Western Balkans Travelogue 2007

Slide show

noreply@blogger.com (Alanna) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:20:00 +0000

Here it is, finally.... a slide show of our entire trip!

Obviously we are back at home now, hard at work, and sadly this fabulous trip seems like a distant memory. Fortunately, we have these photos to reflect on... enjoy!

June 28 - 29: Lake Ohrid & Skopje, Macedonia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:13:00 +0000

Sniff sniff… our last drive in Albania, and on to our second to last country. We were meeting the rental car rep at the Macedonian border at noon, so had to hit the road pretty early, at least, early for us on this trip. So at 9AM, we were off and running, after a terrible sleep on the crappy old mattress (oh well.. we have not had any complaints about accommodations so far).

This drive was fairly similar as the drive to Berat for the first hour or so, until we reached the town of Elbasani. We really wish we had time to get out and take some photos because Elbasani was a truly amazing site. It is home to an absolutely ENORMOUS, communist era still mill built by the Chinese in 1974 (before then it was supposedly one of the most beautiful Ottoman cities in Albania). In its heydey the mill employed over 8000 people, but now stands empty and crumbling; apparently too costly to bring it up to environmental standards. And while it is in one sense an ugly monstrosity, it is in another way beautifu.

Past Elbasan, we were driving through territory reminiscent to what we had seen in Bosnia and northern Montenegro. This part was much greener and more mountainous, with rich forests lining both sides of a winding river. Then suddenly as we rose up the side of a mountain, we could see Lake Ohrid, our destination in Macedonia. Lake Ohrid is a huge lake, and one of the deepest in Europe, that shares a border with Albania and Macedonia.

We dropped of our car, crossed the border and made our way into Ohrid. Now, I will have to apologize in advance, because this part will be short. There is frankly not all that much to say about Macedonia. To be fair, we were only there for two days, but really, that was more than enough!

Ohrid was actually a very pretty lakeside town with a very active nightlife. We learned this the hard way, as our room, which seemed great during the day since it looked right over the lake, also looked right over the most happening live band venue in town… and let me tell you, the live bands here need a lot of work. All of Macedonia seemed to be congregating in Ohrid for the weekend, as it is the most popular destination in Macedonia, and for good reason. The lake is beautiful, there is always a strong cool breeze coming off the lake, and there just tons of cafes and bars lining the irver and the streets of the town. We spent a lovely afternoon exploring, and realizing that there was not all that much to stay on for. The town was very small, a bit hectic given the crowds and the food was a bit of a let down after the great food we had in Albania

Next day we embarked a not very fresh smelling bus for the 3-hour ride to Skopje, from which we were catching an overnight bus to Belgrade. We decided not to spend the night in Skopje as we learned the hotel prices are ridiculously inflated due to all of the NGO, diplomatic and aid workser that stay there, using Skopje as a base for work in nearby Kosovo.

Now, I apologize in advance to any Skopje-ites, but Skopje was by far the most boring place we have ever been. Now again, to be fair, we spent very little time there, but in the time we did spend there, we struggled to keep ourselves busy for the 7.5 hours till our bus. There was a really interesting Turkish quarter, which reminded Tawfik of the old city in Jerusalem, and where we had some great kebabs. We checked out the local gallery of modern art, which was housed in an old Turkish bath; the building was really spectacular. We ultimately wandered into the new part of town, which is dominated by large square, whose major focal point was an Italian restaurant. It is hard to describe the feeling we had in Skopje, but it was just quite dull. There was very little in the way of nice architecture, everything seemed grey and muted, even the sound, so really there was just very little that struck as dynamic or capable of stimulating the senses in anyway. In fact, we even checked out the two local shopping malls to see if we could at least get excited by some window shopping… but that did not work either. So, we sat in a café, caffeinated ourselves probably more than we should have given we were to sleep on a bus. Skopje gave us the impression of a place where the young people are probably dying to get out to somewhere a bit more dynamic and with more opportunity…. But again, this is our perspective after only an afternoon… so any Macedonians out there, we would love to hear a different perspective.

June 27: Berat, Albania

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:12:00 +0000

Given the relatively slow going and because we were still a bit unsure of the condition of the roads further south we decided to take a route back up through the center of Albania to head east to the Macedonian border (our next destination). This drive took us through what seemed like the heartland of Albania. There was much less random development, like we saw down the coastline, and instead we were driving through the agricultural areas, mostly dominated by olive groves, vineyards, cornfields various and sundry types of produce and even bee farms (is that what they are called?); we stopped along the way to buy some honey from one of the stands manned by young boys.

Along our drive we also passed through Albania’s oil fields, which was quite odd. All of the sudden there was a completely noxious smell of petrol, at which point we realized what we thought were electrical towers where actually rusted old oil rigs, which must have been leaking oil all over the place. We had no idea that Albania had its own oil resources. As we passed through various towns and villages, we were generally impressed with the state of them, we definitely did not see much of the abject poverty that is said to exist here. This clearly must be concentrated in the north and more remote areas away from the ‘main’ roads). In fact, we were even surprised to see the abundance of relatively nice homes and hotel / restaurants along the way (albeit in pretty random locations). W eeven saw one most impressive house (picture included in the slide show) shaped exactly like a ship… it is odd under any circumstances, but especially in a rural area of one of the poorest countries in the world.

Armed with a good map, and the fact that the roads are pretty well signed, we made it to Berat in only a couple of hours. I suppose it also helps that Albania doesn't have all that many primary or secondary roads, so if you are on a road of any size, you can be fairly certain it is the right one.

In the towns however, it is a different story, the street names are merely rumors, and no one seems to know them if you refer to them. So after circling a couple of times, unable to find out B&B we asked a police officer. Instead of just pointing us the way, he jumped in the back to take us there… which was very kind of him, even if he did not smell so fresh!

Our B&B was a cute restored ottoman home, definitely own of the places with the most chracter that we have stayed in… though unfortunately the plumbing reminded us a bit of China and the mattresses had a few springs sticking out of them… but hey, it was very clean and this is Albania so it was much better than we expected.

Berat is actually a Unesco Heritage City, known for its well-preserved ottoman homes both along the banks of its river and within the castle walls on a mountain overlooking the rest of the town. We hiked up to the castle town to explore the old ottoman city. This was a completely different style of architecture and town planning than we had seen before. The homes were built of field stones or some kind of white material with wooden roves and trimmings, much different from the Roman and Austrian influenced old cities we had seen to date. What also struck us about this site was the lack of any toursim whatsoever. This was a completely living city with not even a small stand selling drinks and postcards. Instead there were turkey and chickens and sheep roaming around… and of course, it had its fair share of Mercedes!!

