Virpazar

After we left Split, we had to drive home. Considering the roads in Montenegro's interior, it definitely wasn't going to be a one day trip - cutting through Serbia was out of the question. So we decided to spend the night in Podgarica. Big mistake. Podgarica, Montenegro's capital, is permanently locked into communist flashback. No hotel that we could find. The place is depressing. It was getting late and we'd already driven quite a ways, so we pulled out the Lonely Planet to find a place to stay. The result: going back over Lake Skadar to Virpazar and entering (weird music here) The Hippie Zone.

Virpazar is right next to the lake, a national park that is a wetlands preservation project. Most of Virpazar's meager income is the result of tourists going out on the lake. This place is at least as poor as many places in Kosovo. It was built on a medieval fort, and most of the fort is incorporated into people's houses. For example, these stairs lead up to a decrepit place that's still used - it has a dog and sheep in the yard and some flowers, but no electricity, no running water, and so on.

This is across the street from those stairs. You can see these houses were built shabbily also on fortifications. In the valley below, there's a gypsy camp that's even more pathetic than the houses. Total population of Virpazar can't be more than a couple of thousand people. It did have one advantage over the town on the other side of the lake - no huge dump right next to the road.

And now, why I call this The Hippie Zone. The place we stayed was Hotel Pelikan, founded in the Sixties and still stuck there. We ate at the restaurant, which is more what the place is than a hotel (it has four rooms, which are basically bedrooms in the house: ours was across from the family's living room. It was small, spider-filled, and the bathroom floor was always wet from the shower overflow. We were desperate, though. The next nearest place on the way home was through all those tunnels and such, and a ski resort that might not even be open in the summer. So stuck we were.

We took a walk around the town (taking all of ten minutes to do so), and went to the restaurant for dinner. It was at least as much of an experience as the room. i was given a wilted bouquet of local wildflowers when we sat down to dinner. With the exception of the frozen mixed veg, it was obvious everything was from the local area. Our first course was mulberries. I don't think I've -ever- been served mulberries before. There was a cold fried dough, some honey, and olives - uncured, new olives. The veal was from an old milch cow from its toughness, but at least it was thoroughly cooked. Someone associated with the place came by with fresh water chestnuts he pressed us to try. By the end of the meal, we had somehow acquired a basil plant on top of that. The only other customers were a foursome of French caravaners who decided to eat out instead of cooking. All in all ... weird and definitely an imitation of an acid trip.

Trogir

Yes, I'm still writing about the road trip weeks later - cause I keep getting photos put up and there's much to tell. On our last day in Split, we went to Trogir. It's about half an hour north of there and UNESCO has marked it as a World Heritage Site because it's the best-preserved medieval town in central Europe. It's a great little place. The old town is on an island in the middle of the newer parts, and there's not a single modern building in it. This top picture is the former town hall; it's used now as a school. I'd imagine it's hard to study there with the view of the boat basin out all the windows.

Here is part of the inside of the "fort" part. We walked the battlements and inside that tower is a great big pigeon den. It stinks, literally. The views from the walls are pretty, though.

And this is the landward entrance to town. The walls encompass everything to the water side.

Lots of little alleys like this one run in a crooked way throughout the town. It's easy to get lost in them if you don't keep your bearings or don't keep the water in sight. The place was crowded; again, my companion had to wait to get a shot without people in it.

This is the footbridge to one of the newer areas of town. It's just a pretty bridge, so I put it here. There was also a market on the new side and we were lucky enough to see a line of parked classic cars on the quay as we ate lunch. My companion took a lot of pictures of them for my husband. If you want to see more pictures of Trogir, go here.

