We left Amsterdam behind and traveled to Dubrovnik via a flight to Vienna. It was a different perspective to see the Danube from above and a lock that we went through just a few weeks before. Our first hotel was on the bay where we spent one night before moving to the group hotel and beginning our tour. We used this travel as a rest day as well--just a short walk along the bay. A taxi in the morning up the hill to our new hotel and our adventure begins by bus to old town--the location for the fictional city of Kings Landing in the Game of Thrones TV series. But first a bit of info about Croatia it is slightly smaller than West Virginia with a population of 4.5 million. Lots of coastline on the Adriatic sea with lots of islands--the Italians are jealous of the islands. Predominately Roman Catholic. Croatians invented the first neck tie, solid ink fountain pen, and the automatic pencil. To give a perspective about the political history of the country, our tour guide told us her grandmother lived in the same house her entire life but lived under five different political systems. Austro-Hungarian empire, first Yugoslavia Kingdom, Nazi Croatia Independent State of Croatia, Socialist Yugoslavia, Democratic Republic of Croatia.
The crowning jewel of Croatia, the old town is built on a rocky spur at the southern most point of Croatia. It is known for it's medieval walls historic monuments. It is fortress city that served as a fleet base for trade between Europe and the Middle East. We roamed main street and enjoyed the harbor for awhile before returning via some side alleys. After pizza in a small cafe we wondered some more side streets and eventually succumbed to the heat and took our bus ride home. We met our group for orientation and dinner at the hotel.
June 14 and we are off. Up for breakfast and a bus ride back to the old city where we climbed up to the top of the wall and walked about half of the mile long circle. The view from here included rooftops, drying laundry on lines, gardens, cats and overhead views of alleys and the ocean. This city state was basically autonomous from 1358 to 1808 and is endowed with a wealth of historic architecture. After climbing down we joined our local guide to visit a city and monastery museum and to hear a bit more of the historical stories of the place. In the monetary we discovered one of Europe's oldest, continuously running pharmacies, established in 1317. The Dominicans had a monastery on one end of town, the Franciscans on the other. One of the other interesting facts was that an orphanage was here some 500 years ago. Babies could be dropped of anonymously through a lazy-susan type window. They were then sent to foster homes until they were old enough to return and be adopted.
After the tour we found the buza, or whole in the wall, that took us through the wall to the cafe on the Adriatic. We watched adventurous swimmers dive in off the rocks into the deep waters and enjoyed a cool coke zero--our exotic drink of choice. Our intention was to head back but following a new alley brought us to the bottom of sweeping staircase. We had to investigate and found a square and St Ignatious cathedral. Built into the side cliff wall was a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Speaking of churches, the walled city had byzantine, baroque, and romanesque architecture in its cathedrals.
This evening we went to the cable car to ascend to the hilltop for a view of the city from above.
Sea Bass for dinner at a local restaurant topped off a perfect first day of our tour.
June 15
A driving day south into Montenegro on our way to Kotor. Montenegro is a tiny country, smaller than Connecticut with a population of 653,000. It is drop dead gorgeous especially along the bay and the drive through the rugged alpine mountains. At Parest, a city with Venetian architecture and historic stone churches, we boarded a boat to visit the baroque shrine, Our Lady of the Rocks on a manmade islet. Legend says that fisherman saw the Virgin Mary on the reef and began to drop stones on the spot each time they completed a successful voyage, We showed our respect by bringing stones from shore to add to the islet foundation. Above the door in the alter room are gifts from brides who give a gift and tribute to Our Lady after the wedding. And throughout the museum, gifts from people who have had successful journeys are left as tributes and mementos.
From Wikipedia: Our Lady of the Rocks is one of the two islets off the coast of Perast in Bay of Kotor, Montenegro (the other being Sveti Đorđe Island). It is an artificial island created by bulwark of rocks and by sinking old and seized ships loaded with rocks. The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rocks(is the largest building on the islet; it has a museum attached.
According to legend, the islet was made over the centuries by local seamen who kept an ancient oath after finding the icon of Madonna and Child on the rock in the sea on July 22, 1452. Upon returning from each successful voyage, they laid a rock in the Bay. Over time, the islet gradually emerged from the sea.
The church contains 68 paintings by Tripo Kokolja, a famous 17th-century baroque artist from Perast. His most important painting, ten meters long, is The Death of the Virgin. TThe church also houses a collection of silver votive tablets and a famous votive tapestry embroidered by Jacinta Kunić-Mijović from Perast. It took her 25 years to finish it while waiting for her darling to come from a long journey, and eventually, she became blind. She used golden and silver fibres but what makes this tapestry so famous is the fact that she also embroidered her own hair in it. The bottom angels contain her brown hair and the higher ones the white hair as she aged. 
Bus ride back to Dubrovnik included a ten minute ferry ride for the bus. When you look at the picture included can you imagine four big coaches on this?
