It’s been a while between blogs but sometimes life just gets in the way.  Hopefully I will be a able to pump out a couple in the next week or so (or not), so I don’t get too far behind!  But be warned … this is a long one!

Malta surprised me. It’s wonderful mix of natural beauty, proud cultural heritage and complex history full of pirates, knights and heroic battles – what’s not to love. lol

The weekend started with a Bank holiday at the airport, it was packed and I was more than grateful for the fast track through security 👍🏻.  To be honest, it is only £4-5 so I am not sure why everyone doesn’t get it!  I was also grateful that none of the stag and hen parties were on my flight – I guess Malta is not a hot spot for that 😂

I had run out of Euros and had wanted to get some before I got on the plane but having seen the exchange range that the Moneycorp ATM at the airport I decided to wait until I go to Malta.  Earlier in the day I had converted £100 for €113 whilst the ATM wanted to charge me £122 for €100 🤔🤔 – definitely something wrong with that maths if you ask me!  I am sure so many poor people are caught out with these horrendous exchange rates – don’t be one of them!

I arrived at around 9pm and the island looked beautiful with all the lights as we came in to land.  I always find it exciting arriving at night as you never know what to expect in the morning.  Unfortunately, at my hostel, the morning started with rolling suitcase outside my room at around 6am!

The Republic of Malta consists of a small group of islands sitting 80km south of Italy.  It has a population of just over 500,000 in an area just over 315 km²  which makes it the world’s tenth smallest and 5^th most densely populated country.  What it lacks in size, it sure makes up for in character!

Day 1 was warm with some blue sky and I had a quick walk around the area I was staying in before being picked up for my dive.  I love diving but I hate all the set up!  With a water temperature of only 18C we were wearing 2 wetsuits – a long one, covered by a short one, with my skins underneath!  The guide was wearing a dry suit which is always a telling sign (I think my next course needs to be  dry suit one!)

The diving was nice but there was not a lot to see.  Apparently, the best diving around the area is on wrecks and I was with a girl who was only Open Water certified so we could not go deep enough to go there.  To be honest, that was ok with me, it always takes me ages to get comfortable again after a break so it was good we spent a lot of time in the first dive practicing skills and working on buoyance.

As well as getting some good practice in, it was also my first experience diving on Nitrox or Enriched air (a nitrogen/oxygen mix that means you can dive for longer and have less surface time as your body absorbs less nitrogen during the dive).  I decided to pay the €60 to get certified with the practical being done on the dive and the book part and test done online at home in my own time.

Back in town after the dive, I was so hungry I tried to find some local food – not much of it around in the area I was staying but I stumbled across a shop selling Imqarets.  These are one of the remnants the Arab world left behind in Malta – deep fried pastry filled with dates.  The name in Maltese is the plural of maqrut, meaning diamond-shaped, although sometimes they are rectangular!  I had my served with chocolate sauce and ice cream and it was GOOD!  Calories don’t count if you are trying local food right?

For my second day I had booked a Jeep tour of Gozo – the other big island in the country.  When I booked the tour, the weather forecast had been good, but it had deteriorated during the week.  In the morning on Malta it was breezy and overcast but thankfully still warm.  In hindsight I wish I had booked things the other way around – walking tours on the second day and boat trip on the last day but as I have said before, I try not to go too far away on the day I leave just in case somethings happens and I am delayed getting back – unlikely in this case as my flight is not until 9.25pm!

The pick up was early (which is the kind of efficiency I love) and we drove around lots of little bays on the way to the end of the island where we got in a small open sided boat – not really the weather for it so put on my rain coat (I learnt from my last weekend away – always pack my rain coat and umbrella) and I prepared for the worst.  Thankfully the seas weren’t too bad but it was cold and I was grateful for all the layers I had 👍🏻.

I guess not every travel day is going to sunny and warm, literally and metaphorically!

Getting off the boat was manic, there were so many buses filling the wharf and hiding our little jeeps.  No one really seemed to know what was going on but it turns out we were standing around waiting for people who had missed the ferry! The downsides of group tours!

Our guide, Charlie, was an old guy from Gozo who had spent 10 years in Australia welding shipping containers!  Apparently, there is lots of emigration from Gozo as they often have big families of 11-12 children so many have to leave the island to find work, either on the other island (Malta) or abroad from where they send money home.

Gozo is the second largest island in the archipelago (after the main island – Malta) and is far more rural and less developed.  It has a population of less than 38,000 and is rich in historic locations, including one of Malta’s megalithic temples which is among the world’s oldest free-standing structures.

Every one kept telling us that the days weather was very unusual – apparently it’s always sunny – yeah right 😂  “This year we have a crazy weather” we were told (imagine this being said in a southern Italian accent) as the guide kept saying he could not believe the rain!  Anyone can see Gozo on a Sunny day – not many people get to see if like this 😂😂!

As we drove around, we passed small farms, a few cows, chickens, tomatoes, hay – all in relatively small quantities.  We drove through Xlendi – a beautiful town, which apparently has great nightlife and is packed in summer, past an aqueduct built by the British in the 1840’s to move water to the capital of the island – Victoria.

We stopped in a small town called San Lawrenz – where we stopped in tourist shop to taste local products – unfortunately there was no explanation as to what they were – think it was a liquor from local cactus??

Sadly, that was the story of the tour – little explanation as to the history of the place or what we were seeing. Nothing much more than – ‘there is this tourist site’ etc. None of their personal history or stories about history which I enjoy.  We spent 20 minutes in the tacky tourist shop but the guide just pointed out churches and other historic places as we speed buy.

As it was Sunday, some things were closed, but we were still taken there – “normally we do this, but today is Sunday so it’s closed”, “there was a Stone ‘window’ there but it collapsed two years ago so nothing to see now” (this was the famous ‘window’ in Dwejra bay).  “Normally you go in a boat here into the cave, but not today!”

And then the thunder started and the rain came down – thankfully I had a seat inside the jeep, but my fellow travellers were left in the back with a roof by no sides so in just a few minutes they were soaked through!  One really interesting thing about the rain is that it was ‘sandy’, apparently with sand brought over from north Africa, just 280km to the south.

 

We did manage to get 5 minutes to visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’ Pinu, a beautiful church in the Gozo country side.  A chapel on this site was first recorded in 1575 but work on the current church began in 1922 and it was visited by Pope Bendict XVI in 1990.  The church has a set of beautiful mosaic walls and floor in the courtyard in front of the church, apparently paid for by a Gozitan who immigrated to Australia.   Of course, being Sunday, there was a Church service going on so could not spend much time inside!

Our guide pointed out the beautiful Citadel at the top of the hill, as we drove passed the end of the street to stop at a tourist restaurant!!  More rain came down during lunch but thankfully it had stopped before we were dropped off at the earliest of the Maltese megalithic temple complexes – Ġgantija.

The Ġgantija temples are older than the Egyptian pyramids and it is believed they were built between 3600-2500BC.  I must admit I had no idea Malta’s history went back so far!  In fact, it is believed that Malta has been inhabited since 5900 BC!!!

It is believed that the temples are elements of a ceremonial site in a fertility rite and many figurines and statues found on site are associated with that cult. Local Gozitan folklore talks of a ‘giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey, who bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, she built these temples and used them as places of worship’.

Unfortunately we did not really have any where enough time here, just enough to quickly walk around the very impressive education centre (which was fortunate as we would get dropped off with the instructions “ you’ll go there” but not really told what there was!!) and a fast work through the temple complex before have to meet back at the jeep.