Split Beach

The beach by the hotel we stayed at is called Znjan. I have no idea how to pronounce it. It's a pretty beach with lots of white rocks and views of the islands a few kilometers away. It's also a very popular beach with the locals. most of the pictures my companion took don't have people in them because he really prefers not to take pictures of people without permission. He had to work to crop people out or not get them in the shot. Anyway... it's not because the beach isn't used that it looks empty in my pictures. During the day, people go out to sunbathe and enjoy the cooler breeze at the shore. These people leave between four and six in the afternoon in a process we called "the shift change". For about an hour, the beach is empty-ish, then the families come out to go to the little coffee bars (with playgrounds) and walk up and down the walkway lining the beach.

A lot of things go on there - walking dogs, rollerblade lessons for preteens, elderly strolls. It's like half the population comes out before dinner to enjoy the evening. Around sunset, they all start going home and then the fun begins.

Living in the Balkans means there's no privacy at home. Extended families live together in what we'd call single family dwellings here. So the Kosovars go to hotels to get it. The people of Split head to the beach. Cars cruise up and down it looking for the one thing in demand - empty benches. Benches are about twenty meters apart and provide that little bit of privacy you just can't get at home. Elderly men in groups drinking and talking. Teenagers making out. Older couples getting away from the in laws and kids at home. All come down to the beach after dusk for some time alone and together. We witnessed this every night, and we went down too - but not for privacy. My companion took a lot of photos of the beach at night and I acted as his assistant.

Split was the highlight of the road trip for both of us. If you get the chance to go there, grab it with both hands.

A Bit on Split

The central building in this picture was our hotel. Actually, not all of it was our hotel - only the middle two floors. The rest was private housing. Hotel More was a great place to stay. The picture was taken from the beach, so you can see how close it is! That cross in front of it, the tall metal pole? It's historically significant. It marks the place where Pope John Paul II celebrated mass a decade ago. The cross was part of the elevated altar and everyone was on the beach. The hotel wasn't built at the time. This place takes care of you - they're always concerned that things are right, ask you what kind of food you want for breakfast, loan you silverware for dinner, and give you a table chairs, -and- chaise longues on the veranda. Can you tell I want to go back?

This picture is from the restauraunt about a mile from the hotel that we had dinner at - twice. Like most places in the Balkans, it has a patio to eat outside. The day was good, so we did. I just like how my companion caught the colors of the sunset in this view. I'll make a post with some dinner pictures on it if my companion ever gets to processing my phone pictures...

And this is a picture of the beach at night, right across from our hotel. Pretty, isn't it? I'll have more pictures and a story to tell in a post soon. The beaches are used both day and night - there's always someone there. And they're gorgeous.

On the Road

Being stopped for road construction is rather normal in Croatia and Montenegro. You have to build it into your transit time when going places. So we thought nothing of it when we were stopped in this rather scenic area (yes, they're all scenic, really) on the way from Dubrovnik to Split and waited for a few minutes. We were about a dozen cars back from the light. Paying more attention to the view down to the sea than the road work going on up the mountain, we were slightly startled to hear a series of booms. Oh! They were blasting a new place to build the road and get another couple of lanes. Great. Then... rumble, rumble, bounce, rumble.... one boulder comes crashing down the mountainside. Sure enough, it landed right on the road. We saw it coming down, but my companion didn't react quickly enough to take pictures on the way.

It was kind of funny to watch the construction workers afterwards. All of them at the top stood in a line with their hands on their hips, looking down and shaking their heads. In unison. You could tell they were cursing, even from that distance. This poor guy was the flagman below, kicking off the pieces of rock to finish tumbling down into the sea.

And this is the boulder in all its glory. Notice the guard rail is -still- intact, and only bent. It gave my companion a lot more confidence in driving on the roads that if something happened, the rail wasn't as flimsy as he thought. On our way back three days later, the boulder had already been removed but the guard rail was still bent.

Ston

When we were driving from Dubrovnik to Split, we had plenty of time - we ended up with a whole day to do it and it was a three hour drive. Sooo... we saw a sign for a tourist spot called Ston and decided to explore. It's a teeny tiny town on the peninsula west of the coast road an hour or so north of Dubrovnik. For a small spot, there's a lot to see. This top picture is of the salt pans there. It looks kind of like a rice paddy, but they're evaporating sea water to make salt. You can even buy it.

