A taste of the Balkans

Easter 2015 saw another two-week adventure for the von Yarralls, while we squeezed in a taste of five countries in 15 days: Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Slovenia and Vienna. Here’s our take on the region.

Dubrovnik, Croatia, four nights

Ah, that feeling when you step off an early morning flight from London to glorious blue skies and a town that feels like you’re on a movie set. That was the first taste of Dubrovnik.

As it was the shoulder season, we were lucky to find accommodation inside the Old Town at a reasonable price (a lovely room and friendly service at Hotel Villa Sigurata) which can be hard to come by during summer. We took things fairly easily in Dubrovnik, generally soaking up some sunshine and catching up on sleep, but did take in:

• The famous city walls which took a couple of hours to stroll around. Nice to not have them heaving with tourists while we were there and able to take our time
• A bit of a self-created Game of Thrones tour. Many scenes from one of our favourite programmes were filmed here, including around the walls, a park just outside the walls, and [spoiler alert] the street of Cersei’s walk of shame.
• Some delicious fresh seafood and icecreams
• Amazing pizza and lovely service at Mea Culpa (including a free shot of Slivovitz the local paint stripper brandy)
• A spot of Bosnian cuisine to taste what was to come, at the curiously named but wonderfully cosy Taj Mahal.

It was worth buying the ‘Dubrovnik card’ for us, since we used it to access the walls and get a local bus to the intercity station to sort our tickets to Mostar, by which time it had paid for itself. We also took a squiz at the maritime museum (snore) and the Rector’s Palace (which again features in Game of Thrones).

Montenegro, one day (a tour from Dubrovnik)

Silly not to pop across the border to Montenegro while in the area, so we jumped on a tour which took in the Bay of Kotor, one of Europe’s southernmost fjords; the walled town of Kotor; and the glitzy holiday resort of Budva home of the super yacht and celebrity sighting.

Church of our Lady of the Rocks, Kotor, Montenegro

‘Twas a bit of a ho-hum tour, but good to get a flavour for another country, although we learnt nothing about the culture or history to be honest!.

Mostar and Sarajevo, Bosnia, four nights

To our shame, we didn’t really know much about the Bosnian war, despite it being all over the news as we grew up back in NZ. A few friends had travelled there recently and recommended it as a destination and learning experience, so it was firmly on the list. From Dubrovnik, we caught an intercity bus to Mostar in Sarajevo. The bus ride took about three hours and cost around £20 for us both. Very easy to book at the bus station outside of the old town, a day in advance.

An amusingly-failed selfie, with the famous Stari Most bridge

Mostar is still hugely scarred from the war 20 years ago, with bullet holes pock-marking pretty much every building and street (and one street showing just how close the frontline was, with opposing sides on opposite sides of the road). As in Dubrovnik, the summer season hadn’t kicked off so a few things – like local museums – weren’t open, but we spent an afternoon perusing the pretty old town and the famous old bridge. We were lucky to also catch a local Premier League football game featuring local Bosnian-Croat team Zrinjski. The total cost of tickets and two beers was £4, and entertainment included opposition fans letting off coloured flares onto the pitch. Rather a different experience than a dull Chelsea v West Brom game!

Bullet holes spray street art, Mostar, Sarajevo

Definitely recommend a traditional meal at Irma Tima, super cheap and lovely service.

From Mostar, we caught a 7am train to Sarajevo which was an experience in itself (here’s a picture of the train station in Mostar as dawn breaks…)

Mostar train station, full of fun

The train was only a couple of carriages long, and seems to have been donated by another country in another century long long ago. The plush, spacious seats were nice to nap on, and the views of mountains and station masters guarding every station along the way were lovely. But the constant stream of smoke from the other passengers got a bit much after a while, and we were pleased to step out into snowy Sarajevo after a couple of hours, having both read ‘The cellist of Sarajevo’ for a taste of what the city was like during the war.