From the old city, there was a fantastic view of the lower town with homes of the same style clinging to the sides of the mountain below and on the sister mountain across the river. From here one could also see the newer part of town, which while buiolt in that ugly cement block style, actually looked nice in the evening sun which lit up the bright colors of the buildings (the bright color mandate was obviously carried out throughout the country).

We then took a long stroll along the river of the lower town, and we really were captivated by the pace of this place. It was about 7PM, the sun was going down, and everyone was done with their work and school for the day. It seemed like all of Berat was out enjoying a stroll along the river and one of the main roads that had been closed to traffic. Families were out walking, having ice cream, teenage girls were out in groups – giggling at the groups of teenage boys. Old men were hanging out on the bridge watching their comrades fishing below. It was really reminiscent of an older pace of life, which we had not seen much along this trip.

We were a bit sad to only have a day to spend in Berat as we could have easily spent one more soaking up the atmosphere. But we enjoyed one long dinner on the roof deck of our B&B overlooking the city below.

June 25 – 26: Dhermie, Albania

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:00:00 +0000

After talking to a few people, and coming to the realization that we did not have enough days left in Albania to spend them on 8-hour bus rides, we decided that renting a car would allow us to see more of the country. We are so glad that we decided to do it. While the going is a bit slow (one lane roads) and the driving a bit hectic at times… it was really not anywhere near as bad as our guidebook made it out to be.

Though, perhaps it's the New York City driving that prepared us for this phase of our journey!! The drivers are pretty much all over the place, passing left and right with abandon. One valuable lesson we learned about Albanian driving is the magical, invisible middle lane (or in some cases lanes) that apparently exists between each ‘official’ lane of traffic. You can see this is some of the photos… note that it seems like there are four lanes going in one direction (something you would naturally assume upon seeing 4 cars abreast traveling in the same direction), but no, there is just one lane in each direction. Ok – so that sounds bad, but once you get in the groove of it, its actually quite entertaining. Fortunately the roads themselves were actually in really good shape; obviously a relatively new development as our Lonely Planet guide made them out to be really awful. There were a couple of bad stretches, but these were under construction – so all in all, we were really impressed by the roads and driving was a breeze.

Our first destination was the Ionian coast, so our drive took us down the last stretch of Adriatic coastline that we would see on our trip. What was quite shocking about this drive was that for the first few hours of our drive, there was non stop development in the form of buildings in really random places all in various stages of construction. What was particularly odd was that no one seemed to be working on any of them. Though we really only covered about 150 or so km in the first few hours of the drive, it was a surprise to see that there were people and towns virtually the whole way. Further south there was actually a very Florida-like beach resort, complete with pastel colored condos... fortunately we were heading even further south.

We finally broke free of the towns and the traffic when we reached what is known as ‘Thunder Mountain’. Not the ride at Disney World, but the high mountain range that marks the transition from the Adriatic to the Ionian sea. The mountain is also known as an escape from the hot and humid Tirana scene for some fresh mountain air and delicious grilled lamb in one of the many restaurants at the entrance of the mountain. Once through the mountain and the forest, we reached a really windy pass down the backside of the mountain, with absolutely incredible views of the virtually deserted beaches below. After our long hot drive (the AC did not work so well) we were very excited by the sght of the inviting crystal blue water below and rushed down.

Our destination was Dhermie, one of the more ‘developed’ of the beaches on the Ionian sea, which really means there were just a couple of small hotels and restaurants. Some of the other beaches had virtually nothing, and could not even be reached by car. As soon as we found a place to stay, we dropped our things and ran straight out for the water. The Ionian sea can best be described as a swimming pool… the water was crystal clear blue, flat as a mirror, and there was not a single fish or bit of foliage in the water.

So we spent a couple of days floating and swimming in this amazing water, playing on the ubiquitous bunkers and enjoying seafood pasta and cuba libres at a newly opened restaurant and beach-side lounge. While there is definitely development on the Ionian coast, most of it is pretty basic and unimaginative, so we were happy to find these places where the owner and his brother (a couple of local guys who had done some traveling) had a bit more vision and aspirations for decent food and service and a nice environment. Though we did not travel further south, there is clearly a huge amount of untapped potential for some amazing beach vacation destinations just in the few kilometers of coastline that we saw. So... if anyone is looking to invest in some beach property... this is a good spot!!

June 22 – 24: Tirana, Albania

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:54:00 +0000

For our stay in Tirana we found a really pleasant and comfortable B&B, which as it turns out was established by missionaries, for the missionary community in Tirana. Presumably after the fall of communism, Albania was an open playing field as far as religion was concerned, and the missionaries saw an opportunity. As a result, it appears that a significant number of the expats in Albania are on some kind of missionary work… breakfast on Saturday in the restaurant attached to the B&B looked a little too much like the breakfast crowd at Denny’s and we saw quite a few Mormons cruising the city. However, despite being in a hotbed of missionary activity, we managed to escape unconverted.

All jokes aside, the place was very nice and the people that ran it extremely helpful and kind… in fact, the young guy running the place let us use his washing machine. Also of note, was the free wireless in the rooms, which led to our newfound obsession with ‘The Office’. In the interest of full disclosure, we have to admit that, while totally incongruous with the nature of this trip, we have become ‘Office’ junkies…. And have seen almost the whole third season. We are now jonesing for another internet connection to download the remaining episodes!!

Despite our TV watching, we did manage to get out on the town to take in the sights and flavors of Tirana. To be honest, we were both a bit surprised at the degree of development that has taken placed and is underway in Tirana. One of the main features of Tirana are the brightly colored buildings, old and new. Apparently one of Hoxha’s many restrictions was on art and the use of color. Once he was removed, there was a significant rebellion against his legacy and rules, so in addition to removing virtually all traces of Hoxha from the city, there was a rebellion of color, and a government sponsored initiatives to repaint all of the old cement blocks in an explosion of color. As well, it seems that any new buildings are required to have some element of color to them. All of the new government buildings are festive yellow and pink colors, and even many of the more modern glass towers going up have managed to inject bright colors into their designs. So this blend of new and old, built and half built, bright and drab buildings, against the backdrop of the oversized squares and avenues resulting from the communist city planning makes for a very interesting urban landscape.

Once the heat of the day subsides, Tirana really springs into action and is quite a lively city. The action starts in the main square, under the shadow of an oversized cement building with a revolutionary mosaic. Here the kids of the city let off some steam and begin their early driving lessons in a circuit of mini electric cars. Apparently this is where they learn to swerve around other cars without banging up their Mercedes. Then a nice green park a few streets over, near the river, is full of families and older residents of the city enjoying the cool breeze from the trees. A few streets over the river is the former Blloku area, which was previously forbidden to residents of Tirana as it housed the residences of the party officials. It is a surprisingly green and leafy area, which today is the trendy part of town, where streets lined with Mercedes and the odd hummer buzz with activity in the numerous chi chi bars and cafes.

