Thursday, October 27, 2016

Kotor, inside the walls.






Kotor Fortress photos here

On towards Montenegro.

We head south along the Neretva river back towards Croatia and ultimately Montenegro. The river becomes a vast garden as far as the eye sees.





 We pass from Bosnia into Croatia and back into Bosnia again for a few k before re-entering Croatia again. We shamefully pass the old city of Dubrovnic,


we stop and look down but we have seen so many beautiful "old cities" recently, Dad is tired and it does look like a complete parking nightmare. We vote...onwards to Montenegro.

Why Bosnians seem unfriendly.

We met a guy who explained why people here are not very smiley and seem unfriendly. He said that people feel that incomers/tourists have a preconception about them, because of the atrocities committed during the war. They feel prejudged and convicted. He was particularly proud of his country and claimed that all Bosnians, what ever their culture or religion live happily together and are setting an example to the rest of Europe. The problem that caused the war was constructed by the bankers and politicians who for financial gain tried to keep the various ethnicities separated and weak. He said that Mostar is the only city in Europe where a lady or young girl could walk around the city at 3 am and not have any disrespectful comments directed at her.


The baby gecko is friendly.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Kotor, it just keeps getting better.

Kotor, it just keeps getting better.

We get into Montenegro in the dark. The immigration guard asks Dad to cut the engine while he checks our papers proudly stating that Montenegro is the "most ecological country in the world." We drive for an hour or so then find ourselves on a very small road at the edge of the sea seemingly almost going round in circles. We don't have a map of any useful scale and no sat nav as we are out of the EU. Only later do we see why we seemed to be going round in circles.

  I didn't know until morning, Dad finds a great place to stop at the far end of Kotor. We unfold the bikes                                                                                                                                                            and explore.

Into Montenegro, but it's dark.

We get into Montenegro in the dark. The immigration guard asks Dad to cut the engine while he checks our papers proudly stating that Montenegro is the "most ecological country in the world."
We drive for an hour or so then find ourselves on a very small road at the edge of the sea seemingly almost going round in circles. We don't have a map of any useful scale and no sat nav as we are out of the EU. Only later do we see why we seemed to be going round in circles.


I didn't know until morning, Dad finds a great place to stop at the far end of Kotor.


It did not seem appropriate to busk.

We continued our walk through the city. It was warm and sunny and we were becoming more and more aware that the natives were actually quite friendly and very helpful. We came upon a street were many people were walking in the sun or sitting outside cafes. Somehow it still seemed inappropriate to break the relative silence and busk. Dad gave some money to a young beggar man who had lost a leg. There quite a few beggars.
Dad still wanted to busk just to do one in each country we pass through. He thought we could give any money we make to the beggars. I still didn't want to. He later agreed that it would have been wrong and somehow disrespectful.






Still tension.

There is still very obvious tension between Muslims on the east side of the river and the Christians on the west. Its not surprising. The Christians have erected a huge Crucifix on the top of the mountain over looking the city and have the highest church towers I have ever seen.



The Muslims, for their part also have very high towers on their Mosques but have the loudest calls to prayer amplified over the city.



Some "official graffiti suggests all is well




Without doubt the most poignant reminders of the conflict are the many graveyards




All these grave stones are dated 1992 and mark the start of the war.
A mother will "never forget".




Signs of conflict everywhere.

We went for a walk


                             Signs of battle everywhere

on the Christian side and Muslim.





Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Things are often better in the morning.

It's dark, we park up in the city near a stream and between a bar and a Hostel. People still don't seem to know how to smile but they are very helpful. The guy in the bar says its ok to park and lets us use his loo. The Hostel gives us their wifi code and we have internet in the van. Lima is happy, there are small animals around.
We wake up in the morning and see that the building beside us, above the bar, is still riddled with bullet holes


We go off for a walk, more reminders of the war here

Heading for Mostar

We get into Bosnia and start climbing our way to Mostar, the sight of the famous Stari Most, a 16th century Ottoman bridge. ( Dad admits later that for the first time this trip he felt a little nervous driving into the mountains with such an unfriendly people in a 19 year old vehicle that has just been "fixed" by what the RAC describe as an incompetent garage.) Actually the bridge is a reproduction of the famous Stari Most, the original was totally destroyed in the 1992 war. The reproduction is probably more famous than the original would have been if it had survived. The road is slow and we get there in the dark.


It's a bit of a disappointment, Dad was expecting a bustling bridge with Muslins from one side trading happily with Christians on the other. It was empty.


All a bit too repro and clean and shiney and lit up like a Hollywood set.

Heading south to Bosnia

The Croatians or perhaps Croates are very warm, openly friendly and smiley people. We got a bit of a shock when we got to Bosnia. Immigration felt a little intimidating. We pulled up to the Croatian guards kiosk, he sleepily turned around and saw me, a 9 year old seemingly at the drivers side and got quite a shock. His female companion burst out laughing. They checked our passports and we drove 20 metres through no mans land to grumpy looking unshaven Bosnian immigration police. They want passports, Lima's too, they want car documents and green card. Apparently we are supposed to have a green card. They tell Dad to park 5 metres forward and to the right. We need a green card, they can not issue one because they don't have a computer, we have to go back and to another border crossing about 40 k away.
Dad turns around and goes back. They shout at us to STOP. We stop. They want to see our passports and car documents. Dad says, "you just saw them all 2 minutes ago". Apparently when we pulled up 5metres to park we entered Bosnia so they had to check our passports and documents again as we left.
 When we got back to the Croatian kiosk the lady guard was still laughing and leaned out of her window and asked me for my driving licence then started laughing even more.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

On to Split........

Next morning the police were not too happy with us parking on the sea front, we were just packing up to move anyway. The first time we have been asked to move since UK.
 On to Split, Croatia's 2nd biggest city and famous resort with Scotts????


Split is famed for Diocletians Palace/ Fortress build in the 4th Century by The Roman Emperor. There are over 200 building with in the palace and absolutely stunning.

some more photos here              Split was also a great place to busk but we had competition click here