Do You Know the Way to Croatia?

…or Slovenia, Bosnia, or Montenegro? We borrowed the phrase from t-shirts in the souvenir shops.

Balkans – we were told it meant blood and honey, however the dictionary says it is a Turkish word meaning mountains. We can tell you there are many mountains, there has been much bloodshed through war, and they definitely produce quite a bit of honey, “met” in Croatian.

Our times between the larger phases of travel have been adventures of their own. Our drive through a few Balkan countries have been just that. It’s not difficult to see one country in a day or two due to their size.

Slovenia was at the height of their fall colors. If you didn’t known any better you would think you were in New England. Absolutely gorgeous! I think fall might be my favorite season.

Our first souvenir was a ticket for not stopping at the first market in Slovenia to get the toll pass to drive in their country. The people stamping our passports upon entry did not share that information. About 1/10th of a mile from the market were vans with police using binoculars to see who has the stickers, and they pull over the ones who don’t. You don’t get the opportunity to walk over to the store (that’s in the parking lot where you get to park to get your ticket) and get the sticker. Instead, you buy the sticker from the police inside the vans and pay your ticket. A great way to learn the language by reading a ticket.

Lake Bled in Slovenia is located in the Julian Alps. There are two castles, one in the middle of the lake, the other on top of a hillside which dates back to 1011, the German king, Henry II assigned it to the Bishop of Brixen. Of course perched high on this hill, it was used for defensive purposes.

Bled is also where the Slovenia Olympic rowing team trains. They have been very successful in many of the Olympics.

Slovenia is apparently famous for the cream cake called kremsnita rezina. Prior to getting there, all the locals we chatted with finished their sentence by saying….”and you have to have the cake”. We absolutely agree. We walked all the way around the lake to work off the cake.

Croatia is where we spent most of our time beginning with Zegreb, the capital. Every day at noon a cannon is fired from the window of the Lotrsca tower in the upper part of town. We captured this amazing picture.

Zagreb has many underground tunnels, however only a couple are open to the public. They were built during WWII and also used during the Croatian- Serbian war in the 1990’s.

The older buildings throughout Croatia are architectural beauties.

One of the museums we visited was the War Museum. Alex, the curator and a journalist, spent over an hour with us sharing so much of the Croatian war history.

As we were touring this museum we saw a photograph of a young Serb sitting on a corner. Behind him is a pile of rubble which had been his home prior to leaving for battle. The irony – this is what he came home to after helping destroy many Croatian homes. All that was going through my head looking at these pictures was the 1969 song, “War” by Edwin Starr. (Jay said, how do these songs come up in your head?) “War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing…..War is something that I despise. Because it means destruction of innocent lives. War means a thousand tears in a mother’s eyes. When their sons go out to fight and lose their lives…..It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker. A friend only to the undertaker. War is the enemy of all mankind….War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing….”

Bosnia still has areas where the damage from the war is obvious. As one woman said, “Bosnia is not as scary to visit as it used to be. They have cleaned up a places of the war torn areas.”

Mostar, Bosnia knew the importance of their 16th century bridge and its symbol of reconciliation and coexistence of the diverse cultures, ethnic, and religious communities. So after the war with the help of UNESCO they rebuilt it using as many of the original pieces as possible. And the town’s cobble streets are beautifully designed.

It was very complicated for us to understand until Alex and others during our visit shared their experiences as teenagers and even younger during those times. Several times we have heard how complicated the history of this part of our world is. Children are told their history by their parents and grandparents even before they begin school. Many know about their descendants back to the 1500’s. That’s impressive since I can’t tell you the names of my great-great grandparents.

Sidetrack, Alex speaks eight languages. Our most common question we ask while traveling, and continue to be so intrigued by the answer, is how many languages do you speak. That’s the most so far. A Croatian waiter told us, “learning languages opens opportunities”.

We’ve learned a few words such as Bok = Hi; Hvala= Thanks; Med = Honey. Croatian is a really difficult language.

Croatia is one hot piece of property desired by so many countries. As I mentioned before, its history is long and complicated. Parts of it belonged to Italy at one time. It’s also been a piece of the Roman Empire. And before Yugoslavia it was a part of Hungary.