Also, as it turns out, Tirana is home to what must be one of the world's cheapest and best movie theatres. As it was quite hot and the city was dead on Sunday afternoon, we decided to duck into a theatre that we had passed. The timing was right for us to catch a 3PM showing of shooter (fun movie by the way). We were 2 of 4 people in th emovie theatre, enjoying our comfy stadium seats, fantastic audio and video and yummy popcorn for less that $10 for the two of us!!

All of this was definitely a surprise, as we definitely expected a much poorer and more decrepit city. Not to say that is not still pervasive in Albania.... but at least Tirana seems to be making some improvements. That said, we learned from chatting with a friend of Tawfik's sister, who works for Oxfam in Tirana, that the country is still rife with corruption (evident from all the fancy cars and the obvious disregard the drivers have for any authority) and that the government is extremely slow in putting into place any strategies and policies to really improve the state of the country. So for someone such as herself working in the economic development field, this is an extremely frustrating situation.

One other point to note on our experiences in Tirana, is that Albania has by far the best food we have enjoyed on the trip so far. We had several fantastic meals of Albanian cuisine, which has significant Turkish influences. One especially memorable meal was at a tiny restaurant called Oda. The restaurant had just three small tables, close to the ground, and we felt as though we were literally sitting in someone’s living room. Which we may well have been as the place was run by a husband and wife who did all the cooking and serving, and the dishes were representative of great home cooking. While we enjoyed some good food in Croatia, this is the first time we feel we have really experienced a new national cuisine.

June 22: Croatia to Albania

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:53:00 +0000

To leave Croatia, we took a bus, our first, that would bring us all the way to Ulcinj, the last town in Montenegro, from where there were rumored to be local busses to take you across the border, to another town in Albania, and from there one would take a third bus to get to Tirana, Albania’s capital. After three weeks of freedom and convenience that our little car offered us, we were not too terribly excited to have to switch to public transportation. However, the rental car companies will not allow you to take cars into Albania, where the driving and road conditions are supposed to be awful.

But we got off to not too bad of a start… our bus in Croatia was quite comfy, a big air-conditioned affair… but for some inexplicable reason, about one hour into the 5 hour trip, everyone going to Ulcinj was transferred to a much smaller, much more local bus (and also, much less fresh smelling!!). Despite the change, we did get to our first stop in the time promised, however, the next best for the border crossing was not till 6AM the next morning. Fortunately, we decided to ask how much the taxi drivers would charge to cross the border, and as it turned out, he could take us all the way to Tirana. At the time, the price of 100 euros for the 150km journey seemed quite pricey, but as it turned out it was the best 100 euros we have spent on the trip, as our driver was super nice, and it saved us a ton of time – we probably would not have made it to Tirana in the same day otherwise.

Our first impressions of Albania were quite interesting. While crossing over other borders offered a subtle change in landscape and some subtle changes in visible economic well being… the cross into Albania was quite dramatic, much more so than any other place we have been. As soon as we crossed the border, we were clearly in a much poorer country, in fact, Albania has only recently moved up a spot or two from being the poorest European country. Suddenly the cars shared the roads with horse and donkey carts, humpbacked old ladies taking their cows for a walk, shepherds with their flocks and all sorts of other obstacles. However, despite all the various modes of traffic, the road was much better than expected. We passed through a few rather grim looking towns, with shabby grey cement buildings. Which were a good indication of Tirana’s recent communist past and the current state of the country.

As we drove along a few other somewhat unique elements of Albania really stood out. 1) It turns out the country is covered in cement bunkers, built by the somewhat paranoid Enver Hoxha (dictator of Albania for over 50 years – apparently there are over 700,000 of these bunkers all over the country. Supposedly the designer of the bunker was required to sit in one of his creations while under siege from tank in order to prove it would hold! How is that for having to guarantee your own work? They are solid as can be, and are apparently extremely expensive and time-consuming to remove, so most remain.), 2) virtually every second car on the road is a Mercedes, and they drive as though they own the road, 3) there is a car wash just about every kilometer or so… apparently all those Mercedes need washing, 4) there are half-built buildings every where, 5) literally hundreds of furniture stores line the road, presumably to furnish all those buildings to-be.

In contrast to these oddities, we did observe that while the driving was a bit hectic, the roads were quite good (except for one awful stretch on the outskirts of the city)… so we are starting to wonder whether we should try to rent a car here after all. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of time here and the buses are notoriously slow. After a great drive, our nice driver dropped us off to our hotel, and we were happy to arrive in Tirana just in time for dinner!

(sorry, no photos of the drive. see next post for shots of Albania)

June 18 – 21: Dubrovnik, Croatia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:36:00 +0000

Our last stop in Croatia is in the famous town of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a breathtaking walled city, the biggest of all the walled cities we have seen; it was once, in fact, a city state. Though a truly beautiful place, it was unfortunately packed with tourists (it is obvious why, as it is so nice). This was not necessarily so different from other places where we had been, however, these Dubrovnik seems to exist purely for the tourists, while other cities we have visited had a life of their own… perhaps it was here too, but we just didn’t see it.

That said, we spent an enjoyable and slow 3 days in Dubrovnik, and enjoyed some of the better food we have had so far on the trip. In typical style, we did our requisite exploration of the town, which included a sunset walk around the high city walls, from which we were able to get some great shots of the city. The red tiled roofs of the building in the evening sunlight were such an amazing deep orange color, which was just stunning against the backdrop of the crystal blue sea. We were among the last to go up to the walls, so we were able to enjoy it with few people and also at a much more comfortable temperature. It is amazing to see the hoards of people that go up there under the glaring hot sun… it must not be pleasant at that time.

The walk also gave us a great vantage point of what lay behind the city walls on the sea-side of the city. There were several rocky outcrops where one could find a nice flat rock for some sunbathing. And what was great is that all around the rocky cliff, there are ladders to descend into the water… alternatively, given the depth and lack of rocks in the water, the sea was never more than a jump away… but it was nice to have the ladders to climb back up. So for the next couple of days we enjoyed picnics on the rocks behind the old city, munching on tuna sammiches from our new favorite bakery in the old city. This bakery was also the source of all our baked goods for breakfasts. Breakfast is really not a big thing in the region, nothing more than a coffee usually. Some cafes would offer limited pastries for breakfast… but by the time we get around to breakfast, they are all out. But luckily it is perfectly acceptable to sit at a café for a coffee or cappuccino while munching on a croissant from the local bakery.

