Dubrovnik is the last stop on my first Balkan tour, and the first on my second – so two parts? Like Kotor, there’s a dramatic approach and a charming old town. Unlike Kotor, it is right on the Adriatic and a bigger town. We dropped off our luggage and immediately headed out to explore…

After going through the old city gate, we crossed on the straightaway and embarked on the loop around the top of the city walls, a marquee experience for seeing Dubrovnick.

This batch includes a charming restaurant, a whacked basketball court, organic gardens, myriad vistas, the famous laundry hanging out to dry, and a chance encounter. Scott & Jasmine are from Santa Cruz and are familiar with Nancy & Jered & Pie Ranch – and the founders of the New Leaf grocery stores! He happened to see my Pescadero Art & Fun Festival shirt, and we started up a conversation. A small & beautiful world – mostly…

This batch includes more vistas, more laundry, more tile roofs, and the commemorative stone for Pavo Urban, a photo-journalist killed in 1991 during the Siege of Dubrovnik…

Whose the guy with the shiny nose ending the last batch and beginning this one?

After the arduous journey walking the walls of Dubrovnik, we took a break, then a couple of us went to the Rector’s Palace for some museum action. Also, note the wedding party and the Walk of Shame from the Game of Thrones. The museum features a range of exhibits from your basic paintings & sculptures, royal family stuff, lock boxes, coins, jewelry, and pix of the war with Serbia…

Next, went to the Franciscan Friary & Museum. I’d been exploring with Bill from Canada and Boon from Singapore – my first & second roommates! Bill’s off on another tour, and Boon & I will continue with just one other – Karen from Australia – on our next tour which officially starts this evening at 6:00. In any case, this batch ends with our last supper. Today I’m resurrecting…

Not only am I going hard on the blog, but getting some laundry done and resting up for the second tour. Thanks for coming along. Shall we continue to frolic…? Yes!

The approach to Kotor is particularly majestic, it being nestled in something like a fjord, the Bay of Kotor. We arrived, then took a walk to the old town, stopping for lunch along the way…

Note the fortress from below as soon you’ll see it from above! Most of this batch is the approach to, and walking around within, Kotor’s Old Town.

The cats above foreshadow the Cat Museum below, and they are loved here, getting credit for catching rats thus avoiding the plague! This batch features the Evergreen Jazz Bar, an appreciated break from tramping the cobblestones…

Having rested and taken some refreshment, only a few of us embarked on the hike up to the Kotor Fortress…

The length of the steps made the ways up and down much easier than expected, tho’ it was a serious undertaking. As previously, I reckon the Ministry of Tourism should do more to take care of this uniquely cool historical gem…

Too bored to bite? Happy for a great dinner and some R&R…

The next morning we took it easy, got a slow start, and headed out on our free day to explore more or Kotor. Started with the market place, here…

Next up, Kotor’s Maritime Museum. Lotsa models, maps, maritime memorabilia, and knots…!

Next, the Cat Museum. Somebody had an obsession…

Later in the afternoon, most of us took a boat ride around Kotor Bay, checking out some yachts, stopping at an island, and climbing to another ruin somewhere on the bay…

Another long day ended with an early farewell dinner :(as one of our group was leaving early): and here are some parting shots of what might have been a favorite destination on this tour…

Next up: Dubrovnik…

Next up, Montenegro.

But first, lemme clean up my desktop by starting with a miscellaneous batch pix by my fellow travelers…

We left Sarajevo and drove into the mountains, eventually crossing the border from Bosnia & Herzegovina into Montenegro, the homeland of our tour leader Dina. Beautiful clear rivers, tasty homemade rakija, etc…!

We drove above the treeline into alpine hills atop the majestic mountains…

Eventually, we arrived at Durmitor National Park (a UNESCO world heritage site), had some lunch and took a nice walk around a lake…

The next day we were on our own to walk around, and I was somewhat taken with the old dilapidated houses. They were not everywhere, in fact there is much new construction, but there’s also new construction that looks like the money ran out (or was a scam?). Lots of nice wild flowers in the springtime…

Rather a lot of dogs milling about. And, after a stroll around town, we discovered an old church in the middle of a cemetery with bells to ring and an open door…!

There, we celebrated the birthday of fellow traveler Karen, and the next day drove off toward Kotor. Here are some views along the way…

See you soon…

From Belgrade, we took a long drive to Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Some pretty views along the way…

I needed to do some laundry and didn’t want to enumerate my socks and pay more at the hotel, so I did some research. I discovered “Tito’s Iron Fist” a laundry shop run by Kristoffer, not just a fellow Californian, but a UC Santa Cruz graduate! More than just washers and dryers, his shop is a museum, library, and store of socialism (not without some irony – or ironing!). More soon!

