Traveling makes us speechless but turns us all into storytellers.
I wrote this in my journal during the introductory Road Scholar lecture in Herceg Novi, Montenegro on the night of our arrival. I know about Ibn Battuta and his adventures from when we lived in Dubai and traveled in the Middle East. I like his quote about why we travel.
At home in Asheville, we had studied the itinerary of our Balkans trip but few place names were familiar….Herceg Novi, Kotor, Dinaric Alps, Mostar, Novi Sad, Fruska Gora, Plitvice Lakes. They all looked unfamiliar nor did we have any idea where they were. We flew into Dubrovnik and our tour began in Herceg Novi, Montenegro which is only 45 mins from the Croatian airport. We came home from Lubljana, another name which now rolls off my tongue easily and I can pinpoint on a map.
Walking along the boardwalk by the Adriatic Sea our second day in Hercig Novi, I had the strangest sensation of having suddenly shrunk. Many Montenegrins were out strolling in the early evening as is their custom. I noticed the people passing us along our walk were a head if not two taller than we were - men and women. That was when I learned that Montenegrins along with Serbians, Bosnians and even Slovenians are among some of the tallest people in the world.
Adriatic coastline
“Dobro utro” is good morning in Serbian. Hvala means thank you. This is the extent of my Serbian after spending time in Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia. These independent republics once made up Yugoslavia which was held together by President Marshall Tito. When he died in 1980, 128 of 154 UN member countries sent representatives to the largest state funeral in history. Today all the independent republics speak Serbian although there are regional pronunciations of certain words. Language is not a barrier as people cross borders easily with a passport. We crossed eight borders in 17 days.
This was our first group travel experience with 21 Americans and two Serbian group leaders – Srdjan from Novi Sad and Vladan from Belgrade. Both fluent in English with university degrees in history, they shared their culture, personal experiences and knowledge with us. Srjdan, in his mid-thirties, was self- confident, organized, patient and unintimidated by a group of older Americans, many of whom carried their Americanisms with them despite their many international trips . (I was reminded that traveling the world in a group does not always make one “worldly”.) Vladan, in his fifties was tall and thin with graying hair and a gracious, soft spoken manner.
When we arrived in Herceg Novi and met the group, Srdjan, who was in charge, gave us the “punctuality at all times” talk. Everyone must have listened because no one was ever late. (I had worried about travelling in a group and waiting for people along the way.) We traveled by chartered bus.. The bus stopped at the “exit border” of one country, our passports were collected and we waited. Passports were returned. Then the bus would move a short distance to a new set of booths where we again gave our passports to officials of the new country we were entering. In a few instances we got off the bus and walked through immigration to have passports stamped. Another time an official got on the bus to check passports personally. At other borders we were told we could stay on the bus and our passports were returned once they were reviewed. Each kind of “crossing” seemed to be the decision of whoever was on duty. All was taken care of in an orderly way. I noted that crossing all these borders is definitely the way to learn the geography of these small countries and their proximity one to the other.
Road Scholar charter bus
Vladan, Srdjan, and Boris, the bus driver
“What kind of money to we need here?” someone would ask Srdjan. If it was Montenegro or Slovenia it was euros, but if it was Bosnia Hercegovina it would be the Convertible Mark, whereas in Serbia we needed Serbian Dinars and in Croatia we needed Kuna. We changed only small amounts of money in each new country. It all became like “Monopoly money” although admittedly we understood each currency and which country it was used in by the end of the trip.
Our Balkans trip was like no other part of the world we have visited except perhaps our two week stay in Bulgaria, nearly 20 years ago, when Hayden was a Peace Corps volunteer. The geography varied from Mediterranean scenery along the Adriatic Coast to spectacular mountainous regions in the Dinaric Alps. Our boat trip to Kotor on the Adriatic was almost like cruising the fjords of Norway but with warm sunshine and vegetation such as pomegranate, olive and clementine trees and blooming bougainvillea everywhere. As we headed north away from the coast, the mountains were reminiscent of the Austrian Alps. Our tours and lectures gave us an insight into thousands of years of Roman, Ottoman, and Austro Hungarian domination.