As it was significantly hotter in Dubrovnik, we also looked for more inside activities. One in particular was the War Photos Limited Museum, which is an absolutely incredible gallery of photojournalistic work. In particular was an exhibit of a Croatian-Canadian photographer Lana Slezic's photos of Afghani women (here is a link well worth a visit to the website, as it is really incredible work). Apart from being truly incredible photographs, the subject matter and the emotion that she captured was really moving; particularly so, as we have both been reading books dealing with the matter of women in Afghanistan and Iran. It was quite surprising to see a gallery dealing with such a weighty subject matter, in such a pretty, touristy city, a bit incongruent, but we were happy it was there as this is something we really ‘enjoyed’ seeing.

On a lighter note, we spent the better part of one of our days in Dubrovnik kayaking around the city walls and to a nearby island, Lokrum, which had some great beaches and swimming. By now, we are really getting used to the concept of beaches here. The one on this particular island was a huge plateau of nice flat rock with ladders descending into the sea…the landscape of this particular area almost made it feel like being in some lunar landscape… a sort of sea-side holiday on the moon. Our little kayaking trip was a great way to see the walled city from a different perspective, and also to say our goodbyes to the Adriatic. After this we will be moving on the Albania and the Ionian coast. The Adriatic bid its farewell to us by attacking me with a sea urchin… so I now am gimping around with two tiny bits of sea urchin embedded in one of my toes!

After a bit of a drought of good food in Montenegro, we were fortunate to have some great meals in and around Dubrovnik. One place in particular was in a little fishing village about 10km away. Besides having great food, the restaurant actually had its on beach on a quiet cove, so we went out there early to spend our afternoon swimming and reading by the water. After a last dip and a shower… we were able to just mosey on over to a nice table over the water and watch the sun go down over a fantastic seafood meal.

Croatia, we will miss you!

June 16 – 17: Kotor Bay, Montenegro

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:07:00 +0000

Suffice it to say, one night in Budva was more than enough, so the next day we continued North up the coast of Montenegro. Much to our dismay after our fantastic experience in Budva, Kotor (one of the nicest spots on the trip) was not even an hour away.

Kotor is a very old an important port city in Montenegro, which sits at the end of the longest fjord in southern Europe. Today it is a really beautiful holiday destination, which seems primarily populated by owners of weekend homes and villas, giving it a bit of a different flavor than Budva. Whereas Budva was the weekend party spot, Kotor is the place where people go to enjoy long weekends and summers by the water with their families. Everyone seemed to know each other and had spent their summers growing up on the shores of the fjord; you get the sense of long childhood summers spent with friends. That said, Kotor also has its own very lively nightlife, and interesting fashion choices. We were there on Saturday night, and it was quite entertaining to see the marauding hoards of boys and groups of girls out on the town.

Through the help of a local travel agency, we found a fantastic accommodation in a century old villa on the bay. One of the best parts of our room in Kotor, aside from being in a great location on the water, was our host Marko, who greeted us in his speedos! Aside from his speedo-wearing fame, Marko was great… letting us use his row boat to tour the fjord and spend a lazy afternoon rowing and swimming in the fjord. Given the twists and turns of the fjord, which is surrounded by steep mountains, you get more of the feeling of being on a lake than by the sea. The water also is more like a like, more still and less salty than the sea.

At night you really can see where Montenegro gets its name. Walking out from the old city, along the water to our fjord-side home, we were struck by the imposing mountains surrounding us, which at night are jet black and almost menacing. It is easy to see why the founders of this city chose this location, as it would have been almost impossible to reach it over the mountains. To add to its defenses, there is a fort halfway up the mountain, which high walls stretching down the mountainside and around the hold town… guards would have spotted any intruders coming over the mountains long before they could reach the town. It was truly an impressive city from this perspective.

Upon leaving Kotor, we drove all the way around the fjord back towards the Croatian border. Along the way we stopped in Perast, which was a really beautiful little town. Unlike any of the other towns in Montenegro, there were no modern buildings, everything had either been preserved or built in the old style. Also unlike anywhere else we had been in Montenegro there where several nice looking restaurants serving delicious looking fish along the water front. One of the most interesting features of Perast are two tiny islands off its coast; one is home to a monastery and the other a church. One of the islands was actually man-made, built over a period of 500 years. During this time there was one day of the year where all of the villagers would go and drop rocks on a certain spot to build up the island. At some point the also sank 87 captured ships to build its foundation, talk about a long-standing tradition.

After a nice stop in Perast we continued along the bay and stopped for lunch in Herceg Novi, another old town on the fjord. Here we finally had a good meal in Montenegro… we lunched on some of the biggest and tastiest mussels we have ever had and a delicious seafood risotto. Yum, yum… now we were satisfied that we could leave Montenegro having found some decent food!

June 15: Budva, Montenegro

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:05:00 +0000

Another spectacular drive from Sarajevo into Montenegro.. this is starting to sound a bit redundant, but the landscape is really dramatic, and it is so nice to have a car from which to enjoy it. Leaving Sarajevo, we headed south and east towards Montenegro along a decent sized road. About an hour into our drive we get pulled over by the cops, we are still not quite sure why, as the just looked over our papers, made Tawfik change into his sneakers (apparently no driving in sandals allowed and sent us on our way). At some point we pulled over for some gas, some road snacks, and a change in drivers. Thinking the road would stay the same, we zipped off… but to our surprise the road quickly turned into a one lane, pot-holed dirt track; winding through the mountain with steep rocks climbing on one side, and a steep gulley on the other. It was a just a little bit of a crazy drive… at which point, we gained an appreciation for what the driving in Albania might be like (we don’t plan on driving there fortunately). While this was clearly the road we were supposed to be on, based on the map, I could not believe it was the same road, which on the map was supposed to be a ‘primary’ road (so the same as what we had traveled on previously) but in reality was more like an afterthought. Despite it being a bit of an exciting drive, it was really beautiful… we climbed high into the mountains, and could see the rushing river far below us. We kept thinking the road would improve as we were getting close to an international border… but it stayed the same right up to the border. It was definitely a surprise to see a HUGE tour bus in line in front of us at the border… I can’t imagine it plying the road we had just traveled on.

This was definitely the most diligent border crossing we experienced thus far. Both checkpoints thoroughly examined our passports and car papers before waving us through. Once in Montenegro, the road improved dramatically, and we were back on a comfy two-lane well paved road. Montenegro, gets its name from the huge Karst mountains flanking it, this was evident the moment we began this leg of our journey… again, we were winding through the mountains through rough cut tunnels in the side of the mountain, following a massive crystal blue lake most of the way to the coast. We passed through a couple of largish cities, which were not much to look at – dusty, concrete block buildings and lots of traffic.