I ran back to the hotel to catch our tour of Sarajevo. Among other things, this batch also depicts the influence of Gazi Husrev Bey, who was an Ottoman Bosnian sanjak-bey (governor) of the Sanjak of Bosnia, and built a mosque, madrasa, and had a strong positive influence on the town. This batch ends with his tomb…

More from our walk around Sarajevo…

Due to the Siege of Sarajevo (please take time with this link!), there are many shells from bullets & bombs. These are now used to make art! Here’s some, and some highlights of the city, including the site of the assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, which is known for triggering World War 1. Our tour guide was particularly good – informative and welcoming…

The next day, we took a trip to Mostar which started with a visit to Tito’s Bunker, rather one of them. The bunker is huge, was expensive, and is now not just a museum, but an art exhibit.

I hadn’t known enough about Tito, but thanks to Kristoffer’s Laundry and this visit, I learned more about his profound, and largely positive, influence on the former Yugoslavia…

More inside Tito’s Bunker…

From there, we drove on to Mostar, stopping for lunch on the way, and taking in some beautiful scenery.

Mostar is famous for the river that runs through it, and the Old Bridge over it, which was bombed but rebuilt.

If you look very carefully at the last shot, you can see a guy falling who had jumped off the bridge (its a thing!)…

The next day in Sarajevo was free so some of us walked up to the Yellow Fortress for the view. And I went back to Tito’s Iron Fist, not just for more laundry, but for some merch and a longer chat with Kristoffer…

In Sarajevo City Hall, there’s an exhibit of what happened during the Siege and the Bosnian War. Hard to imagine that people do not have vengeful thoughts about what the Serbs did during that time? This batch includes a little more of the city, etc…

Happily, there was a concert in the street just a couple of blocks from our hotel…

The next day we were off to yet another country in the Balkans – Montenegro…

Getting to Belgrade involved a taxi ride, a bus ride, a tram ride, and some walking, but we eventually made it to our hotel. This batch just shows some of the tram ride. More importantly it starts with fellow traveler Cathy from Australia showing proof of the fact that she and her daughter hike both the Appalachian Train and the Pacific Crest Trail...!

As soon as we arrived we were met by our local tour guide, a fast talking (and walking) fount of information about Serbia and his hometown. Lots of important/famous buildings & people. Long history. Complex culture. (Did you know that Belgrade has been the capital of seven different countries?) And there’s life on the several pedestrian streets we walked along…

Situated at the confluence of three rivers, Belgrade is of geopolitical importance, and of course there’s an ancient fortress with a long history (the white walls explain the name “Belgrade”). What about the naked man statue? What else…?

Our tour ended there at the river, so we walked back through the fortress, stopped for lunch, checked out the Moscow Hotel, and eventually made it back to our hotel…

That evening, several of us ventured out for dinner in a bohemian neighborhood (?) which of course included a few pix…

The next morning – May Day – we started out by visiting the Church of Saint Sava. Lots of impressive mosaics, glittery gold, and godly grandeur. (Sometimes plants eat buildings and restaurants are closed.)

Some of us left the group and went to the Nikola Tesla Museum, which honors Serbia’s greatest inventor. The tour (in English) started with a movie about Tesla’s life, then followed with more explanations and demonstrations of some of Tesla’s discoveries. Not only was it all very well done, but the exhibits we were then allowed to browse through were interesting and not too much. Great man, meaningful ideas, inspiring life…!

Then, we went to the big demonstration that had been planned for the day. Understandably, Intrepid discourages what could be a dodgy activity, so we didn’t push the agenda. However, it was exciting and fun, and not to be missed. The people, students, unions, and a concerned public, were protesting corruption in the Serbian government. Check it out…

After awhile, the horns and whistles became somewhat tedious, so we continued a walk around the city that eventually led back to the fortress and a nice sunset. There was more than a couple street performers and lots of people having a good time…

Finally made it back to the hotel, but since the next day would be mostly on the bus, there was no rush…

We left Budapest to go to the Kopacki Rit Nature Park. Along the way, we stopped in vineyard for a picnic lunch…

We arrived and took a boat trip into a protected estuary and did more than a little bit of bird watching…

From there, we were able to walk to our hotel for the night where we had a lovely dinner (that would have been very sparse for vegetarians)…

The previous batch also shows breakfast and our departure the next morning.

This batch are all photos taken by my fellow travelers found in my photo stream because of Whatsapp…

On our way to Novi Sad, we stopped in Vukovar to visit a bombed water tower and a hospital that had been bombed during the Croatia War of Independence from Serbia in 1991…

A walk around Vukovar and our visit to the hospital that had been bombed, but survived, in 1991…

We moved on, crossed the border into Serbia, and drove on to Novi Sad, where we took a walk around the city…

That evening some of us walked up to the Petrovaradin Fortress to enjoy the sunset…

The next day we drove on to Belgrade…