Thankfully we finally made it to the Citadel (or Citadella as it is known) – and had about 20 minutes to run around and see as much as we could!  Again, this was somewhere we could have spent a few hours here with plenty to see but oh well lol.

The area has been inhabited since the Bronze Ageand during the medieval period, the acropolis was converted into a castle which served as a refuge for Gozo’s population.  A suburb developed outside the walls, but apparently, they all slept within the walls of the citadel to avoid the rampaging pirates who would capture anyone they could to sell in to slavery.

The Citadella was invaded by an Ottoman force in 1551 and it briefly saw action during the French invasion and subsequent uprising in 1798; in both cases the fortress surrendered without much of a fight.

The Cathedral of the Assumption is the centre piece of the Citadella and the information plaques describes it as showing ‘muted magnificence’.  Not really sure what that means but I like it!

Again, we did not have enough time here before we had to rush to the boat for 3pm where we then sat for 30 minutes not going anywhere whilst the boat guys haggled with other people for rides and to get more money … while we all sat there and waited!

The whole day was really a comedy of errors.  Thankfully I was in a Jeep with nice people so the day so we managed to have fun and it was not a complete write off – apparently, one couple had been recommended the tour, not sure I will be recommending it in the near future!   Being good Americans – the 2 couples tipped our driver (I cannot call him a guide) but I took a typical kiwi stance and did not tip him as service was definitely not exceptional!

On the way back to the island of Malta, we stopped at the Blue Lagoon on the small island of Comino – which was indeed very blue 🤔👍🏻.   It was blue, it was a lagoon … but by this time I was just ready to get back!

 

By the time I go back to the hostel the sun was out and the sky was blue – such a shame really.  Normally I can console myself with having had an interesting time when the weather is not great – this time not!  But I should not really complain, I have since read about what we saw and I am still glad I went despite it all lol.

Thankfully my third and final day was beautiful and sunny.  I checked out and headed up the hill, this time to walk to the ferry terminal. Wandering through the narrow streets, past the beautiful old houses in various states of refurbishment.  Nodding good morning to the old local men, sitting around outside small shops chatting about life in their weird language (to my ear anyway) – did you know Maltese is a mixture of Italian and Arabic?

I walked down the hill in to Sliema and got by first view of the capital of Malta, Valletta,  (In hindsight I wish I had stayed in Sliema, or if I am honest in Valetta itself but hindsight is a wonderful thing right!)

The ferry to Valletta took just 10 minutes across the harbour and a finally got my history fix on and all was right in my world 😂.  Valletta is another incredible walled city – similar to Dubrovnik, but thankfully with not quite so many tourists!  As with Dubrovnik massive groups of cruise ship tours everywhere – later in the day I saw 5 ships in the harbour!   Chatting to the guide later in day, he said that although they count number of visitors as a good thing, but those on cruise ships spend very little money in the local economy so most locals are not keen on them.)

Despite paying for my tour (in the hope the group size would be smaller than on the free tour) it was still a pretty big group but not to big not to be able to hear the guide.

Building on the original city began in 1556 and in 2018 Valletta was named European City of Culture, so there has been a lot of recent regeneration in the city, particularly around the entrance gate so there is now a real juxtaposition between old and new.

The Government engaged the services of Renzo Piano, the Italian architect who designed The Shard in London and many locals didn’t like the results, thinking it was disrespectful to the history but as with much ‘change’, it grows on people as they get used to it.

A few of his works was the morphing of the city gates in to a welcoming entrance rather than an actual gate (as there are not expecting to be invaded any more), the €90m Parliament building with a design that is an artistic demonstration of the pitting on Maltese lime stone as seen in the nearby old buildings.   One of his most controversial designs, was creating an open-air theatre out of the bombed out opera house rather than rebuilding it (which is what people had expected).

The city of Valletta was founded by the Knights of the Order of St John who completely changed the fortunes of the islands during the 268 years that they ruled.  Charles the 5^th actually gave them Malta as a home when Rhodes (where they came from) was invaded by the Ottoman Empire.  They really did not want to stay there as the island was not self-sufficient (there was no fresh water supply) and therefore very vulnerable, but they really had no other option!  Because they didn’t really want to be there, they built very little in the first 35 years as they had no intention of staying long term.

Before the Knights, much of the population lived inland to avoid pirates (the old capital was Mdina is situated in the centre of the island) but as a naval power, the Knights needed to be by the water and started to build along the coast.

Jean de Valletta, for whom the city is named after, was a French Nobleman who went on to become the Grand Master, despite spending time as a galley slave and being arrested numerous times for drunken brawls, at one time spending 4 months in solitary on Gozo.

That said, he later became a hero, commanding the resistance against the Ottomans in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.  10,000 Maltese people (many of whom were normal citizens) winning against 30,000 Ottoman troops!  This was the turning point of Malta and from here, the Knights decided this would be their permanent home, with de Valletta laying the foundation stone of the city in 1565 – sadly he did not live to see the completion of the city as he died only 3 years later.

With the defence of Malta, the Knights stopped the advance of the Ottoman’s further into the European continent so various European countries helped fund the building of the city so they could continue to provide defences for them.  Even the Pope supported them and encouraged others to do so – this was certainly the golden years for the city.

Despite its small size and population, there are over 730 churches in the country of Malta, 28 in the city of Valletta.  In fact, the founding stone of Valletta was the founding stone of our Lady of Victory church in 1566.  (Valletta’s bodies were initially buried there before being moved to St John’s Co-Cathedral when it was built.)

During the baroque period, the church was renovated inside and out so the the church we see today is far more ornate that the original structure.  In fact, there are many very ornate buildings, the most beautiful of which is one of the auberge’s (lodging house) built for the Spanish knights – there were 8 auberges in total, each housing a different nationality.

Interesting, the man who built the Spanish auberge was actually blamed for bankrupting the knights as he continued to build ornate buildings despite the slowing down of the flow of funds aligned with the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

It was around this time that the locals started to resent the Knights who were living in luxury in the city, while the locals lived in poverty in the surrounding the countryside, paying heavy taxes to do so.  So sick of the Knights feudal system, they supported Napoleon when he  invaded.  His troops easily defeated the bankrupted Knights with the locals’ support and they were given 48 hours to pack up and leave the island.

Napoleon stayed on the island for 1 week on his way to conquer Egypt, leaving behind a small army of 4,000 people.  They change lots of laws, mostly for the better, but all at once rather than bit by bit which the locals resisted.  After less than 3 months, the locals revolted, causing the French to take sanctuary inside the city walls.

Without much in the way of fire power and nothing more than fishing boats, the British stepped in to help stop the French bringing in supplies from their ships.  This battle went on for 2 years, by which time the French had eaten all their horses, donkeys and even the rats running around the streets.

Instead of surrendering to the Maltese (who they do not want to speak to), the French decided to approach the British and without the consent of the locals, the British ‘inherited’ control of the country.  The Maltese felt deceived but decided maybe the British would be better than any of the other options.   Thus, Malta became part of the British Empire until its independence in 1964.

Everything that is Maltese is a mixture of all the cultures that were here – the language, the food, the architecture etc.

We continued to walk through the city, past the Co-Cathedral of St John’s (the other co-cathedral is in Mdina) built by the Knights and is rather plain on the outside and extremely ornate on the inside and the Grand Masters Palace which is now the President’s office.

With the opening of the Suez Canal, Malta gained much more strategic importance due to it’s local and the British dockyards became the cornerstone of the economy – ships still seem to be the cornerstone of the economy, however now it is cruise ships!