The Balkan countries were under the Yugoslavic socialist-communist kingdom when a majority in Croatia wanted out from under Yugoslavian rule to be an independent country. So in 1991 Croatia declared it’s independency. Then Slovenia along with Bosnia did the same later during the war that ended in 1995.

War, what is it good for….well in this case the stop of the genocide that was going on, and the independence of Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia was found. God certainly considers human life precious. It is a reminder of I Timothy 2:2, “Pray especially for rulers and the governments to rule well so we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity”.

The Balkans are full of rich history. Zadar is a town in Croatia dating back 3,000 years ago.

Pula is a town on the Istria peninsula having a rich Roman history. It has the only Roman amphitheater with all four sides still upright. Underneath the amphitheater are the areas where the animals and gladiators stayed. They have uncovered huge vases used to store their wines and olive oil.

The Temple of Diana dedicated to Emperor Augustus was erected sometime between 2 BC and 14 AD.

While in Rovinj, we experienced what was described in the Croatia Times as, “Croatia’s strongest “Jugo” (southeast winds) combined with torrential rains, causing high tides, floods, and traffic difficulties. Record waves in the Adriatic near 10.87 meters high. This was the third highest winds recorded in the past sixty years and exceeded 140km/h. We spent an extra day so I could rest. Just walking to dinner in those winds were unbelievable. We had no idea what was going on until the next day.

At the shore of the Adriatic sea are light panels which performs a light display at night.

In Zadar and so many of the walled old towns, there are so many beautiful old churches. Some towns, such as Zadar, have as many as fourteen in their walled areas. The cobble streets are gorgeous. The wall of old town shows three types of architecture from the Medieval, Venetian, and Roman times.

Any Game of Thrones people reading? All along the coast are areas where the series has been filmed. This is the Klis Fortress in Split where several parts of the series was filmed.

One of our favorite drives and walks was in the Plitvice National Park situated in the mountainous area of Croatia. There are not enough words to describe this, so we’ll just show some pictures.

We are selling our condo in Oklahoma City and needed a document notarized so we took a side trip to Prodgorica, the capital of Montenegro, where our US Embassy is located. A new event for both of us to enter an embassy.

On our way back to Croatia, we drove through Cjenia. This was the first capital of Montenegro and where all the old embassies were located. The road between Cjenia and Kotor is one of windest and dangerous roads we’ve ever been on – 27 hairpin turns with the road barely wide enough for two small cars. Thank goodness for low season. I can’t imagine being on it during high tourist season.

This is what it looks like on Google maps.

We decided to spend a night in Kotor and walk the wall before heading back to Croatia. There are around 70 switchbacks throughout the walled area. Jay ran several of them, however I’m still not completely well, so I managed walking 107 floors and 6 miles, out of breath most of the way up. (If you think of it, please pray for my ear. My left ear won’t clear and I’ve lost some hearing in it. And as of this Sunday morning, Jay is beginning to sound like I did in Africa.)

Our last stop was one of the hardest hit in the Croatian war, Dubrovnik. They have cleaned up their city very well. If you haven’t seen the youtubes of the war, you wouldn’t know it was hit so hard. Our innkeeper was sixteen when the war broke out. She and her family left for many months. That’s all she would share. Now it is a beautiful city with cats everywhere.

Traveling through Africa and the Balkans, hearing the local’s stories reminds us how fortunate we are to live where fifty states are united. To live in a country where there are no border crossings, customs, and tickets because you haven’t bought a pass to drive in one of the states. It reminds us how fortunate we are to live where we have a democracy, not a socialistic society. Socialism seems easier, having the government take care of our education, healthcare, etc.; however we have heard the stories from those who have lived where it doesn’t and didn’t work and where hyperinflation occurred. We have heard the stories of other countries coming in to give economic support and when they couldn’t pay it back properly, they are taking over their airports, their roads, and their natural resources that are there to support that particular country. More than that it reminds us of Ecclesiastes 3, “There is an occasion for everything and time for every activity under heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die…a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;….a time to speak and a time to be silent; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace;….I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking away from it. God works so that we will be in awe of Him.”

That we are as we travel, in awe of our Lord. Blessings, Jay and Kelly