It ended up being a pretty long ride, it was getting dark and we were starving so after passing a couple of pretty uninspiring and really unattractive beach resorts, we stopped in Budva, which had been recommended by a couple of people. We will not return the favor and recommend it to others… if you ever go to Montenegro, definitely give it a miss. Or, if you are interested in a Montenegirn version of Daytona Beach + Jersey Shore, then this is the place for you! It was by far the most expensive accommodations and worst food on the trip – bad pizza served with ketchup and smoothies that tasted like canned milk with strawberry syrup (which is probably what they were). That said, it was somewhat entertaining for a night. After spinning around the tiny old town about 10 times, before realizing how small it was, we ventured out to the newer resort part of the town and realized that was where all the action was… carnival games, water slides, street fair-like concession stands (it was only missing the funnel cake), outdoor clubs blaring seriously bad techno and some very interesting fashion choices, were all there for our people watching enjoyment.

(sadly we did not take our cameras around to photograph the 'sights' in Budva, so the couple of photos are from our drive from Bosnia into Montenegro)

June 14 – 15: Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:59:00 +0000

After an afternoon of wondering at the devastation of the front line, we hop in the car again to continue north to Sarajevo. The weather really was not on our side these two days, and it was pouring most of the way, especially once we got to Sarajevo. While not a very big city, it is a busy city, with lots of cars, so we arrived right around rush-hour and had the pleasure of sitting in some traffic; something we have not really missed.

For some reason accommodation was a bit tight, so we spend more time than we would have liked tromping around in the rain. But finally we came across a really pleasant guest house in a quiet residential neighborhood, only a few minutes walk from the center of the action.

Sarajevo is set in a lush green valley along the banks of a river… kind of a muddy river, not like the ones we have seen before. There is an old town, with low stone buildings, several old mosques, cafes, kebab and doner places, and lots of brass, leather and souvenir shops… as a well as a few carpet shops for good measure; however these carpet sellers are not out on the street inviting you in for a carpet. We take in a bit of the old city before heading across the river for a fantastic meal in a restored ottoman home. The setting was really beautiful, and the food outstanding. We have definitely been craving a bit of well spiced meat and veggies, and this delivered. The warm stewy meals were perfect for a somewhat chilly, and rainy day.

We had somewhat expected Sarajevo to show more signs of the war, however other than a few bullet holes here and there, they have really restored the town very quickly. As a result, other than a small war museum in the old village, and by talking to people, you would almost not know that anything had happened. The museum was quite interesting. It was really just a small affair, a collection of items used in the war; homemade ovens for cooking, homemade guns used by the Bosnians (they did not have a standing army so had few resources), remnants of shells and Serbian military gear, and a shocking map showing the siege of Sarajevo, which was absolutely surrounded by tanks. It is amazing to think the residents of Sarajevo were actually able to maintain their city. The museum was attended by a young woman who had recently returned to Sarajevo with her family, all of whom had lived abroad for most of her life. But it was really outstanding to talk to this woman who had spent hardly any time there, but who was so proud of her home and very nationalistic, it was an interesting discussion.

Our two days in Sarajevo were spent in our usual fashion – wandering through city, sampling the local goodies and enjoying watching life unfold in a new city. After our throough exploration of the old town, we wandered into the newer part, which is still mostly a legacy of the Austro-Hungarian empire, with a lively pedestrian shopping area and lots of lacy, pastel colored buildings and large cathedrals. There is square in which we stopped for a bit to watch some of the older male residents of the city engage in a rather aerobic game of chess. The square has a HUGE chessboard, with chess pieces about 2 feet high, which these old codgers move around at lightning speed, with a crowd of their contemporaries cheering them on, shouting out various moves, approvals and disapprovals; it was really entertaining.

As we knew we would be heading back to the land of seafood and Italian food (about all there is to be had in Croatia and Montenegro) we had another meet-filled day. We managed to find the most famous Kebab place in town, and had a DELICIOUS kebab sandwich for dinner…. Now we were fortified to head back south to the coast.

June 12 - 13: Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:55:00 +0000

After tearing ourselves away from paradisiacal Hvar, we were back on the road, headed south again on the Dalmatian Coast. At this point, our 3 CDs are getting a bit old.. the regular rotation of Morphine, and Ibiza Rocks volumes 1 and 2 need a bit of a break… unfortunately the radio stations here aren’t so great!

About 30 minutes down the road, we turn off to head inland towards Bosnia-Herzegovina. The road follows a river of the most insane blue colour. As it turns out, will follow this river most of the way to our next destination. Due to the delta formed by the river and the sea, the land is really fertile, so most of the way to the border, we pass fruit stand after fruit stand; cherries and figs are in season and quite tasty.

After not long, we get to the border, which surprisingly is a non-event. After about 30 minutes driving into B-H, it is very clear we are in another place. The first sign, of course, is the sudden presence of Mosques. The second, is that for obvious reasons, the region looks significantly more depressed than Croatia. The economic aftershocks of the Balkan war are palpable, especially as we pass through rather ragged, brown towns and once we get to our destination, Mostar.

Driving down the main road leading into Mostar, we pass some ugly industrial zone, then some really stunningly unattractive grey buildings, pockmarked with bullet holes. We see buildings that had been shelled and never rebuilt, as well as one amazing ghost of a glass office building that all the windows shattered, and still stands there, completely lifeless. After having been in beautiful green and blue Croatia, the stark contrast of this place makes us initially want to go running back to Hvar. But of course, we realize that while Croatia was beautiful, we are also here to experience some of the history of this region.

We park the car, for the first time, a bit nervous about leaving our things in the trunk; we are not totally struck by the same sense of safety and trust as in Croatia and Slovenia. But as we start to walk through the town, see life in the cafes and on the streets, our trepidation about the place starts to melt away, and we realize that we just needed a bit of time to re-calibrate our expectations after staying in Hvar.

Unfortunately the afternoon is quite rainy and grim, so we spend most of it indoors. Luckily we found a great little hotel, sparkling clean and really nicely done, in which to spend a rainy afternoon. One significantly welcome change in Bosnia is the food. There is more Turkish influence here, so we get our fill of meat in the form of kebabs in thick homemade bread. really delicious. We found one spot on the second day, called Bosfur, which was a fantastic hole in the wall place, with one woman grilling her kebabs and baking her bread over an open flame.

On our second day there we explored the old town, which was actually really spectacular. It was mostly two main streets leading up to a famous bridge built by Suleiman the Magnificent (who also built the wall around Jerusalem). You’ll see in the photos, but the construction is totally unique, and when it was initially built in the 15th century, no one believed it would hold. So the story goes (actually there are two) that either the architect ran away after it was built because he did not believe it would hold, or that he stayed 3 days under it to prove it would hold. Whatever the story, it is amazing. Today, local boys have made a business of jumping off the bridge for tourists.