The first thing you see on entering Ston is the walls, though. This picture was taken from the back side, where most of the town is. These walls go over the hill and all the way down the other side. Not quite as high as Kotor, but still very impressive.

More of the wall here, and you can see the town fort in it, too. We didn't walk up these, either, but you can.

I have a fascination for town clocks, so my companion took this picture of Ston's city hall and clock for me. Really fancy for a town of no more than five hundred people. If you want to see more of Ston, you can go here and click on the Ston set.

Some of Split

These few pictures are of Split's old town. The place is weird because it's built of the palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian (end of the third century AD). The roads are the palace's corridors, and the buildings, former rooms. This top picture is an example. The columns are part of the old palace and the cathedral was built inside. Kind of neat looking.

This is a picture of the north gate. You can tell it looks a lot more like a single building here than a bunch that are protected by a wall.

And this is a picture from the harbor, on the south side. Unlike the harbor for Dubrovnik's old town, this harbor is much more a working one. The ferries depart from this area, and they're constantly coming and going.

Stash from Split

While in the old town of Split, which is also Diocletian's palace, I found three! shops. Two were trim shops and one was a fabric shop. I helped the daily receipts of all three. This top shop shows some cute ribbons and a wide piece of lace I found.

More trims here and the only piece of fabric I bought at the fabric shop. Fabric was top quality, but I really don't like paying nearly a hundred euros per meter for stuff I could get in the states for about thirty dollars a yard, especially since I can dye my oen silk. So I bought this piece of linen, which I found really interesting. Now to figure out what to do with it.

The metal trim snaking across this picture is heavy and was expensive, but I really like it. It's made up of basket charms and Swarovski crystals. It'd make a good bracelet with some left over, but I have other plans. The ribbon on netting will do well on some projects, too.

Both of the trim shops had a wide selection of very nice buttons. Several were dichroic, even. I bought a bunch and also this neat little coin trim, where it's all old Roman reproductions in tin.

And here is all the stash I bought, laid out together. It looks like a lot when it's all spread across the table.

This shop was off by itself down one of the streets running down to the harbor.

And this was one of the trim shops. It was directly across from the expensive fabric shop shown below. Very nice people in all three places, and willing to help.

More Dubrovnik

After reading my previous Dubrovnik post, my companion said I had to do more. I'd mentioned the restaurant on the Gruz harbor and then not shown a picture, so... here is one he took. We were on the balcony terrace of the place and it was a clear night. The lights are across the bay between Babin Kuk (where we were) and Gruz. Boats would sometimes come in to dock. It was very pretty.

This is part of Gruz by daylight, including a spiffy suspension bridge that we went over on our way to Split.

Our hotel had "outside" elevators. They were more like tiny trams, since they went on a grade instead of straight up and down. Here's a picture of the hotel's beach from the elevator. The beach, like all Adriatic ones, is rocky.

Another thing I didn't mention was how we got into Dubrovnik's old town. When you park on the north side of the fort, you come out at the top of it and have to walk down stairs. Lots of stairs. On the way back, you get to go up them. There are stores and shops and cross streets on them too.

Dubrovnik Stash

There are numerous textile sellers on Dubrovnik's old town streets. All purport to be selling handmade items. Very few of them are actually plying their craft at their stalls. I broke down and bought this lovely cloth from one of them. It's very plain linen with a satin stitch border of flowers with a line of slinge around the inside (really well done) and a hemstitched hem. It cost me twenty euros, a pretty good price, I think.