We saw firsthand the painful results of World War II and the extermination of Jewish communities and synagogues of which there are practically none today. The breakup of the Yugoslav republic and the war of the 1990’s is still a sore wound in some places. Only the Dictator Marshall Tito, we were told, was able to keep the different ethnic factions and religions (Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim) in check. I was surprised that Tito was spoken of almost as a hero. The Tito days for some were “the good times” compared to all that followed.
We saw firsthand the painful results of World War II and the extermination of Jewish communities and synagogues of which there are practically none today. The breakup of the Yugoslav republic and the war of the 1990’s is still a sore wound in some places. Only the Dictator Marshall Tito, we were told, was able to keep the different ethnic factions and religions (Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim) in check. I was surprised that Tito was spoken of almost as a hero. The Tito days for some were “the good times” compared to all that followed.
Synagogue in Novi Sad now used as an auditorium...
Tito's grave
Marshall Tito
Getting into bed at night at the Hotel Slavija in Split I touched the exposed brick wall next to me that was part of Diocletian’s Palace dating from the 4thcentury AD. This structure was built more like a fortress on the waterfront for the retirement of the Emperor Diocletian. After the Romans left and abandoned the site, it was empty for some centuries until residents starting making their homes and businesses within the walls of the palace. Today it is a World Heritage Unesco site and makes up the Old City of Split in Croatia. Sleeping within these walls I tried to imagine life in Roman times and vowed I needed review some of my long gone Roman history.
In Split we visited an art gallery in the Old City selling traditional and contemporary oils and watercolors by Croatian artists. We went in and chose an oil painting by Miodrag Lazic who was born in 1953 in Yugoslavia and now lives and works in Split. The painting is of a street scene in the Old Town. Petra Dosevic, the gallery assistant spoke perfect English and we felt we had made a new friend by the time we negotiated a price, paid for it in three currencies in order to get the “cash discount”, and spent time arranging to have it shipped to Biltmore Lake. Our painting is on its way to North Carolina right now.
Petra was a tall attractive young woman in her early twenties who told us she was studying for her Master’s degree in Art History while working at the gallery. She told us the name of the street where the artist painted our work of art and after saying goodbye we walked to find it and take a photograph.
Painting by Croatian artist Miodrag Lasic
Papaliceva ulica (street in the Old City of Split)
Visiting Dubrovnik a few days into our trip we watched one cruise ship leave only to be replaced by another Italian liner carrying at least 3,000 passengers within the same hour. Our walk through the old city of Dubrovnik was an exercise in dodging the many tour groups and visitors crowding the narrow streets and open spaces by the historic cathedral. We learned that Croatia is now limiting cruise ships to two a day instead of the up to 10 a day over recent years. Croatia has become one of the most visited places in the world for Asians and Westerners alike.
Old City of Dubrovnik
Walking guide in Dubrovnik
Land of the tourists - Dubrovnik, Croatia
An indelible memory is walking down “Sniper Alley” in Sarajevo, Bosnia, 23 years after the end of the 1992-95 war. It is lined with tall concrete apartment blocks that still have bullet ridden facades. Public park spaces are full of clean white narrow gravestone markers which are piled with memorial flowers and wreaths and visited daily. So many people died that there was no room nor time to bury them in proper cemeteries. It’s an eerie reminder that the war we witnessed for more than two years on our television screens is still very much part of Serbians’ memories.
Graves in the parks in Sarajevo
Our walking tour guide in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, told us that Maria Theresa, the wife of the Austrian Hungarian Emperor in the mid eighteenth century ordered all schools, hospitals, and public buildings in Zagreb painted a gold yellow color. (Today some might call it Provence yellow.) Now, more than three hundred years later that particular yellow is called “Marie Therese yellow”. Since yellow is my favorite color, I, of course, will remember that fact forever.
