many fine buildings, most of them former embassies. These appear to have been maintained in excellent condition with the notable exception of the former Russian Embassy which is now in a state of total disrepair. This may be a way of Montenegro making a statement to their former masters.

Dinner at Korzo restaurant on the very attractive pedestrian main street. Join ends up with a mixed grill big enough to solve the Biafra food shortage.

Another quick tour after dinner before heading off back to our flat.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Wednesday 7th May 2014.

Leave flat at 8.00 am and arrive at the train station in good time for our 9.10 train to Podgorica.

We leave behind a city and a country where life appears to be very tough and certainly struggling more in an economic sense than their neighbours to the north. Moreover, there appears to be a continued undercurrent of unease in the relationship with Croatia. Hopefully this will dissipate as time goes by.

Our 10 hour train journey to Podgorica almost didn’t come to pass as while we were in Zagreb we had received a text from Maureen stating, and I quote verbatim ” John has spoken to staff at bank who say don’t take train to Podgorica it’s dangerous and dirty. They said bus is far better.”

This came as a bit of a surprise as firstly Gail had checked out a site called ‘ man in seat 61’ who had described it as one of the world’s scenic journeys. Even more to the point was John’s reliance on the local bank clerk for expertise on train travel in this part of the world! Whilst we may not be experts in the field experience has taught us that we are safer to rely on such as travel agents, tourist offices and such institutions when making our travel plans! Time will tell.

The train leaves on time, which is a good start , and, although crowded, the carriages and seats are comfortable.

Initially, the landscape is fairly underwhelming but as we travel further south and into Montenegro we come across some truly awesome scenery, especially the Moraca Canyon which is not one for vertigo- sufferers. The train track is in fact perched at an impossibly high level above the gorge and the canyon does not suffer by comparison with the equally spectacular Gorge du Verdun in Southern France.

Montenegro is a singularly beautiful country and Podgorica is in a superb location surrounded by mountains on most sides.

We arrive in the city at 7.30 pm. ( on time ) and the only danger we have encountered has come in the form of the top coming off a feed bottle being administered to a little 7 month old called Pavla by his young Mum Maria who had got on with her friend Diana at Uzice in Serbia! Fortunately, the projectile didn’t quite reach John so he arrived at his destination totally unscathed

Trundled on foot from the nearby station to Hotel Ramada, dragging cases behind us ( more on this later) . VERY jaded from our 10 hour journey so it’s dinner at the hotel and then straight to bed.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Tuesday 7th May

Wake up to bright , sunny day  and eggs on toast served up by our travelling chef, John. The flat is in a very convenient location close to the city centre and offers all that we require for our short stay. Set off relatively early to walk into the pedestrian are on Kneza Mihaila. We meet up with a very charming man who had previously lectured at Southampton University in Specialisation, whatever that might be. Firstly offers a quick lesson on Serbia’s use of the Cyrillic alphabet and how to pronounce ‘trg,meaning  square. This requires the speaker to really roll their ‘ rrrs’ so we should have some fun with that one!

New-found guide suggests that we focus mainly on the large Kalemegdan Park and Stefan the Tyrant’s Castle so off we go but not before stopping at a Coffee Bar. Maureen and I settle for a standard cappuccino  but John and Gail have to try the hot chocolate. This turns out to be precisely that, namely 100 per cent melted chocolate.

Kalemegdan Park offers superb views over the Sava and Danube Rivers and on this particular day was crowded with hordes of students lying on the castle’s  battlements doing their sunflower pose and trying to get an early spring suntan.

Visit Ruzica Church and walk by St Petka Church where I mistake the burning of incense candles outside the latter for a wood-fired pizza oven to serve a nearby cafe, much to John’s amusement ! I’ m sure that he won’t miss any chance to remind me of my faux-pas over the coming days but he may find out that hell hath no fury like a blog-author scorned.

Back downtown to Trg Republika for lovely alfresco lunch then proceed to Trg Nikole Pasica then proceed past the very impressive National Assembly and St Mark’s church to the huge St Sava Temple. Started in 1939 and the exterior only finished in 1990 its interior is being done in stages as funds become available.

Evening spent dining at Casa Nova after a professional footballer playing in the Belgian 2nd Division recommends it to us as we walk past the restaurant.

The waiter serving us, Dzeko ( I may have the spelling wrong ) makes it a memorable  evening , regaining us with stories about his 50 year-old  friend who is a taxi driver in Perth and providing us with an insight of  life in Serbia when married to a Croatian wife, with 2 children. There does appear to be a real brain-drain taking place and who can blame the young professionals when the average monthly wage , according to Dzeko is about 300 Euros per month.