While the old town was pretty, the really amazing thing about Mostar was the still-evident devastation of the town from the Balkan War in the early 90s. The town has clearly made a priority of getting the old town back in shape, as it is the main source of income, however, outside the old town aftermath is devastating. Just outside the old town was the front line, with the buildings described earlier. In addition to that one, there are several schools, government buildings and old hotels that still have the marks of bullets and mortars. Despite all that, and despite the fact that it seems the Bosnians really got the short end of the stick when the countries got divided up (just take a look at the map, Bosnia is almost entirely cut off from the coastline, a major source of tourist revenue), the people were quite friendly, and clearly very resilient.

June 8 - 11: Dalmatian Coast - Hvar, Croatia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:14:00 +0000

Ahhhh, how do you spell paradise? H—V—A—R! While a totally unexpected and not necessarily desired destination, we really loved Hvar… so much that instead of 2 days we stuck around for 4, and could have easily made it longer, but tore ourselves away to get on with our exploration of the rest with the region; we can always come back!

From the moment we drove off the ferry, we could tell this was a beautiful place. Incidentally, we took the ferry that dropped us at the end of the island, completely opposite the main town, where we were headed. Despite the windy, 77 km drive, it was worth it, otherwise we might not have seen this side of the island. All along the way, between steep mountain roads (not for those that get easily car sick) the landscape alternated between dense pine woods and fields of grapes, olives and lavender… the smell was out of this world. The road cuts through the center of the island, at a relatively high elevation, so we had amazing views of the coastline and neighboring islands the whole way. Throughout the drive we saw several small stone villages along the way, probably producers of wine or produce, which feeds the residents and restaurants of the main towns.

Literally 2 hours after arriving on the island, we got to the village of Hvar (my husband summarily dismissed another ploy on my part to take a side trip to a secluded village for our stay… again, the right move – I hate it when he’s right!). We must admit that we were a bit disheartened upon first arriving at the main town {bit of background first – Hvar is known as the Cannes, or even Ibiza of Croatia, initially we did not have a huge desire to go as we are not necessarily looking for a hard core party scene, but while in Split, we were told that it is really lovely and mellow before the high seasons… so one can easily find accommodation and enjoy all it has to offer without the frenzy of the party season). Instead of a mellow party town waiting to wake up, we were confronted by a HUGE stage set up in the main square and masses of people. Turns out it was the annual Radio Croatia music festival featuring local folk and pop music. Also it turns out accommodation was not easy to find… we hunted around for a couple of hours, very distraught that we were missing the last few hours of amazing light for taking photos. But we finally found something reasonable, and as it turned out, quote perfect. A family had built a small series of studio apartments behind their home, just meters away from the see and the promenade that takes you on a nice 1km stroll to the main marina and square. This was starting to turn out well.

As always, a good meal sealed the deal for us. Right around the corner from us on the promenade was an amazing seafood restaurant. In the front there was huge grill and a table of all kinds of fresh fish… as the days wore on we would see the fisherman arrive with the day’s catch for the restaurant – Tuna, Grouper, Snapper, Scorpion fish… all kinds (sorry no photos.. we should have snapped a few). As it turned out, this and their sister restaurant was where we had every dinner… we just kept going back for more. Their other restaurant, a bit inland specialized in lamb on the spit… so we indulged one night, and had a kilo of lamb between the two of us, accompanied by grilled veggies, yummie taters and a fantastic bottle of local red wine., mmmmm sooooo good!!

But enough about food (it is almost dinner time as this is being written so food is on the mind!!). Hvar is just a dream… the old town is really beautiful, with lots of small lanes and alleyways to explore, tons of little cafes and bars. It's a bit different from the other towns in that the stone used to build it is much lighter, so it gives it a slightly more modern and airy feel, while still looking old. Hvar, in fact, has been a vacation destination since the 30s and has been populated since 800 BC.

The promenade that led from our studio to the town continues around the point of the island, at any point along the way there are stairs leading down to the rocky beaches, where you either find a flat slab of rock or a beach chair for some sunning and reading and a dip in the Adriatic. While the rocky beaches sound unpleasant, they are actually fantastic, because you can always find a comfy spot, and there is no sand to pick out of your bathing suit for days after. I believe we mentioned this before, but it is definitely worth repeating, the water is unbelievable. The color is the deepest shades of sapphire blue and emerald green you can imagine (there are photos to prove it) and it is so deep and clear and still, it’s like swimming in a massive swimming pool. So we spent a few fabulous days luxuriating by the water, reading, eating, enjoying the nightlife in its calm before the storm. We could easily have spent the rest of our vacation there. Given the fantastic market and fisherman selling their fish, it is the perfect place to rent an apartment with a kitchen and just ‘live’ there for a couple of months.

One of our more entertaining moments on the island was our first real-life paparazzi spotting. As Hvar tends to be a destination for the fabulous during the high season… some hardworking paparazzi are already lurking around the island in the hopes of catching a glimpse… one, not so subtle guy, was really hysterical in his loud shirts, lounging around the clubs and snapping photos at all the yachts hoping that maybe one person might be remotely interesting. Another brush with fabulosity, was spotting the floating city ‘The World’ drop anchor off of Hvar.

While we could easily have stayed on much longer, but after 4 days, definitely time to move on.

June 8: Driving Down the Dalmatian Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:24:00 +0000

We seem to have good luck with our driving days, as again, the day started out rather gloomy. The highway has not yet extended past Split yet (though it is underway, in 2008, they will have a big highway going from Zagreb to Dubrovnik), so we took the coastal road, which is just as well, because it would have been a shame to miss such a beautiful drive. The road was flanked by the mountains on one side and amazing crystal blue water on the other… beyond the water were the islands of the Dalmatian coast stretching north to south a few kilometers off the coast line. With the land on the other side and the stillness of the water, the sea seems more like a river, than a sea. All the way down the coast was dotted with seaside towns with no shortage of accommodations; ‘apartmans’ and rooms for rent. The coastline is absolutely spectacular… there are small coves of emerald and sapphire blue water… literally, the colour is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Then the landscape changes a bit and there is nearly a sheer drop from the road to the sea below.

We stopped at one of the small towns for a pizza. While there we were entertained by a bunch of little kids, frolicking naked in the water. The two older girls, twins, were tormenting their little brother by taking his dry clothes on the shore and throwing it in the water.