The country has been of strategic importance for the British during both world wars.  In WWI, it became known ‘Nurse of the Med’ due to its military hospital and was also key getting supplies through to North Africa.  In WWII, Malta was the most bombed place in the world between 1940-1942 and in 1 month, more bombs fell on than it did on London during the whole war!  The country gave so much but still gave so much support to Britain during the war, it was awarded the George Cross by George 6th – so, since 1942 the George Cross was added in the corner of the Maltese flag.

Another big industry for Valletta (in fact the whole of Malta) is the movie business – numerous movies and TV shows have been filmed there like Gladiator, Troy, Game of Thrones etc.   The diverse architecture of the city means it can be used in place of a world of places and it has been used to represent Jerusalem, Spain, Italy and Istanbul in the past!

My next stop on this busy day was Mdina – the original capital in the middle of the island.   I decided to catch the local bus to Mdina and managed to navigate around the massive, but fairly well laid out, bus stop to the right bus stop, but I had forgotten how bad Europeans are at queuing and it was just once massive of shove to get on when the bus arrived.  The worst offenders were little old ladies who elbowed their way to the front causing much grumbling around me in Maltese but no one spoke out lol

The bus was full and I was glad to have a seat as I had no idea how long the journey was but knew I was getting off near that end – just not exactly where 🤦🏻‍♀️😂  Luckily I had 2 hours before the start of the next tour as it didn’t seem that this journey was going to be a very quick one.   I watched the bus route along the map as the time ticked away and was lucky I had not chosen to sit down and have lunch in Valletta!

This next tour had the same guide and there was only 5 people – that’s my idea of a tour 😂!  Compared to the 6,000 people who live within the walls of Valletta, only 250 people live within the walls of Mdina.

Predominately a medieval city, nothing much has changed in Mdina since the 1720s and in fact it was on the site of an early city that dated back as far as the Bronze age and the city has seen it fair share of people through it’s gates – Bronze age, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Moors (who are partly responsible for the Arabic influence in the country as well as the name Mdina) and the Spanish.  And that was all before Charles the 5^th gave the country to the Knights as a home!

As the Knights preferred to live near the sea, they did nothing to the city of Mdina until an earthquake in 1692 caused significant structural damage and the Portuguese Grand Master decided his legacy would be to repair the city and so, in 1720 the once medieval city became a baroque city.  Even today, the medieval tower has his coats of arms on it.

The flag towers played an important roll in communication around the islands and they are dotted round the country.  All men between the ages of 16 and 65 had to take their turn as look out and signal if pirates or other dangers were approached.  The towers formed a chain the islands and so the message was spread for people to seek refuge within the walls of the city.

The city was full of narrow intertwined streets and they actually made for additional defences (as I was easy to get lost)!  This is a complete contrast to the wide grid patterned streets which help the ocean breeze get through the city and provide direct routes from one wall to the other for the limited soldiers to defend the city.  It also had a pretty gruesome history of siege warfare including pouring boiling oil on attached (through a hole by the gate) and putting dead bodies on the walls to spread disease!  Interesting the city had a dry ditch rather than a moat as there is no rivers or other source of what in the city of the island to fill it!

Mdina was a beautiful city, the wonderful baroque buildings (often only with baroque facades and plain medieval backs. Fancy door knockers, often customised for rich families.  All the mix of architecture styles makes it very difficult to date the buildings in the city as they have been modified so much over time.

It was so good having such a small group as we had lots of time to ask questions, not just about the city but life in general – it was really interesting and definitely finished my time in Malta on a high 👍🏻

I had been worrying about how to get back to St Julian (where I had been staying) to get my bag but given that the journey required 2 buses and what would take 20 minutes in a taxi could take up to 2 hours in the bus … sense won over frugality and I got the taxi.  It was definitely the right decision as with all the traffic I don’t know if I would even have made it back by 7pm when I was being picked up to go to the airport! Rush hour traffic in Malta is not to be toyed with!

All in all I was captivated by Malta though in hindsight I do wish I had stayed in Valletta so I could have wandered around the city in my free time.  Although not bad, the area of St Julian was much more modern, with many international chain restaurants, rather than anything traditional and there was not much else to see or do.

 

 

 

 

 

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And so, to another early start and another morning of joining the rabble at the gate waiting for the buses – this time to travel the short distance to the Montenegro border and beyond … 

It was a much bigger bus this day with very reclining seats (which were great for napping 👍🏻) and yet again, another bus with Latin music 🤔.  Annoyingly this tour was a dual language tour so the guide had to say everything in two languages which got very tedious very fast!  I made a mental note to look out for this when booking trips in the future.

Some early rain cleared up as we headed towards Montenegro, but it took almost 1.5 hours to travel the only 20km to the border!   We had no idea what the bus was doing but it had a couple of pickups at random places and then went one way only to turn around in a tiny space a bus had no business turning around in 🤔. I think they forgot to pick someone up and we had to go back to the last pick up point – it then turned out that the passengers were late to the pickup point and then, they had not brought their passports so could not come anyway!  Another example of the downside of bus tours (there were a number of them on this trip unfortunately).

There were only 2 border crossing today but as with yesterday, the Croatia border checks were much more thorough and time consuming (with the border guard coming on the bus to collect passports), with cursory checks on the Montenegrin side.  As with BiH, the queues at the border in the height of the season can be hours long!

Between the two borders is a small area of ‘No man’s land’ were a few people live.  Given that they technically do not live in Croatia or Montenegro, they pay for electricity from Croatia and water to Montenegro.  I wonder what nationality they have???

It is all in the name, as from the minute we crossed the border the beautiful hilly landscape was covered with lush dark green forest –  Montenegro literally translates as ‘Black Mountain’.

Montenegro is one of smallest and youngest countries in the world, less than 14,000 Km²  in size and with a population of just over 620,000.  It borders Bosnia & Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia and Kosovo to the east, Albania in the south and Croatia to the west, given this it shares a similar history to those countries around it.  With a legacy of years under Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman rule as well as years of de facto independence. 

After the Montenegrin-Ottoman War, Montenegro’s independence was recognised at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 and the country became a kingdom in 1905.  The Kingdom of Montenegro lasted only a few years as it became part of Yugoslavia after World War I and upon the breakup of Yugoslavia, it became part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (along with Serbia of course).  It finally gained full independence in June 2006.

Interesting, Montenegro’s President Milo Djukanovic, has been prime minister or president since 1991 when he was in his late 20’s and when the country was still in the Yugoslav Federation.  It is also expected that he will get re-elected in 2023 which means he would be close to overtaking Josip Broz Tito (leader of Yugoslavia) as the longest serving political leader in the region.

He was clever enough to break from his ally Slobodan Milosevic a few years before his political downfall in 2000 and now the country profits from relatively friendly relationships with all its neighbours, though some say it will take at least another generation or two before they truly forgive the Serbians for what went on during the war.

In my brief time in the country, it does not seem that the country suffered as much as it’s neighbours during the Civil War (certainly not in the area I was) and to be honest, the guide did not talk much about it. However, the country’s tourism suffered greatly during that period, but it has now built back up and the country has put much emphasis put on repairing and rebuilding infrastructure like roads and hotels.

Already part of the UN, NATO, the WTO and the Council of Europe, the process to join the EU has begun though they may not be granted full EU membership status until 2025!  A fun fact, Montenegro use Euros as their currency (despite not being in the EU), before which they used German Mark!

