Category: Odyssey

Croatia, Odyssey

Split

An ancient city by any stretch of the imagination. It seems bigger than is 200k population stats. Maybe the cruise ships help.

Ruins into restaurants, mausoleum inti church (tbe oldest in the world still being used in its original form). Yet room for fruit, veg and fish markets where normal people (the palace has a resident population of 1500) mingle with the tourists. Shutters abound.

Signs advertise EU structural funds usage in Croatia… take note British tourists who voted leave.

A city that’s turned itself from a starting point for the ferry to the islands into a destination. Great.

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Croatia, Odyssey

Odyssey Day 18 Tucepi to Split 47miles 1200m

Just up the road from where we stayed is a delightful turn where team people live. Tbe Croatian Riviera can distort reality.

A parallel universe is found 5k inland on the other side of the coastal mountains. Lush green hills dotted with villages and following the course of the river. Every house seems to have a vineyard and small holding. The main money earner is river rafting sold to tbe tourist masses in Split.

Our taster of this ancient city (blessed with the UNESCO tourist world heritage stamp) sets up tomorrow’s rest day.

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Albania, Croatia, Odyssey

Odyssey Day 17 Mostar to Tucepi 60miles 1250m

Leaving Mostar’s bustling tourist trap you are quickly into quieter residential areas. Large new churches vie for attention. Strangely the housing becomes more ‘western’ and new industrial units are dotted around. It’s also noticeable how the weather affects the terrain: from yesterday’s lush broad leafed woodlands to today’s rocky scrub.

Entering Croatia, it’s welcome to the EU. Immediately more traditional Christian: we haven’t seen one mosque thus far. The sparkling Adriatic arrives and we descend to our sea side overnight spot. Apparently people come here for holidays: you couldn’t tell!

Bosnia, Odyssey

Odyssey day 16 Sarajevo to Mostar 81miles 600m

It rained today for the first 60 miles. Sarajevo’s mountains were shrouded in cloud. Heading west to the coast among with most of the traffic which also kept us company through the tunnels that reappeared. When the rain did stop it was easy to appreciate how water has shaped the landscape, from lakeside villages to gorges to reservoirs.

Entering Mostar, football provided a common currency: the rhythm of tribal chants send the same everywhere. The old bridge, rebuilt in 2004 after its destruction in the Balkan war looks a set piece. Tourists are fodder for the numerous stalls: and why not? The ice-cream is excellent.

Bosnia is a beautiful country with moor great variety of places and people. Defined by mountain ranges and religion.

Bosnia, Odyssey

Sarajevo

The mini tour we started with around the main sights shows a proud energetic city rebuilding. Perhaps with the same vision that put in Europe’s first electric tram 1895. The 92_95 war damage is not hidden nor glorified, just speaks for itself.

Then a visit to the Museum of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide shocks you into silence and shame. Told simply, assertively and with little rancor, the exhibits tell the true story of the horror we in the West watched and did nothing for too long. The living legacy is 2.2%of the land mass contains an estimated 20000 landmines.

Archduke Franc Ferdinand’s historic assassination spot is nearby. The events this unleashed came full circle with tbe Balkan Wars. The contrast that these recent combatants are applicants to the EU to share in the peace dividend of internationalism whilst we seek to leave is stark. Why don’t we learn?