We had two nights in Sarajevo and the snow definitely impacted our plans a little – we spent more time chilling and less time exploring than we would have done in the sun. That said, we did take in the absolutely heart breaking and educational photography exhibition Galleria  11/07/95 which focuses on the events that took place in July 1995 in Srebrenica where 8372 lost their lives. As well as an excellent tour talking through the harrowing images, the exhibition had a couple of informative (and again, harrowing) films, and among other things we learnt the story behind U2’s Miss Sarajevo (I’d never thought about it before):  amidst the city being bombarded, the women of Sarajevo were determined to hold a beauty contest as a sign to their ‘captors’ and to the rest of the world. Lots of guts and gumption through that and the other stories told. 

Sarajevo apartment. The insides have been repaired but the outsides still show the scars

Another highlight was an entertaining and informative free walking tour through the old and new cities including the history and site of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914, Ferhat Pasha’s Mosque, Tito’s Street and the Eternal Flame. We spent the better part of one day on a tour covering the ‘Siege of Sarajevo’ to understand more about the war in the city, including the incredible 'tunnel of hope' built to get supplies into the city. 

Sarajevo tunnel of hope, complete with bullet holes

We ended getting dropped off at the 1984 Winter Olympics site and museum (yes there is a museum, it’s free and pretty good, but no local or website will know anything about it!). Dean couldn’t resist having a punt on the Olympic 400m track. Let’s just say he won’t be representing New Zealand in the Olympics anytime soon…

Dean Yarrall: the next Michael Johnson?

Dean at the Sarajevo Olympic stadium

After a few days of cold, meals mostly of meat (not huge fans of the humble veg, the Bosnians, it seems) and being surrounded by chain smokers, we were ready for the fresh air and colour of Slovenia, a one hour flight away.

Ljublijana and Lake Bled, Slovenia, five nights

First impressions of Ljublijana: colour! What a gorgeous, picture book town. It’s tiny, and sits around a river encircling a hill with a castle. Very quaint, and an ideal place to soak up some sun and enjoy some icecream riverside. One day here was plenty, we wandered the town and explored the castle – not much to see there but some pleasant views and a good way to kill some time.

Quirky street art, Ljublijana

Colourful Ljublijana

'A great New Zealand-style coffee at TOZD, Ljublijana,' according to Dean

From Ljublijana it was on to our main ‘relaxation’ spot, Lake Bled, by train.

Traditional boats on Lake Bled

Ok, I am running out of steam on this blog post now, but in summary: Lake Bled was bloody spectacular. It’s a tiny lake, just 6kms around, with a little town mostly full of hotels. But it’s not tourist-trappy which makes it a fantastic spot for some relaxation. That’s pretty much what we did, by walking around the lake, rowing to the wee island complete with church and ‘wishing bell’ for the tourists (Dean rowed, Lou lady-of-leisured in the passenger seat), sampling the famous cream cake (and wishing we’d sampled it earlier than our final day so we could sample again), and even enjoying a round of mini-golf, that’s how relaxed we were. Dean also spent a day being an adventurer, doing white water rafting and canyoning, while Lou soaked up some sun and caught up on sleep. We also happened across a bit of fun by way of an international Air Traffic Controllers ice hockey tournament at the local stadium.

Dean the rower

Lou the passenger

Famous Lake Bled cream cake before we devoured it

We stayed at Pension Mlino which was a little out of town but lovely and quiet. We spent most evenings on the balcony at the bar next door, playing cards and taking in the sunset over the lake.

Vienna, Austria, two nights

To be honest, I think the trip was just a wee bit too long, because by the time we got to Vienna we’d had enough of sight-seeing and eating out. So we were chuffed to be given an upgrade to our apartment and end up with plenty of space and a kitchen to hang out in. We actually ate in both nights, even enjoying simple Heinz tomato soup one night, and wandered the pretty streets of Vienna in between, including jumping on a tram that takes a ring route around the city for a lazy way to admire the buildings. The most touristy thing was enjoying a slice of sachertorte at Cafe Sacher – gotta be done!

That’ll be the last ‘long’ trip for the von Yarralls for some time, as a mini-adventurer is going to join  our team in November and will no doubt slow us down somewhat for a while at least. We’re just hoping he or she inherits our love of travel!