We were told that the weather here is more Mediterranean than Adriatic and the culture is more laid back, not a lot happens in a hurry 😂 – I should have taken that as a warning lol.

Our first stop was a beautiful shore side restaurant with amazing views over the fjord like shoreline.  I complained about big queues for the toilet yesterday but today was worse – not because there were big queues but because the stop was at a posh restaurant who insisted that you sit down, order coffee, drink coffee and then … and only then can you join the queue for the toilet – when we only have 15 minutes!! I managed to sneak into the loo queue and then missed the coffee I was desperate for as I had no time (and they did not do take away!).  Not really the kind of stop you need on a trip like this but I guess it was all there was. The view over the Adriatic Sea surrounded by mountains was spectacular 

Lord Byron was right when he said, “The Montenegrin coastline really is the most beautiful encounter between land and sea.”

It didn’t help that when the mandated time to leave came (and we were all warned not to be late) the guide and driver were still sitting drinking their coffee and smoking their cigarettes – I guess she had already warned us when she said nothing moves quickly in Montenegro 🤔 lol.

It was from here we had our first view of Our Lady of the Rocks, one of the small islands off the coast.  The island is manmade, and according to legend it was created over the centuries (dating back to the 1400’s) by local sea men laying a rock in the bay after each successful voyage after finding the icon of Madonna and Child on the rock in the sea.   As well as rocks, the island has been built up by the sinking of old ships loaded with rocks.

They continue the tradition even today, every year on July 22^nd the locals meet at sunset to throw rocks into the sea around the island.  A tiny Orthodox church was original built on the site, but this was replaced by a Catholic chapel in 1630 when the Venetians took over the area.

Apparently they say, if you don’t visit the Our Lady of the Rocks, you have not visited Montenegro, so we caught a small boat from the restaurant out to the island in what was very changeable weather – one minute it was sunny and hot, then it clouded over and was cool, then it would rain, then it would repeat that cycle all over again.

The church was later renovated in 1772 and now houses a museum – I did not go in as there was a long queue and I preferred just to wander around the small island and admire the views of the bay.  But, apparently, the museum houses a number of famous painting by Perast (I must admit I am not familiar with his work) and also a tapestry embroidered by Jacinta Kunić-Mijović from Perast.  It took her 25 years to create whilst waiting for her love to return and she eventually became blind.  She used gold and silver fibres but what makes it more famous, she also used pieces of her own hair! Sorry I do not have a photo of the hair tapestry for you to admire!

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Our small boat then took us to a town on the other side of the bay where we got back on the bus and headed around the beautiful coastline to our next destination – the old walled city of Kotor, situated in the Bay of Kotor (also referred to as ‘Boka’ or the Bay).

Kotor is a very small city, with a population of only 13,500.  The small walled city was built during the Venetian period and sits in what is sometimes called Europe’s southernmost fjord, despite it not actually being a fjord, but a submerged river canyon, surrounded by limestone cliffs!

Another UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the best-preserved medieval cities, the number of tourists coming is increasing rapidly, most coming on cruise ships.  In the short time I was there, I saw two cruise ships – one out, one straight back in!  Thankfully our timing was perfect, as the first cruise ship passengers had just got back on as we entered the old city, and the second cruise ship passengers had not disembarked before we were finished.  With such a tiny city it would not take much for it to be far too crowded for any kind of enjoyment and the cruise ships dwarf the old city walls.

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There has actually been a fortified town on this site since the early Middle Ages and has changed hands many times over the centuries (as with the other countries around it).  Romans are considered to be the founders of the city sometime between 168BC and 476 AD) upon the break-up of the Roman Empire, fell under the reign of Byzantium until 1185.

It was the most important trading port in the Kingdom of Serbia/Serbian Empire until the city was taken by the Kingdom of Hungary in 1371 and then the Republic of Venice and then Kingdom of Hungary and then the Republic of Venice etc etc … until 1384 lol.  Next up was the Kingdom of Bosnia for 7 years and in fact the king of Bosnia minted his coins in Kotor.

In 1391 Kotor became fully independent but in 1420, wary of the dangers from the approaching Ottoman Empire the people of Kotor voluntarily gave management of the town to Republic for Venice for protection, under which finally they almost had some stability for over 350 years (except for a couple of times when they were besieged and ruled by the Ottomans). 

The almost 400 years under Venetian rule has given the city the typical Venetian architecture some of which dates back to the 14^th and 15^th centuries though many of the builings are newer than that as much of the city was nearly destroyed by earthquakes in 1563 and again in 1667 (to mention just 2 of many earthquakes). 

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Unfortunately the ‘pass the parcel’ of ownership did not stop there as Kotor was given to the Habsburg Monarchy in the Treaty of Camp Formio in 1797 (but oddly was run by Russians for a year) and then it was assigned to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in the Treaty of Pressbury in 1806).  Next up Kotor was captured by the British Navy in 1810 forcing the French garrison finally surrender in 1814, but never fear, it was then restored to the Habsburg Monarchy by the Congress of Vienna.

In World War 1 Kotor was one of the main bases for the Austro-Hungarian navy and it was after the war in 1918 the city became part of Yugoslavia.

As with the whole region, they were exhausted by centuries of occupation but the biggest battles were still to come including the Nazi control of World War II (the date above the city gate is the date of liberation from the Nazis) and of course the Civil war.

The city also endured another major earthquake in 1979 where much of Kotor and other towns in the area was devastated.  The clock tower in the main square has been on a lean ever since.

As with Dubrovnik, there was a large number of cats roaming around the city (there is even a cat museum)!  Legend has it, that cats saved them from the plague as they killed the rats and mice that carried the plague carrying fleas.  For this reason, all the street cats are well looked after and well feed.

Kotor was yet another beautiful old city filled with cobblestones streets, old stone houses with colourful shutters and a large number of well maintained Catholic and Orthodox churches – however our guide told us that only two of the many churches are active today and despite 90% of the population are Orthodox (the majority of the rest are catholic), the catholic cathedral of St Tryphon’s is one of the cities main landmarks.  (The first church on that site was actually built in 807 with the current church initially built in 1166 – though not sure how much of that original building remains.)

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It seems that the different religious get on well and in fact, one of the old Orthodox churches was originally Catholic, given to the Orthodox Christians when they did not have a place to worship.  The church has never been damaged by earthquakes and today stands as a symbol of unity.

To get a view of the beautiful ‘boka’ beyond the massive cruise ship that blocked most of the view, I decide to walk up the hill behind the old town for a beautiful view of the bay.  Whilst there I watched one cruise ship leave and another one very soon take its place … obviously another popular place on the cruise ships routes!

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My final stop in Montenegro was Budva (or the Budva Riviera as it is know), a town much larger than Kotor with a population of around 60,000 and at 2,500 years old, it is the oldest settlement on the Adriatic Coast dating back to the 5^th century BC at which time it was part of Greece! It is now well known in the region for its medieval walled city and famous (or maybe infamous) for its night clubs and sandy beaches (I did not really see it but there seemed to be a lot of abandoned bars and clubs lining the beach looking more like a faded fun fair) but I am sure on a warm summers day it is one of the most happening places this side of the Adriatic.  😂

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Given it’s popularity, apparently a lot of local people are now accepting offers of lots of big money to sell their houses to wealthy Russians to use as holiday homes.

