Category Archives: travel

Mostar and on to Sarajevo, Bosnia

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IMG_20160415_090941This is Stari Most, the Old Bridge of Mostar. It was destroyed in the Bosnian war, then subsequently rebuilt.IMG_20160415_090549Mostar has a nice old section and as we wandered round, the (ex) quilter in me was captivated by the patterns in the cobblestones.IMG_20160415_091307I have seen this sort of thing before, but there is always a slightly different take.IMG_20160415_091425There was a nice view off the bridge.IMG_20160415_092622We crossed the little crooked bridge to get yet a different angleIMG_20160415_093316After our walk we got on a bus for Sarajevo. We are cooling our heels for three nights here, at Charles’s request.

I found the tourists Cathy…they are in Dubrovnik

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IMG_20160413_141821We have relocated to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We have been travelling for the past week with Marcos from Argentina, who is a year older than Jacob. It just so happens that our plans have coincided. We will be parting ways tomorrow in Mostar. IMG_20160413_093522 This morning we took a private car which cost the same as a bus. I took this picture of the driver with Charles and Marcos in Perast, where we stopped on the way.IMG_20160413_145637This afternoon Charles and I went for a walk around the old city walls. There are great views out over the old town.IMG_20160413_144610And the sea on the other side.IMG_20160413_151556It really is a lovely city.IMG_20160413_151244There are way more tourists here than we have seen so far.

Kotor, only 1300 steps up to the fortress….

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IMG_20160412_073403Wow, wow, wow…I thought some of the other places we have been were good till we got here to Kotor, Montenegro. IMG_20160412_073730 A beautiful old town with a rabbit warren of narrow cobblestone streets.IMG_20160412_081605The old town is surrounded by a city wall with several gates.IMG_20160411_193531High on the hill behind the old town is a fortress.IMG_20160412_083934With 1300 steps leading up to it.IMG_20160412_094112It was built in 1470, obviously to protect the natural harbour 280 vertical meters below.

Beautiful Berat, Albania

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IMG_20160408_090044We spent two nights in Berat. It is a unesco world heritage site. With two beautiful old neighbourhoods on hills on opposite sides of the river.IMG_20160409_125612This is a shot of the neighbourhood we stayed in, Gorica. We stayed at a hostel called Berat Backpackers that wasn’t officially open yet. The owner was a really nice Brit who was very accomodating and a wealth of information. I would recommend both the city and the hostel to anyone.IMG_20160409_111440High on a hill above the city is a great castle with a whole neighbourhood inside the keep.IMG_20160409_120522IMG_20160409_122206IMG_20160409_120928…you get the idea.

Meteora…monastaries in midair

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We had a lovely afternoon at Meteora. It is a complex of monastaries on top of huge rock formations.
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We took a bus up to the first one, and climbed down then up into it.
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When you get to the other side of the chasm, you pass through a metal door, then a tunnel in the cliff face. They were built in the 14th century and back then they really didn’t want visitors. Now they get 3 euros from each one, so they are fine with it.IMG_20160407_143924
We walked a few kilometers along the road that now connects them, very peaceful with mostly just birds and bees and some goats.IMG_20160407_152026
While the walk was lovely, we happily accepted a ride between the last two monastaries and then back down to town with a lovely german couple.

How about a selfie at Delphi?

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We arrived in Delphi yesterday afternoon a bit too late to visit the archeological site. We have a lovely hotel room, with a balcony and viewsIMG_20160405_144829
Of course the sun would be wrong as I post this and snapped the view.
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The site was very good…as you would expect.
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There were poppies blooming so I tried to catch some in my shots.IMG_20160405_090226
It is a very photogenic site, situated on a hillside.IMG_20160405_103918
Well worth the journey.

Chasing Charles in Athens

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I am getting better for walking as the trip wears on, but I am usually like a woman of old.. several paces behind the man. One could do a where’s Waldo type thing in my pictures of my brother’s retreating back. IMG_20160402_152018just below the acropolis yesterday (turns out it closes at 3, so we couldn’t go till today)
IMG_20160403_133858at the acropolis today…etc.
.IMG_20160403_144345 We took the hop on/off bus today. We had done much of the same route on foot yesterday.IMG_20160402_143747 We went slowly yesterday and had a drink on the way uo the hill at a nice rooftop restaurant in the Plaka area which is full of tiny old streets.
The port is several kilometers from the city, so we hadn’t been yesterday. IMG_20160403_121859
It wad nice to see the Mediterranean Sea for the first time on this trip.

Arrived in Athens

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After leaving Ohrid at 10.45 on a bus, we arrived back in Skopje at 3.05IMG_20160401_121435 Yes, we had to double back for political reasons. Macedonia and Greece both want the name, Greece has been vetoing Macedonia entering the EU because they think the name belongs to them. Due to this, bus/train service to Greece is very limited, so you have to go through Skopje. Apparently it is lucky we came south from Serbia to Cosovo. You can’t go the other way because Serbia doesn’t recognize Cosovo…it’s all fun and games…
Anyway we arrived in Skopje at 3.05 and took a bus to Thessaloniki in Greece, at 5 pm.IMG_20160401_165301
We got Thessaloniki at 9.30 pm and got on a train for Athens at 11 pmIMG_20160401_215600we were spit out of the train at 5 am and have landed in a not very nice hostel.

White peacocks

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We went on a day trip to the St. Naum monastery. It was a lovely 30 km drive around Lake Ohrid. We were waiting at the bus stop with a woman from China and a taxi driver offered to take us for the same price as the bus. He was a great guy, a font of information and obviously loved talking to foriegners about their homes to get an understanding of the world at large. He met us when we were finished and brought us back too.IMG_20160331_121206it was a lovely setting with lots of peacocks both regular IMG_20160331_122714and white wandering around. A couple of days ago a guy told me they were mating when he was there, but that seemed to be over, sadly.IMG_20160331_122346
There was an old churchIMG_20160331_130340
Nice inside tooIMG_20160331_125806

Ohrid..calm and beautiful

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We thought we were taking an 11 am bus, but when we arrived at the ticket booth at 9.58 we were hustled onto a 10 o’clock bus. It was a lovely 3 hour drive through the mountains. We took a taxi for $2 to our hostel. It has a beautiful view from the balcony.IMG_20160330_150022That this picture doesn’t do justice. We had to wait for the owner to show but Niel Young was playing so who cares? After settling in we went for a walk in rhe old world heritage site neighbourhood and it really deserves it’s designation. Tiny winding cobblestone streets leading toIMG_20160330_154635a roman amphitheatre
IMG_20160330_161047an ancient city gate
IMG_20160330_162557with city walls leading to a fortIMG_20160330_163013with great views
IMG_20160330_170016then down the hill to the church of St. John the theologian. Apparently the most photographed structure in Macedonua. The light was wrong for the most classic shot. There was lots more great stuff in the old part. The town is beautiful and feels like the air is drugged. I am glad wr came now, it is probably overrun in the summer.