After lunch, we continued down to Ploce, the extremely unattractive port town, where we hoped to catch our ferry to Podobuce on the Plajecec peninsula. This was a seriously ugly town with nasty grey cement block towers – but modern port tends don’t quite have the charm they had before. As it turns out… the ferry runs only very sporadically in the off season (turns out the high season starts on the 9th)… so no ferry for us. Fortunately, we had seen another ferry port about 30 minutes back with ferries to Hvar and Korcula, 2 of the main islands. So, another course correction was in order, and we would hopefully catch one of those ferries, if not, spend the night along the coast and catch a morning ferry.

(sorry - no photos, more coming in the next post)

June 6 – 8: Dalmatian Coast - Split, Croatia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:24:00 +0000

While we were tempted to stay and linger another day in Rovinj, to enjoy lounging on the rocks and taking dips on the crystal clear (but very cold) sea… we decided we should head south to the Dalmatian coast, where we would certainly have more sun and sand to enjoy. The weather helped push us in that direction, as it turned out to be quite dreary… a good day for a long drive. And a long drive it ended up being…. While the highways in Croatia are fantastic… they are still under construction in many places, so it was serious slow going for a while. That said, the drive was pretty impressive, not only is the highway in great shape (and they are continually extending it) but the drive is quite dramatic. The highway cuts though mountains and valleys, so you go from high elevated roads over villages and lush green forests to long tunnels cutting through the middle of stark, rocky mountains. And the crazy thing was the weather seemed to change every time we passed through a tunnel, from dark black clouds to sun to rain to gloomy and back again.

Our initial intent was to try to catch a ferry from Split to one of the islands, but once underway, it was clear that our 400km drive would take quite a while. So, we made a course correction and decided we would just spend the evening in Split to explore the town center, which is a thriving town built among the ruins of Diocletian’s palace.

We got there a bit on the late side, but fortunately the tourist office in the old town was still open (we had learned that this is the best source for private accommodations). We really lucked out with a great top-floor apartment, right in the old city with an amazing view over the red tile rooftops. Right then, we knew we would have to spend more than one night.

The owner of the apartment recommended a great little seafood shack outside the palace walls, Fife, where we had some great octopus salad and all varieties of fried fishies… it was so good that, ion fact, we ate there two nights in a row. Between our fish meals we enjoyed the city beach and covered every inch of the palace grounds. There was an amazing café in one of the main squares of the palace, with seating up and down the ancient stairs of what was Diocletian’s main oratory. One of the main entrances of the palace decends into the catacombs, which are lined with shops, selling cheesy tourist stuff (all probably made in China, I think we saw most of the same bric a brac for sale there). And all along the old palace streets are little cafes, pizzerias, gelato stands, bars, gold shops, trendy international boutiques and of course shoe shop after shoe shop (Croatians have a serious shoe fetish).

Split was definitely an unexpected, but very pleasant stop… it seems to mostly be a stopover for ferry traffic to and from the islands, but there is so much more to it, so we were definitely happy to have spent a couple of nights there. During our layover, we made a change in plans to head further down the coast to a small town on a peninsula that juts northward from the southern part of the Dalmatian coast for a few days of beach and reading.

June 4 - 6: Istria, Croatia – Motovun, Groznjan, Rovinj

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:17:00 +0000

After our first taste of the Adriatic, we continued south along the coast, back into Croatia. Hoping that we would have a chance to spend the pound of Euro change that we had left from Slovenia, we were surprised that the border came up so quickly! But what was amazing was that as we drove along, the landscape and the appearance of the homes and villages also changed so rapidly. We were now in the famed Istrian Peninsula... heralded recently as the ‘next Tuscany’, due to the rolling hillsides, vineyards, olive groves, and abundance of good food. As the road wound up and down the hillsides, we definitely got the sense that we were in a different place. The sun was hotter, the air a bit drier, and the countryside smelled just amazing… as we sped along with the windows down.

About an hour or so into our trip we spotted a beautiful stone village, surrounded by olive groves… so we stopped for a stretch and some lunch. We strolled up one of the two lanes of the town, and in our 10-minute stroll we found all kinds of things growing, it was a veritable garden of Eden; walnuts, olives, grapes, almonds, pears, askedenia (some kind of citrusy thing), plums, figs, all kinds of vegetables and wildflowers. For lunch we dined on the local specialties wild truffles on pasta and an egg dish with the local wild mushrooms, accompanied by a carafe the local wine. Interestingly people here drink their wine mixed with water.

Back on the road…. Our next stop was the birthplace of Mario Andretti, hard to believe that one of the world’s most famous racecar drivers came from a town with no cars. Motovun is a 15th century castle town, built at the top of a rocky hill (small hamlets built atop mountains is definitely an emerging theme). We had a cool drink on a café along the ramparts of the town, from which you could see for miles around. The builders of this town picked a very strategic location. We played in the little playground… swings and seesaws and such, chatted with some neighborhood cats… and wended our way along the old streets and pathways… as you have surely gathered by now, wandering around towns or cities and taking loads of photos is pretty much our MO so far on this trip.

On to the next town, Grosijn… which was pretty similar, but charming in its own way. A few decades ago local artists reclaimed the crumbling buildings and now it is full of galleries (not particularly good ones mind you). While I wanted to stay the night and sample the local food… my partner in crime did not want to spend the night in a ‘monastery’. So we moved on. As it turns out, it was the right move…

We found ourselves back on the coast in Rovinj… supposedly one of the few last ‘real’ fishing villages. Whatever that means. But it is really a dramatic town, built on a point in the ocean, with the buildings constructed right at the edge of the rock, before it plunges to the sea – there are some snaps in the slide show. We got there a bit on the late side… so were a bit unsure of how to find a place. A lot of the buildings advertising ‘Apartmans’ (the best accommodations around – privately owned apartments rented out for vacationers) were closed for the night. Finally we came across one who answered, she was full but called a friend, who thankfully was not. Maurizio, sped up on his vespa a few minutes later to give us the keys to our very own, bright red, shiny ‘cassetta’, just a block away from the sea. Well ensconced for the night… we hightailed it over to the seafood place recommended by a local. We dined on a big seafood platter… Rovinj is a good place to stay a couple of days, so we did!

Photos Posted

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:03:00 +0000

We have now posted photos for our previous posts. Please check them out. If you are reading this via email subscription or RSS feed, link to the actual blog to see the photo slide shows.

More to come soon!