Again the walled city was built by the Venetians during their almost 400 years of rule, between 1420 and 1797, and again to protect themselves from those pesky Ottomans.   Much of the old town was devasted by the same 1979 earthquake that hit Kotor but almost all the buildings were restored to their original form and as with Kotor, the very small walled city is full of churches!  Around the tiny main square there are three – 2 catholic and one orthodox. 

Arriving in Budva, it was time for lunch where I had the biggest burger patty I have ever seen  (basically the same meal as in Bosnia but with the meat in the shape of a patty rather than a Sausages).  Just as I started to walk towards the old town the heavens opened!  Within minutes I was soaked, my poor umbrella had no chance.

I was left running around the narrow streets trying to find a recommended cafe for coffee and the famous Montenegro cake called Moscow cake!  Vanilla sponge with vanilla cream and fruit, it went down well despite being soaking wet.  I never really got a chance to dry out as I had to quickly run back to the bus, trying to dodge the worst of the puddles now filling the strees – buses are great fun when filled with 20 soggy people lol

The drive back was shorten by taking a car ferry across one of the bays between Lepetane to Kamenari, just a 5 minute journey on a small car ferries (fitting just  a couple of buses and a few cars) that would take 1 hour to drive.  The ferry just goes back and forth across the nay every 15 minutes or so, 24 hours a day and makes a huge difference to those driving the route.   The other great thing about the ferry is the beautiful views, many small villages clinging to the sides of the mountains as they flow down to the sea.

The weather finally seemed to clear up as we drove north towards the border and I was hoping to see some sort of sunset (if I could stay awake 😂) but sadly queues at the border (annoyingly today’s two borders took longer than the six borders we crossed to and from Bosnia) meant we missed the sunset by about 20 minutes (which is also about how long we had sat waiting in Budva for 2 of the group to return late) not that I am bitter or anything lol. 

Still another good day seeing another part of this beautiful world and learning more about the crazy history of the region.

I had an early start on my second morning in Dubrovnik but I had time to have a quick look around the old city which was beautiful in the morning light and oh so peaceful without all the tourists!

That was until I headed to the meeting place for my tour!  All the tour buses and transfers met there around the same time so it was a little crazy – the buses and tour people didn’t have names or signs so everyone just stood around waiting to be called. Thankfully it actually all went way more efficiently that I had anticipated and even better, they were on time.  First 24 hours in Croatia had led me to expect nothing less lol.

What a day it was – 10 hours, 6 border crossing and 2 countries 🤔.  And so, to my first visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).  Given that all the day trips left the city around the same time, I left Dubrovnik with some apprehension about how long all the border crossing were going to take!

As we left the city, we drove up the beautiful coastline, flanked by many islands – did you know Croatia has over 1000 Islands along its coast.  (No wonder it is a popular destination for sailing holidays).   I wish there were stops to take photos but I guess we were in a mad dash to the border – one of the biggest downsides for me of organised tours is having no flexibility to stop where you want (and of course spending so long on a bus!).  I also always want to sleep on buses but can’t because I am worried I will miss something.

As we continued around the coast, we passed by the Croatian city of Ston, also known as the City of Salt.   The city is surrounded by thick stone walls 5 kilometres long, built in the 15^th century to protect a precious commodity – salt!  They have been harvesting salt there for over 4000 years, making it the oldest active salt pan in the world.  Incredibly, at the peak of its success, 1kg was equal in value to 1kg of gold, hence the reason for those strong defences.

But I digress, this blog is supposed to be about BiH isn’t it??  Let me start with the reason for so many border crossings.  I was completely unaware of this, but you cannot drive the coastline of Croatia, without having to cross in to BiH (for 20km) before crossing back into Croatia.

How on earth did this happen I hear you ask (or not, but I will tell you anyway lol).  For that story, you have to go back to when Dubrovnik was an independent state and the entire coastal region was called Dalmatia (yes, where the spotted dogs originate from). When the Great Turkish war broke out in 1683 the Independent State of Dubrovnik found itself in the middle of war that had nothing to do with it, so in order to shield itself from attack, it cut itself off from the rest of Dalmatia by giving a small piece of land (an area known as Nuem) to the Ottoman Empire (which controlled what is now BiH).

The plan actually worked but jump forward 400+ years when Yugoslavia broke up, this piece of land remained part of BiH, causing the issues we see today.  On the Croatian side, the border staff review all passports when exiting and entering, whilst on the B&H they were far more relaxed but I can only imagine the monster traffic jams in the peak tourist season despite the efficiency!

Since 2007, the Croatian Government have been building a bridge from part of a Croatian peninsula to point on the mainland (a distance of only 2.4km) so Croatian’s and travellers alike can avoid going through all the border crossings when wanting to travel through the country! It was supposed to be finished in 2-3 years but the money disappeared! More recently they have now given the contract to a Chinese firm along with some EU money (80% of the cost) so everyone lives in hope this time the bridge will be completed.  If you look closely, you can actually see the start of the bridge in the distance in the photo below.

A slightly odd and unrelated observation was the love for Latin music – buses and shops are more often than not pumping out reggaeton lol.   I could close my eyes and transport myself back to Colombia where I was this time last year!

The first border crossing in to BiH only took around 15 minutes.  The guide collected all the passports so we just needed to wait on the bus in Neum (hence the name of the Neum corridor) and once through we stopped at a café/restaurant for snacks and toilets.  Unfortunately, all the tour buses stop as same place so there was the expected massive queue for toilets and little then time for coffee 🤦🏻‍♀️.

My first impression of BiH was of people smoking inside WTF 🙅🏻‍♀️ and lots of people were smoking (though I have noticed it is still a fairly popular habit in Europe)!  Also, it is important to note, the coffee was not good – I would not have missed out on much if I had not rushed so much in the bathroom 😂.   That said, the sun was out and it was warm and there was a beautiful view over town (and out to the beginnings of the bridge).  I would not be surprised if this town is sabotaging the bridge build as it will lose a whole lot of business when buses don’t need to go through it!

The next border crossing was even quicker than the first and we were then back in Croatia!   From here we left the coast and drove inland and past vineyards (and from my dinner the night before, I had come to the conclusion that Croatian wine is pretty good) and orchards growing mandarins, oranges and tomatoes.  Apparently, the gastronomic speciality in the area is eels and frogs brodet (or stew).  I will pass on that!

The 3rd and final border for the morning was easier but took slightly longer and I was glad I brought my kindle with me to pass the time whilst waiting at the border.  Finally, by 10.30 we were in BiH for the second time that morning 👍🏻.  As we were leaving the EU, I had to turn off my mobile roaming on my phone.  Over the last few months I have got so used to just using my phone as normal in Europe, but outside of the EU roaming chargers are GBP6 per mb so definitely not worth making the mistake of mindless scrolling!  (We can kiss goodbye to that little perk at some point in the future when the UK finally leaves the EU!! I bet those who voted to leave did not think about wanting to stream their football whilst on their summer holiday in the south of Spain! (excuse the ever so slight stereotyping there 👍🏻😂)

BiH’s history is as interesting and if possible, even more complex than that of it’s neighbour Croatia.   Settlements in BiH date back to the Neolithic age with a Celtic migration to the region in 4^th century BC.  Since then, they have been part of the Western Roman Empire, ruled by Ostrogoths, Alans and then Huns (I am going to have to do a lot more reading to understand who all of these people are).  It was part of the Byzantine Empire and then overwhelmed by the Slavs, all before the 7^th century and it was during that time the tribes of Serbs and Croats are first noted.