July 16
A travel day to Sarajevo with some interesting stops along the way. We crossed into Bosnia, back to Croatia and into Bosnia again. Passports out, in, out and scanned and off we go. The fields are covered with orange trees yet to blossom and a roadside stop produced peaches and dried orange rind with sugar. All sweet, delicious and could be addicting. First stop, Mostar. Here the cultures of the Middle East and Western Europe mingled. The river divided the two into Muslim and Croat sections. A bridge over the river was destroyed in 1993 during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. It has been rebuilt and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site standing as a symbol of reconciliation and continued peace. The old town maintains its medieval charm with bazaar stalls lining the narrow cobblestone streets. Young men collect money on the bridge and when they have received enough they dive from the bridge into the seemingly shallow river. We had a delicious traditional lunch, essentially a stew served in individual pots.Next stop, Neretva bridge. We had been following the Neretva river most of the day and stopped in Jablanica.
From Wikipedia: During the Battle of the Neretva in 1943, Jablanica was the site of a successful raid by a group of Partisans led by Josip Broz Tito. A rail bridge over the river was blown up while a train was in the middle of crossing. There is a park and monument commemorating this action at the site. The bridge section and the locomotive which can still be seen in the river gorge are the remains of a film set depicting the battle, from the 1960s. On the site is a museum commemorating the battle for the wounded, an effort spearheaded by Tito to move 4,000 wounded civilians and soldiers out of harms way. They crossed the river by climbing the fallen bridge (which they had bombed themselves) at night to escape the Germans who thought they would be going another direction after the destruction of the bridge. The director of the museum came out and invited us in for a short tour. It was all spur of the moment and his passion was evident as he shared the history of the bridge, battle and subsequent filming of the oscar nominated movie.
By the end of the day we were in Sarajevo. A walk through old town took us to another traditional meal--a giant pita bread with small mince meat sausages. We were skeptical but after the first bite we were hooked and could not get enough.
June 17. It is pouring rain and we are headed out for a walking tour of town....oh my. Sarajevo was founded in the 15th century by the Ottomans. Talk about multi-cultural, these folks lived it, with Muslims, Serbs, Croats, Turks, Jews and other call coexisting. After Istanbul, it was the most important trade city in the Balkans. Here you could hear the calls to prayer from Mosques, Synagogues and Churches all at the same time. During World War II the Jews were hidden from the Nazi's by their Muslim neighbors and many returned the favor during the subsequent war. Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Olympics and in the early 90's all hell broke loose. For 3.5 years the Bosnian Serbs pounded the besieged town with artillery and sniper fire. Our tour of old town included a 16th century mosque complex, a visit to the bridge where the Austrian Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated which began the events that sparked WWI. We took refuge from the rain in a museum of the history of the city dating back to 15th century.The afternoon brought lighter rain but we took the opportunity to rest and relax.
June 18. Today we focused on the recent history including the war during the 1990's. Where ever we went in Sarajevo, old and new town, there are reminders of the violence of war. High rise apartments, homes and sidewalks all have sniper scares or evidence of mortar damage. Where 
ever a mortar resulted in a death, a red "sarajevo rose" was made by poring red resin into and around the scarring. Everyone living here today was touched deeply by loss and the efforts to maintain a normal life, resist and survive. There was a small corridor between the Bosnian hold city and mountains, however transport over this corridor was dangerous due to sniper fire. Towns people dug a .5 mile tunnel under the most treacherous part. Some 3 million trips carrying supplies, food, weapons and people were taken back and forth through the tunnel. We met the owner of the house next to tunnel entrance near the airport. He had worked on digging the tunnel and driving transport trucks during the war.
We were scheduled to talk with a woman about her personal story of the war but she is off being an observer in the Ukraine so her husband came. He spoke of trying to maintain daily life, with daily funerals of friends, relatives, and neighbors. One day there was peace, the next the all hell broke loose. In all 4 million grenades exploded causing damage from flying road pieces and shrapnel in close city quarters. The city was totally surrounded so he spoke of not getting food, electricity was shut off, water was unavailable, all the trees in town were burned for heat and women burned shoes to cook. Everyone lost 20-30 kilos. 1600 of the cities 11,000 children died and there is touching monument to them. Because of the Olympics, the communication system in town was impervious to the attempts to cut off communications. Other important lifelines were a sense of humor, attempts to create theater and musical productions, and even a Miss Sarajevo contest. We were humbled by his presence and forthcoming information. While people believed this was a civil, it was not, since each country of the former Yugoslavia was now independent. The war ended soon after Clinton aided in the bombing of the Serbs as he declared we could no longer stand by and watch ethnic cleansing and systematic mass rape.
The reality of the recent history continued into our conversation where we (five of us) were hosted by a woman and her 23 year old daughter. We spoke of many things including the hardships she endured as a young mother. We were inspired by her strength and resolve and questioned our own abilities to persevere in such times. Our dinner was delightful and delicious. We spoke of the importance of family, the closeness of families in Sarajevo (as she is helping raise her two grandsons) and her hope for a better future for those children. We laughed and shared stories and were glad to have this opportunity to interact with local residents in an intimate manner.June 19--Off to the village. Another driving day heading into the breadbasket of the county. Up to now the landscape has been mountainous or coastal, and now it is flat--"the highest mountain is a cabbage." Our terrific driver and fine tour leader took us through an out of the way border crossing which saved us hours and brought to a delightful town where we had an ice cream break and spent time in the local cathedral. Wow. It was stunning, some simplicity and some ornate elaborate statuary and paintings.
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