I also found a fabric shop! It was tucked away in one of the streets in the lower portion of the old quarter, fairly close to the Poor Claires monastery. She had a small inventory - a couple of needlepoint kits, some fabrics, and more trims. She also stocked a lot of shades of the local perle cotton. I bought these trims for my crazy quilting. The braided ribbons are dark blue and green. She had other colors - buff, red, and orange - but these were the ones I liked best. I've got a bit of a fascination for eyelets these days, so I bought the white. Now to figure out what to do with them. In sum, the cost was less than ten dollars.

Dubrovnik

We spent a total of three nights and two days in Dubrovnik and stayed at the Hotel President. It was typical of the big hotels - impersonal and somewhat cold. The service in the restaurant was practically nonexistent. Overall, it was overpriced, but so was the rest of Dubrovnik. On the other hand, this top picture is of the view coming in from Montenegro. The red rooftops and walls are of Dubrovnik's old town, which is about a fifth of the size of the city overall.

We spent two days wandering around old town, visiting everything from the aquarium to an exhibit of war photos. This second picture is of the boat basin, where you can catch a boat to go out to the islands just off the coast.

Both my husband and my companion say I have a depth perception problem; it's probably why I have a really bad case of acrophobia. Despite that, I climbed the city wall! This picture is of the stairs I had to go up to get there. Both staircases, plus another one not visible in the shot. My heart was racing by the time I got to the top, and several times at the top, but I did it. The views were gorgeous.

There is a pathetic aquarium by the boat basin. I think this anemone was the only creature looking happy in the place. I think my companion took a great photo of it, don't you?

The cloister in the Dominican monastery is a restful, cooling place in the old town, even if you have to pay an entrance fee - like everywhere else in Croatia. The monastery has a very pretty, still used church and a small collection of reliquaries and other religious objects. The best part is still the cloister with its palm and orange trees.

We had lunch here on the first day. It was just sandwiches, but they were good and the shade was needed. It's in the main square of the old town and about twenty feet from where most of the walking tours gather.

I think we spent just enough time in Dubrovnik. Besides old town, we explored the beach area by the university and had dinner at a cute place overlooking the port at Gruz. If we had spent another day, we would have needed to go out to the islands to find something to do.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

You know ... Europeans have a general dislike of all things American these days - not the people, but that America doesn't listen to them and doesn't engage in giving them money hand over fist to "do good". In response, I'd like to present one of the places we came across in Montenegro, in the town of Risan. Risan is just around the bay from Kotor, and just as beautifully situated, on top of having something to do, courtesy of the US government.

USAID helped build this structure, which protects the remains of a Roman villa, including some nearly intact floor mosaics. The mosaics are being restored to their former glory, also with US tax dollars. Did I mention this is one of the very few places you can get into in Montenegro for free, no matter your nationality? Not only that, a local will explain the mosaics and the layout of the villa to you on a guided tour.

Here is our guide and one of the mosaics, in the floor chamber of the bedroom. I have to say, the villa was in much better shape than what I saw in Normandy last year. There are a lot of aid programs in Montenegro, both US and EU funded. In Kosovo and Croatia too.

Lots to See, Nothing to Do

We left Budva just after noon on Saturday the 25th and took the scenic route to Kotor; boy, was it scenic - right down to the two way one lane road edged on one side by the bay and on the other by walls. This first shot is from that road. It shows Kotor from a distance and it just strikes you as yet another old town by the water. Very pretty with the mountain behind it, but there are a lot like that in Montenegro.

It seems like most other towns of any size, that is, until you get close up and see these massive town defense walls rising to the summit of the mountain. I'm still stunned that people put walls all over that mammoth hillside. Definitely worth the view, but...

if you don't sail and you don't hike, what do you do in a place like Kotor? We went because we'd heard it was -the- place in Montenegro for anglophones to go, as Budva is for Russians. They must have meant anglophone fitness freaks. Truly, the only things to do in Kotor are sail and hike. No beach. It takes about half an hour to explore the old fortress.

So, we came, we looked at the magnificent fortifications from the bottom, and we drove on.