Subsequent centuries find them under the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire – that saw the end of the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463.  4 centuries under Ottoman rule left behind an obvious Turkish link in the BiH we see today, in its architecture, religion and food and it led to the emergence of a native Slavic speaking Muslim community.   Apparently when the Ottoman Empire took power, much of population were Christian.  Christians were taxed more than the Muslims (who had other benefits as well) so many of the citizens converted to Islam to avoid becoming second class citizens.

Next came the Austro-Hungarians until the end of WWI when It joined the King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (subsequently called Yugoslavia) along with its neighbour Croatia.

The first stop back in BiH for the second time was the Kravica waterfalls – according to the pamphlet they give out it was ‘created by the flow of the tuff surrounded Trebizat river’ 🤔. It goes on to say it is an ‘anatural phenomenon and it’s under the country’s protection as a natural rarity’. You have to love these translations 😂 I believe it is also important to note that you cannot perform any “religious rites” in the water!

The waterfalls are between 26-28m tall and use to provide power to many mills for rolling cloth that used to surround the waterfalls and lake.  It was beautiful and peaceful and there was even a little blue sky but as with Dubrovnik, I can image it is horribly crowded in the summer.

BiH is made up of two regions – Bosnia and Hercegovina (go figure), on this trip we only stayed in the Hercegovina region in the southern corner of the country.   Despite that, the citizens of BiH are all Bosnians (not to be confused with Bosniaks). The majority of the population then fall in to three ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, along side which there are three main religions – Islam, Serbian Orthodox and Catholic.

The city of Mostar was the main stop for the day and the Turkish influence was quite apparent here.  The city is surrounded by hills/ mountains and apparently it gets very hot in the summer!

We met up with a local guide who took us through the beautiful old city (or in most cases, not so old city).   Mostar was a fighting hotspot during the war in the 90’s and many of the historic sites were destroyed (also 70% of the infrastructure) and many have been rebuilt.  There are still a number of buildings around the city that are pockmarked with bullet holes, and others that have not been rebuilt – apparently this is purely because the owners never returned, so they have just been left as they were.

One of the main Government building has also not been repaired.  Our local guide told us that the Government say they don’t have money to repair it (or knock it down and rebuild) but of course they have money to drive nice cars and live in nice houses!  I think we can all agree; this is not a problem unique to BiH.

To align with the three main ethnic groups, the country has a unique Presidency with 3 members (one from each of the three main ethnic groups).  They serve a 4-year term as collective head of state with one member designated as Chairperson, a role that is rotated twice around the three members every 8 months!  Phew!

Worse than the physical damage the city was subjected to, the horrors culminating with the Srebrenica massacre, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered in July 1995 as part of an ethnic cleansing by the Bosnian Serb army.  Not to lessen the horrors of that event, the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat forces also committed war crimes against civilians from different ethnic groups, though on a smaller scale.  War is a truly horrid thing.

Given such a difficult recent history, the groups appear to get on relatively well these days and live and work side by side.

Further significance of the 3 ethnic groups are reflected in the flag with 3 points of the triangle representing the three ethnic groups (apparently the colours being that of the EU is apparently no coincidence as it shows their willingness to join) and the three official languages that appear on road signs, packaging etc.

All the former countries in Yugoslavia used to speak the same Serbo Croat language and as a result, people of the individual countries still speak almost the same language so the Croat guide could speak to our BiH guide, each in their own language without problem.

One of the most significant landmarks of the city is the “Old Bridge” which ironically is not so old.  The original Old Bridge was a 16^th century Ottoman bridge which stood for over 400 years before it was intentionally destroyed during the war by the Croat army.  (You can actually watch the bombing of it on YouTube if you want!)  The new “Old Bridge” and the surrounding area was rebuilt with money donated by Spain and a number of other countries and in fact 30% of the new bridge is made from stone from the original bridge brought up from the riverbed by US divers.  The new Old Bridge was officially opened in July 2004 by Prince Charles under heavy security and in 2005 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.  These days, the only bombing you see are locals jumping off the bridge for money.

The only bridge in the city to survive the war is the small Crooked Bridge but unfortunately it was destroyed by a flood in 1999.  It has been rebuilt but Mostar certainly does not have much luck with bridges!

The streets around the Old Bridge were a mixture of cultures (just as the country is) with Turkish style shops, narrow cobbled streets and Bob Marley music blaring (not sure how that culture fits in lol).   The cobbles today are flat as you would expect but get very slippery when wet however the original cobble stones was standing vertically which apparently were much easier to walk on – they had a small example of the old style, something I have never seen before and sounds far more practical.

The last stop before lunch was at the Turkish House, which was exactly as it seems, and beautiful example of an old house which was traditional in the region during Ottoman rule.  This one was built in 1635.  It was beautifully ornate inside and had very high walls around it – apparently the higher the walls the more beautiful the women were within the walls!

We also learnt that they also use to wear a Fez (hats like in Turkey and Morocco) and did you know that the marital status of the wearer was indicated by which side the tassel sits and more importantly, as a guest, if you were served with hot coffee you were welcome, if served with cold coffee you should leave quickly lol!

For lunch I wanted something traditional and had considered having Bosnian pie – filo like pastry in a roll and filled with spiced beef, but it was very similar to those in Croatia so instead I went with Cevapcici – little beef sausages with pita bread and red pepper sauce, washed down with a bottle of local beer.  I followed it up with the famous Mostar fig cake for dessert which was very sweet, even a little too much for me (and I love sweet things).  It was definitely much cheaper than Croatia!

In all honesty, Mostar was truly beautiful.  Beautiful buildings lining the river, narrow shop lined streets, mosques near churches and not full of the crowds of Dubrovnik. The people were also incredible friendly and welcoming.  As with everywhere I go these days, I wish I could have stayed longer.

A couple more interesting facts about Mostar and BiH:

• You only get 13 seconds to cross a 4-lane road – I strolled across in 9 but don’t know how old people do it!
• Everyone accepted Croatian kuna, euros or Bosnian mark in payment.  On top of that, they gave change in the currency you gave them.  According to our guide, money is money!  Of course, I only went to the tourist towns so this may not be true of the whole country.

After lunch, it was time to head back through the borders to Dubrovnik, I took a cheeky bus nap and woke up in Croatia 😂.

Fun fact – although I am considering this my first trip to this region, I have actually been here before.  During the Civil war, I caught a train from Munich to Istanbul which passed through the inbattled Yugoslavia.  The doors of the train were chained and padlocked shut as the train sped through the rapidly dissolving country without stopping until it reached the Bulgarian border.   I am glad this experience is completely different!

 

 

I was excited about my next trip, a very quick trip to three Slavic counties – Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro.  It was my first time in my region (almost, but I will explain that in an upcoming blog) and I was excited to explore.

It was also the first time since I have been back in the UK that I had travelled from Gatwick airport.  To be honest it is really a little to far to drive for a weekend away, even a long weekend (at around 2 hours give or take depending on traffic) but as my departure flight was before 7am on Saturday morning I travelled down the night before and stayed in a small hotel near the airport for the night which made the journey somewhat more relaxed.

I arrived in Dubrovnik to a chilly and overcast morning and to a ridiculously long passport control queue!  I have become a little too comfortable these days with just been able to walk through automated immigration gates at airports with very little time taken, but with no automated gates and 3 planes having landed in quick succession, the immigration queue was backed up.  Thankfully I had booked a transfer so I was quickly (well as quickly as the traffic on the narrow roads could take us) taken to the old city.