Exploring Zagreb - capital of Croatia
In Zagreb we spent an evening at the impressive Lisinski Auditorium listening to Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass”. We wouldn’t have missed it. The Auditorium with its all-glass modern façade and perfect acoustics filled up quickly with elegantly dressed Croatians. Men came in dark suits and ties and women in cocktail dresses and some in furs as there was a fall chill in the air. It reminded me of a long ago time in the 1950’s being taken to the Colon Theater for the ballet in my velveteen party dress and being surrounded by the elegant and sophisticated Argentines. I thought that world was long gone. It is still very much alive in Zagreb. Bernstein’s irreverent “Mass” resonated with a Zagreb audience in a predominantly Roman Catholic Croatia. The Croatian National Symphony and Choir were magnificent and Jubilant Sykes, an African American guest baritone from New York, was the only dark face in the crowd. He received multiple accolades.
Lisinski Auditorium in Zagreb
I felt a special connection to Serbia when we crossed the border because Hayden had lived and worked in Novi Pazar and Krusevacs in the mid 2000’s. He had just finished his Master’s degree in International Development at American University and asked our advice as to whether he should accept a job offer in Washington DC with USAID or one with a nongovernmental organization in Serbia. We advised USAID and he went off to Serbia. (Those were the years when he asked our advice and did the opposite…always landing on his feet.) He sent emails about his life in southern Serbia but sometimes wrote longingly wishing he lived in the more cosmopolitan city of Belgrade to the north. As we crossed the border into Serbia and spent time in Belgrade I wondered if it was much changed in the last 15 years since he had been there.
Spela (Slovenian for Elizabeth), our Slovenian lecturer was asked by someone in our group how Slovenians view Melania Trump. She hesitated but accustomed to this question I guessed she had come up with an answer. “She is all about fashion,” she told us. Then she added briefly, “She left…” I now think about the walking tour we had in Lubljana were the Slovenian guide pointed out the building where Melania Trump went to high school in case we were interested. Most of us just kept walking more intrigued by the 17thand 18thcentury architecture.
Spela added that Melania is from Novo Mesto, outside the capital and that she did not come from an affluent family. Young Slovenians have tried to capitalize on her fame by selling “Melania wine,” Melania cake”, “Melania cream” and other such items but we learned that she has not come back to Slovenia since becoming First Lady. It is only for the younger generation that she appears to be a celebrity. Spela diplomatically implied that there were more important things to work on such as the economy and politics in Slovenia rather than fashion. Quiet and picturesque Slovenia looked most desirable to me during the perfect fall days we were there. I imagined living there and not ever wanting to leave. Pure fantasy, of course.
Lake Bled - Slovenia
The Dragon Bridge in Lubljana
Sitting on the terminal bus at Chicago O’Hare Airport Art and I were dazed and tired as we had started the journey home at 4:30 a.m. in Lubljana via Munich. We still had a third flight to catch to get us home to Asheville.
I felt Art nudge me as he leaned over to say “That older couple are holding Bosnian passports!”
Then he looked across at them and caught the man’s eye. In his most diplomatic way, Art asked “You are from Bosnia? We just came from your country. It is a wonderful place.”
The man spoke minimal English but smiled warmly as if he was pleased that someone had spoken to him in a friendly manner. He indicated he and his wife were visiting somewhere…perhaps relatives who had emigrated to the US during the war . We didn’t catch very much of what he said.
The interchange was short but it reminded me if we had not visited this part of the world that Bosnian couple would have been just some foreigners sitting on the terminal bus like us. It was Art’s excitement that made me realize we had added a new part of the world to our lives and soon we would turn into storytellers about our experiences in the Balkan countries.
Crossing the Dinaric River between Bosnia and Serbia