We are spoiled with free peach schnapps ( or rakija ) and desserts and leave with a promise to give Casa Nova a glowing reference on Trip Advisor.

Back at the flat I watch Man U beat Hull 3- 1 and see Giggs making what might be his last appearance for the club.

In bed by 11.oo to prepare for next day’s long train journey to Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Monday 5th May 2014

First task after breakfast is to return the rental car and on the way back to call in at the railway station. We had tried previously to book tickets for the Zagreb  to Belgrade 6 hour 37 minute journey, a challenge which one would expect to be fairly straightforward. Our first discussions with the railway clerk had taken place on Saturday 3rd May and she had informed us that the 11.15am train which we had planned to take two days later was running over 200 minutes late so she obviously had remarkably prophetic powers.

Gail had subsequently checked out the website and true enough the 11.00 am train was showing up as leaving at 14.50.

Armed with this information we approached the same afore-mentioned clerk again and she now confirmed that the train was leaving at 15.20.

With no other options available to us Gail bought two tickets ( I left it up to her as my patience was running rather low) and left the station to return to the hotel to check out. On the way out of the station we noticed that the 11.00 am was still showing on the departures so we asked another information clerk to check this out. She confirmed that the 15.20 was the only train leaving for Belgrade that day.

Totally confused, we walk back into the centre of Zagreb, check out and enjoy a few hours strolling around the lovely Old Town. This led to a re-appraisal of our views on Zagreb as the Old Town is delightful with some very pretty tree-lined streets and an ambience a far cry from the more frenetic newer part of the town.

Arrive at the station in good time for our train, having bought some food to eat during the long journey as we had been advised that no restaurant car was available. Wrong again as we found the the said restaurant car next to our own carriage!

A very uneventful but comfortable trip through some fairly uninspiring scenery although Gail did offer a moment of light entertainment with a ‘Gailism’. She was checking the details on the journey’s duration and casually remarked that having checked the calculations the train ” was in fact on time but 4 hours late”.  Mrs I’ s logic is always a source of joy and amusement.

Train chugged into Belgrade shortly after 10 pm and after short taxi ride we arrive at the flat we are sharing with Maureen and John, our friends from Busselton. Too tired to have more than a quick cup of tea then off to bed feeling decidedly jaded.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Sunday 4th May 2014

After fine continental breakfast served up by polyglot Ana we check out of the B&B  and drive the short distance to the entrance to Plitvice Lakes. Murphy is making his presence felt again as we face incessant rain, still worse the news that many of the boardwalks around the lower lakes are flooded and closed. Moreover, the temperature has dropped to just above 2 degrees. Hopefully Murphy will die of frostbite.! The recent torrential rainfall has an up and a down side. On the plus side the volume of water has made the waterfalls even more spectacular than usual and has created more small waterfalls coming down through the woods above the various lakes. The downside is that we do miss out on viewing some of the lakes at close quarters.

However, nothing can detract from the magnificence of the Plitvice Lakes which thoroughly deserve their Unesco listing. The photos which will be coming through on the blog shortly will do far more justice to this natural wonder than any of my words. In spite of the weather the crowds are huge and a true United Nations melting pot although one nation seems to dominate. I don’t like singling any country out but suffice it to say that I now understand why Craig says spring is a good time to visit Japan. Apart from the flowers the country must be empty at this time. Coming from a sparsely populated like Australia we find it quite a shock when hordes of mainly Japanese treat getting on a shuttle bus tantamount to the fight to obtain a place on a Tokyo train during rush hour.

We spend about 6 hours at the lakes and leave feeling that we have truly experienced one of the world’s unforgettable natural sights.

 
Take a slightly different route back to Zagreb  and see some evidence of the previous night’s snowfall on the hills near to Plitvice.

The scenery on the way back is pleasant without being spectacular , a comment which could equally apply to Zagreb itself.

Best Western Hotel in great location and as we are probably looking like two worn-out, fragile old codgers we are given an upgrade to a suite.

Decide on a return visit to the fish restaurant Ribice I Tri Tockice and once again have a lovely meal at very reasonable prices.

Coming back reminds us that on the previous occasion Gail gave us one of her now famous ‘Gailisms’ when she referred to a .5 litre carafe of wine as really 2 glasses short of a bottle! This could go down alongside ‘ two sandwiches short of a picnic’ and other such sayings to describe the intellectually-challenged.

Gail returned to the hotel while I went on a short stroll through this unremarkable city.

Next stop will be Belgrade tomorrow after a 6 hour train journey.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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