I must now declare that it seems that I am completely giving up the pretense of being a backpacker (maybe a flashpacker is the term I need to be using) on these trips – ok, I am carrying a small backpacker but now I am booking transfers to the town and in this case, I have a small but convenient hotel room in the old city.  Most of the hostels here are all in another part of the city and I really wanted to stay within the city walls.  That said, my room is in the attic with a very small single bed and lots of beams for me to hit my head on!  So I definitely have not forgone all hardships whilst traveling lol.

As it turns out I was also badly packed for this trip – a real rookie error (the first of a couple on this trip)!  When I had checked the weather forecast earlier in the week, it was not forecast to rain so I had not packed a raincoat or umbrella and as it turned out, I definitely need both! I think from now on I am just always going to pack a raincoat just in case.

With the queues at the airport, I just made it in time to the meeting point for the walking tour I had planned to go on.  But sadly, this was the first free walking tour I have done where there were just too many people and it was hard to hear the guide (I think he had cancelled the early one because of rain so there were definitely more people than normal). There were definitely way too many people for the narrow streets of the old city but the guide was good local guy (who was clearly passionate about the city’s history) so I tried to persevere despite the less than ideal circumstances.

I did of course learn some very interesting facts, as I always do on these tours. Croatia, and more specifically Dubrovnik is yet another country with a crazy history, and again, European history blows my mind!

Over the centuries, the city has been under the control of the Roman Ostrogothic Kingdom, part of the Byzantine empire, under the rule of Venice, then under Croat-Hungarian rule at which time it gained a great deal of autonomy as the Republic of Ragusa (former Italian name for Dubrovnik).  It remained a free state for almost 500 years (although from 1382 it paid an annual tribute to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire) but was much weaken by a massive earthquake in 1667 which killed over 5000 inhabitants and destroyed much of the old city.   In 1808, a weaken city was conquered by Napoleon’s French Empire and annexed under the Napoleonic Kingdome of Italy in 1808.  Then after the fall of Napoleon it became part of the Austro- Hungarian Habsburg empire in 1815.

After WWI it became part of Croatia which was in turn part of the Kingdom of Serbes, Croats and Slovenes which became Yugoslavia after WWII.  Finally, it became the independent country of Croatia in 1991.

All of these cultures left their mark on the city, leaving it rich in culture and enlightenment.  They were early adopters of many modern laws and medical services with the first pharmacy opening in 1317 (which is still in operation today).  They abolished the slave trade in 1418 and they opened the first orphanage in 1432.  They also built a 20km water supply system in in 1438 providing water to the city via two fountains and numerous other outlets around the city (probably more importantly, they also had a sewage system around that time.)  The fountains and other outlets are often decorated with animal faces or gargoyle type heads (or Muskeron as they are known).

Apparently, or so said one of the guides, the city used to elect a new governor every month to avoid corruption – a lot of effort to go to, but perhaps something some countries these days should consider doing??

Of course the old city of Dubrovnik is famous for the fortified walls that surround it – 2 metres thick on the seaside and up to 6m thick on the landside.   The bulk of the existing walls were built in the 14^th and 15^th centuries and have survived earthquakes and bombings.

To protect the city, the early inhabitants, ingeniously used stone (rather than iron) cannon balls to protect the city –  they had little or no access to the very expensive iron and stone was far easier to source locally.  When it was to be used in canon balls that you literally ‘threw’ away, it just was not worth the money or the effort to source the iron!

These early citizens were traders so they really only needed ships and coastland with little or no need for any space inland space (in fact Bosnia is just over the hill behind the city).

Of course, we are very lucky to be able to see the old city of Dubrovnik today, not only has it been damaged over the years but numerous earthquakes (the last major one in 1979), it was also held under siege during the ‘war of independence’ or ‘homeland war’, and was bombarded by the Yugoslav Peoples Army in December 1991.  The bombardment of the UNESCO World Heritage site provoked an international outcry.  Thankfully no major landmarks were badly damaged and much of the buildings damaged have now been rebuilt/repaired.  Our guide was just a baby during the war and was evacuated from the city with his mother and siblings whilst the father had to remain to fight.

As the walking tour continued through the narrow streets of the old city in the rain, there were already lots of tourists around the city – I can’t imagine what peak season would be like and I am not sure I would enjoy it much.  Add umbrellas to all the people and it meant not a lot of photo opportunities – I took a mental note to make sure I was out early one morning to take some photos when there are less people around (and hopefully less rain).

I actually gave up on the walking tour about halfway through – the first walking tour I left early, but I know I will go back and re visit most places on my own over the coming days.  And so, I head back to my little attic room in the old city (trying to remember to duck as I go under the low beams) and as I took a nap to recover from the early morning the rain came in and the cloud came down.

Having checked the forecast earlier in the week, I had booked a ‘Sunset’ tour and despite the weather they were still running so I went with very little expectation!  I had booked with Eco Tuk Tours, a local family run, eco-friendly company who ran tours in 100% electric tuk tuks.  So out I went in the rain in an electric tuk tuk – thankfully it had plastic sides/roof and if you kept your feet up you didn’t get wet from the puddles on the road lol.   The guide was great and I shared the tuk tuk with a lovely American couple so I was ready to enjoy the experience regardless of the weather.

We drove around the coastline, past the cruise liners lined up along the docks and through the suburban, more modern looking areas which looked like part of the Italian Amalfi coast.  Again, I enjoyed hearing the human stories from the guide, as with the walking guide, he had been evacuated with his mother during the war for independence whilst his remained behind to fight.

Thankfully the cloud lifted as we went the hill behind the city, normally the perfect spot to watch the sunset.  There was definitely not going to be a sunset but we still got a lovely view over the city, though I did not want to get to close to the edge in case a gust of wind got under the umbrella and blew me off!

At the top of the hill  we passed a village which had been captured and burnt to the ground by Bosnian and Montenegro troops during the war and it was from this hilltop were they rained bombs down on the city during the siege.

Standing in the rain and wind at the top of the hill, I was very, very grateful that I took my thin down jacket at the last minute – it was not very waterproof but it was warmer than anything else I would have had!  I have definitely learnt by lesson learnt for my next trip, check the weather forecast the day before I leave not just 3-4 days out as it can all change in an instant!

I had hoped I could go back up the hill on another evening if the weather was better and you can normally get a cable car up the hill for the view, however the government had shut it down earlier in the week as they had not paid tax for 9 years (allegedly!).  No one seemed to have any idea when or even if they would get it back up and running again so that was definitely not going to happen.

Given the weather, I picked up something to a couple of Croatian pastries and a small bottle of Croatian wine (which was actually pretty good) and retired to my room to enjoy an awesome thunder storm – lightning lighting up my room and such heavy rain (I was happy to be in the attic room to appreciate it on the roof 👍🏻).  I do love a good storm.

As I had promised myself, I was up early the next morning.  The rain had stopped and I did a quick walk around the to take a few photos I had missed the day before. It was great to wander the peaceful streets with only and few people and lots of cats – many of which appear to be ‘community’ cats 😂.  I noted that morning that oddly lots of my photos look like they have a yellowish /sepia type filter on then when they don’t, it is just the colour of all the stone and the whole old city 😂.

Given that I am only in Europe for a year I am trying to make the most of it and seeing as much as I can. In most cases that means only weekends and in some cases one day in a country. Definitely NOT my ideal style of travel and I wish I had the time and money to stay a week or more in each place … maybe again in the future but for now it is just a taster – a whistle stop tour so to speak.

To that end, I had booked a couple of day trips, one to Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina and one to Kotor in Montenegro.  Both of which were equally as interesting and I will write separate blog posts on them so this post does not turn in to a novel rather than a short story!