June 3: Lipica & Piran, Slovenia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:31:00 +0000

Good bye Ljubjlana. After a fond farewell the night before, we took off the next day for the south-eastern part of Slovenia; right alongside the Italian border. Our first stop was Lipica, home of the famous Lippizaner horses. Lipica has been a stud farm for these snow-white horses since 1580. Being a horse lover, it was an obligatory stop… there was actually a Grand Prix level dressage show going on – so the riders there would all be Olympic candidates, which was quite impressive. Unfortunately the half-ast performance of the Lippizaner school was not any where near as spectacular as what we had seen in their tours… but, we spent a nice half-day scratching the noses of the young foals in the pasture… who were thrilled to have the attention and were eager to ham it up for the camera. Back in the car again. We should note, that it is amazing how short the distances are. We did not expect to cover nearly as much ground as we have already, but the towns are very small, and the distances between them are super short. Our next stop was Piran, a stunning little port town that juts out on a point from the coast. It's a 15th or 16th century port, with Venetian-Gothic architecture and a marina with all kinds of boats, from teeny little fishing boats to spectacular sailing yachts. We had not intended to spend the night there, just a stopover on the way back down into Croatia, but we were captivated by the town and decided to have a leisurely meal watching the sun go down on the Adriatic Sea.

June 2: Julian Alps & Lake Bled, Slovenia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:31:00 +0000

With our newly freed Skoda, and some tunes for the ride (which we picked up in Ljubljana) we took off for a road trip to the Julian Alps, which border Austria. Instead of taking the highway, we took the scenic back roads through the hills. The landscape was gorgeous… dark green firs of all shades, mountains cut by a winding river and picture-perfect hamlets of red-tiled homes clustered around a church. Interesting the number of churches in this country since over 25% are atheist and church attendance is extremely low…. But they are pretty. As we climbed up the mountain, the roads got narrower and narrower, to the point where we barely had clearance between the car and the buildings of the towns we passed through; and the tour bus we passed was an exciting moment. As we drove along, we stopped here and there to stroll through quiet mountain towns. In one we were accosted by an elderly lady… not sure what she wanted, but we were relieved to find the hubcaps were still on our car when we returned. We arrived at Lake Bled (our destination) in the late afternoon, after a few more stops along the way, the timing was perfect as it had just stopped raining. We circled the lake to find a quiet spot (the entrance is quite built up and a bit cheesy) and found a perfect picnicking spot on the boardwalk along the far side of the emerald green lake, with a perfect view of the church perched on an island in the center of the lake. We munched on our picnic of heavy dark bread and cheese from the market in Ljubjlana. A stroll around the lake provided a much needed opportunity to stretch our legs and to take in the local color. The lake area was fille with tourists, as many local as foreign tourists. This is when we first noticed the fantastic bright aubergine color that Slovenian women tend to choose as the hair color of choice… some of the shades were quite shocking!! There was also a classic car show going on, so we stopped to ogle a gorgeous, cherry red 1960s Aston Martin. Finally at the end of our long stroll around the lake, we ended up at a campsite restaurant and sealed the day with a tasty grilled trout from the river. PS – we parked the car in the hotel parking that night!!

June 2: Vehicular Violation #1

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:30:00 +0000

So, remember before when we said we parked as the locals do…. Well, apparently, this did not work in our favor, because lo and behold, when we went to fetch our car for an excursion into the Julian Alps, or car was not to be found. The little slide show says it all… but after a cab ride and 70 euros later, we managed to free our Skoda from the tow pound, and also got some good rock concert intel from the cabbie (apparently iron maiden was in town that night!)

May 31 – June 1: Ljubljana, Slovenia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:26:00 +0000

May 31 – June 1: Ljubljana, Slovenia The road trip begins…. We picked up our car, a zippy Skoda Fabia, and sped off on Croatia’s A2 towards Slovenia. The highways here are a dream… nice new highways, with hardly a soul on them (and so far, no cops). Before we knew it, we arrived at the Croatia / Slovenia border… not a car ahead of us, and the border guards pretty much just waved us through. Less than an hour and a half later, including a stop to check out the local goodies at the rest stop (which included ahem… adult videos placed right next to some children’s cartoons!! and peanut puffs – think cheetos but made with peanuts), we pulled into a pretty little square in the old town of Ljubljana. The official parking was full… so we did as the locals do, and pulled halfway up on the sidewalk of a small side street. Luckily, we were able to snag the last room at the hotel in the old town. Once settled, we took off to explore the town. Ljubljana’s main attraction is the old town, which stretches along the bank of a river and is backed by a hill with a castle atop it. As we kept saying… it is a very pretty, pretty town. Pastel buildings with shutters, weeping willows and outdoor cafes line the river Throughout our wandering we visited some interesting galleries, one actually of a woman who painted primarily NYC (link). We stopped here and there for the staples of our trip so far – coffee and gelato. The food, other than a nice pizza we had one night, is not much to get excited about. The best part of Ljubljana by far was the amazing farmer’s market that gets going early morning. The colors and the smells of the fruits and vegetables are so vivid… it made us wish we could buy up a bunch of veggies and make something delicious from it. Instead, we bought a big bag of cherries… delicious.

May 30 - 31: Zagreb, Croatia

noreply@blogger.com (Tawfik Jamjoum) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:18:00 +0000

Our first stop on our 5-week tour of the Balkans... we first catch a glimpse of Zagreb from the plane; a small city, which very quickly turns to farmland. The airport is hardly more than a small cluster of buildings, with a decidedly socialist feel to them.

We sped through the airport faster than any we have been through before, the immigration officer barely gave us a second glance. Our bags came in no time, and before we knew it, we were on a way... beats traveling trhough JFK or LaGuardia any time!

Our cabbie (one of the few women cab drivers we have ever had) gave us the quick rundown on the city... basically, no more than 2 days needed to see all there is to see.

We check into our Westin... behind its bleak socialist bloc exterior, it looks just like every other Westin I have ever stayed in, but hey, it was free! And the heavenly bed was definitely very heavenly after our long flight.

After a brief nap (ok, not so brief) we managed to drag our jet-lagged bodies out of bed to explore the city... but not before a bite to eat. To our delight, Pizza is one of the main foods here, and we love our pizza... so we scarfed down 2 pies (they were small), and were fortified to continue on our mission through the old town of Zagreb.

The town itself is really lovely.. beautiful old, Austrian style homes cling to the hillside...they all have amazing views of the old town, with all the clay tile roofs and amazingly vibrant greenery... it smelled amazing. The city is so peaceful and clean... no cars honking, people shouting... one could get used to this. We spent hours wandering the windy old streets, when came across a lively cafe street, with comfy outdoor seating, so we stopped to rest our legs and to sample the local beer and wine.

We sealed the day with a fantastic dinner of so called 'ancient food'...a traditional platter of thick flavorful bread, different kinds of cheeses and yogurt, and some nice Croatian wine. We were actually too stuffed to sample the walnut crepes... next time.

Suffering from jetlag, we way overslept the next day... but spent a couple of hours checking out the local flower and fruit market before picking up our rental car and heading off to Slovenia......

(ps. please excuse the blue tone of some of the photos... still learning the new camera!)