Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was founded 1300 years ago, shelled in 1991 by the Yugoslavian Army, and carefully reconstructed following. It is beautiful but the old town has quite a contrived touristy feel. It's a good waylay for a couple of days, with cool breezes off the coast, and quiet back streets.

Sara means "princess"- how sweet.

I've seen tons of these shoes. I cannot imagine that they are functional for these types of towns.

So that was the last night. Today I'm catching a bus to Mostar, Bosnia.

We love Slovenia, Part 2: Ptuj and Maribor

Hey we took a quick flight to the colliseum... nah, just jokes, here's from our day in Pula, Croatia. A better preserved colliseum than the one in Roma. I can't remember if this one is smaller or not. They gave us student discounts. Yay.

In the basement of the colliseum was an olive oil center-- way cool.

This is Ptuj, Slovenia. A sweet little town, the oldest town in Slovenia, one of the oldest cities in Europe.



Ptuj tower of terror. Nah, again. Just a happy little place. For happy people like us.

Castle at the top of the hill in Ptuj. You know the law, every town in Europe must have their own castle. And every tourist must visit it or risk beheading.

View of Ptuj from the castle hill.

Dominican Monistery in Ptuj. No longer housing real live monks, but still pretty.

We liked this sign. With the kids.

From the window of our hotel in Maribor. We could hear live music wafting through the window.

Slovenia! It's our favorite country of the trip. And I have now been there three times. Not disappointed once. Peaceful, non-touristy, inexpensive, full of nature, kind people... off the radar. Highly recommended if you would like somewhere different. However, you won't like it if you require big, obvious "sights" to see or large cities. The whole country totals two million people and it's the size of New Jersey. Perfect for us country folks from North Dakota. Cha!

A drive Croatia and Bosnia war zone. Thanks, GPS.

Two days ago, Carrie and I punched Bihac, Bosnia into our GPS and set off from Istra Peninsula in Croatia to Bihac, which was supposed to be up and coming and outdoorsy. We turned off the main highway onto these little roads, and then to a really tiny road on the left which no one else appeared to be going on. What follows is our drive through the former war area of Croatia.

The shock of the landscape and desolation was hard to comprehend. We were both holding our breath and whispering as we drove along, hardly believing what we were seeing. I think especially since we had no idea we'd be going through that area, it really impacted us. For a long time afterward, Carrie and I both felt so strange, like we'd seen something we shouldn't have. Like we'd driven through a land of ghosts. And actually we had.



We were driving to Bosnia and thought this looked a little a like Deliverance... or West Virginia or Missisippi. Reversed to take a photo.

Then ran into these signs... ?? Course we don't speak Croatian. Is that even the language? I don't know. We wondered if it was mines or something.

Just about a mile up the road was this sign... Mines, yes. Very weird. Very creepy. We were about the only ones on this road.

Every time we would see an area that looked like "normal" farmland with houses, when we looked closer, we'd see that they were about 95% abandonded.

Steps to nowhere.

Cratered landscape went on for miles and miles.

This was a whole town empty.

Memorial on the door. Some people had spray painted their phone numbers on the sides of empty houses also.

A little town in Bosnia, Bihac, where we stayed the night. It felt more like third world Asia in most ways than Eastern Europe.

We saw several of these white vehicles. They said "Mine removal" on the side.

More of Bihac, Bosnia.

Strange to see signs for Sarajevo since Carrie and I both remember that war time.

Leaving Bosnia. This actually looks like Germany.

The road to/from the Bosnian border in Croatia. Not especially confidence inspiring. Actually the whole mine/war road was like this, even worse, with large potholes. We wondered if it was unsafe to repair.

Look at all the people stuffed in this Yugo. They were everywhere. The Yugos.

Isn't that guy cute? Carrie and I love old guys. Sorry Grandma, he appeared to have a wife in the passenger seat.

Finally, a home depot cousin in Croatia. Carrie was so happy. Then we jetted out out of Croatia and Bosnia back to the land of our love, Slovenia.

Rovinj, Croatia

Crazy bridge pics: when you try to make your sis quickly get a photo while you are shooting over a superlong high bridge.

She missed and zoomed in on the window. Nice German sticker.

What I took while driving. Safe, yes?

Finally, arrival in Rovinj, Croatia.

I think resting after national-lampooning it into town. We did about 8 times around the round about and then tried to park in the wrong area. Were directed by the parking guys where to go. Everyone in this town spoke Deutsch to us. :) Probably saw us driving in circles on the way in!

The waterfront of Rovinj.

Okay guess? Harbour.

A local delicacy, the Brevek I think. We bought them and the lady again said everything in German to us. Very funny.

The rest of these are back streets. All cobblestone, almost seemed polished. I was afraid that I was going to sprain my ankle, being the clumsy sort. Of course also thought how they wouldn't be good streets to chase robbers down. No siree. Luckily Carrie and I appeared to be nearly the only tourists in town.

Church at the top of the hill.

We sort of got lost returning home but it was okay. We needed the exercise.

Hey look, it's my butt! :)

And Carrie's shoe.

Leaving town now...