After a full day tour, I was back in the old city and sods law, on a day when I do not have a sunset tour booked, there is a beautiful sunset.  I went on a mission to try and find a spot to see it, or some of it.  I found a ‘hole in the wall’ bar right on the rocks outside the wall which you got to by going through a small door in the city wall.  It was beautiful but the views were really around the other side of the city and so after a quick drink I continued on with my quest.

Unfortunately the best views were clearly from the city walls themselves but you had to pay around Euro30 to go on them and they were about to close so it would be a very expensive sunset, so I kept walking around the city and found a couple of vantage points to take photos back towards the city bathing in the glow of the sunset , rather than seeing the sunset itself.  Some of the spots were actually rather beautiful though to get to one I had to run the gauntlet of crashing waves to reach it, but it was worth it.  (I probably sure note that I found another way on the way down from the view point which did not involve dodging waves on a narrow path – of course it was all part of the fun.)

From my wanderings around the old city I came to the conclusion that old walled city of Dubrovnik is guarded by cats – at different times of the day, different cats where on duty 😂, in particular guarding Pile Gate (one of the main gates into the city).

After another very long day trip to Montenegro (again this is another whole blog post), I was grateful I stayed the extra day so I could appreciate a little lie in on my last morning.  It was also a beautiful day weather wise – the sun was shining and the Adriatic Sea was sparkling.  In this beautiful weather I decided to walk the city walls – so many amazing photo opportunities.

As I was still chasing that sunset I never saw, and I found the perfect sunset spot, but sadly I had no more evenings.   I was going to have coffee there instead but they only took cash and I was running short of Kuna – as always it is the last day balance of how much cash do I need but without having any left!

So, I just took a photo and went on my way 😂 to find a place that took cards to have my coffee 👍🏻.

These days, very few people live in the old city (around 700 from about 5000 in its heyday) and as beautiful as it is, life would be somewhat difficult with all the tourists, TV and movie filming and little in the way of shops, oh and no cars, so anything you want in your house has to be walked in!  That said some of the remaining residents are doing quite well from the filming, being paid not to open their windows during the filming of scenes where their properties are in the background 😂.   (Most recently Dubrovnik has new found fame from Game of Thrones, much of which is filmed in and around the city – I must admit I have never watched an episode but almost feel like I need to now lol.)

As you walk around the walls you do pass some areas that have not been rebuilt since the bombings, in the out of the way corner places that you only see from the walls and these are sober reminders of the harsh recent hardships this city has suffered.

Although the weather was far from perfect for my trip, I don’t think I would trade that for perfect weather in the summer.  I think the heat in the city would be oppressive and with hordes of people would just be too much!   I am also really glad I paid the extra to stay in the old city (much of the cheaper accommodation was in another part of the city) to be able to walk out the door and explore the narrow alleys and streets of the old city at any time made it particularly special for me.

The last day is always one of those days – I don’t want to go on a trip or go too far away in case something goes wrong and I am delayed getting back … but then I end up wandering aimlessly around and drinking a lot of coffee/drinks so I can pass the time after checking out.

So, after walking the walls I found a cafe and spent an hour savouring a plate of fruit and 2 coffees before moving on … this time to explore Fort Lovrijenac, just outside Pile Gate as it was included in my tickets for the walls.  I had been over there on my hunt for the sunset a few nights before but did not go in as it was already closed at that time.  This time was very different, no gauntlet of waves to run through – but a dry path and calm crystal waters – the view was stunning.  What a difference a couple of days make.

I was so glad I got one day like this to appreciate the true beauty of the city and the Adriatic Sea surrounding it.  But, unsurprisingly, the sun being out meant so were the crowds.  I clearly did not get the memo as so many people were out in little sundresses, shorts and vests!! I was still in my fleece but did take the chance on 3/4 length trouser 😂.  It was nice and warm in the sun, but rather cold when out of it!  There were so many people around, there was actually a queue to get back in through the old city gate!

Given the sunshine, I decided to take one of short glass bottom boat trips.  It was cold in the breeze and out of the sun, and to be honest, the ‘glass bottom’ was really no use but it was lovely to see the city from a different perspective which is what I wanted.  The water was incredibly turquoise and there even some crazy people on the beach and one even in the water!

After all my activities were complete, I still had a couple of hours to kill before I needed to head back to the airport so I was planning an afternoon of lunching and people watching in one (or more) of the many cafes.   Of course, my first stop turned out to be a rookie error!!  I sat down, ordered and ate before checking if they took credit cards – they did not!!  Thankfully between my remaining Kuna and Euro I had just enough to cover the bill (and a couple of Americans sitting next to me had offered to provide the extra Euro 3 I was going to need before I counted all my coins).

Annoyingly, this was the second time in almost as many weeks that this has happened!  It also happened in London when I was there.  Thankfully I could just run to an ATM to get more cash there.  These days I just assume that everywhere – particularly city centre restaurants will take cards, it is definitely one of the things we take for granted.

Of course, at my next stop for dessert and coffee I checked first 🤦🏻‍♀️.  And so, I wiled away the rest of my time in the city, sitting in the sun enjoying a Croatian beer and reading before heading to the airport for my flight.

Back in the UK and I had a long drive home from Gatwick, made long by an accident that closed all 8 lanes (40 minutes at a standstill) and then google.maps telling me to use slip roads that were closed for overnight road works adding an extra 10miles to the journey 🤦🏻‍♀️ .  I am glad I don’t have many other flights booked from Gatwick!

 

To avoid any possible Brexit fall out I had planned to spend April in the UK – of course the Brexit date moved and at time of writing no one really knows what is going to happen so I may end up travelling slap bang in the middle of the mayhem – but we just don’t know! I also had a visit from someone special and planned a road trip to Scotland and a few days playing tourist in London. The ‘staycation’ started with a night at a lovely country hotel near Cambridge. Nothing much was done but relaxing which was just what was required.     A fun quirk about car insurance here in the UK (on top of the exorbitant cost) is that you have to add each additional driver at additional cost and an admin fee!  These costs meant it was not much more expensive to hire a car for our road trip, rather than run the wear and tear on my car!     Our drive up to Scotland was uneventful with not too many traffic delays and we had a lovely stop in the borders to visit my uncle who I had not seen for many years.   Then a short hour later we were in our Air Bnb in Edinburgh ordering a take away! As with almost all my trips these days, minimal time takes carefully planning to maximise experience and this trip to Edinburgh was no exception. Day one we had an early start to join a tour with Hair Coo tours into the Highlands and up to Loch Ness.  Our guide John, was a proud Scots and was absolutely hilarious throughout the long day.  Sharing interesting Scottish tidbits and stories with us as we traveled. We travelled north out of the city, passing The Kelpies –  30 metre high horse-head sculptures which are apparently the worlds largest equine statues!  The name comes from the shapeshifting Scottish water spirit, whose favourite shape is that of the heavy horses of Scottish industry who use to pull the barges and coal trains. Our first stop of the day was at Deanston Whisky distillery – an important point to note, Scottish whisky is not spelt with an e i.e. whiskey.  Who knew?? The building that the Deanston distillery calls home was built in 1785 as a Cotton Mill which was at the forefront of Scotlands move from agriculture to industralisation during the industrial revolution. To staff the mill, they built a self-contained village which still forms the centre of Deanston and even issued their own currency called Deanstons (due to the shortage of coins they branded old French and Spanish coins with the Deanston stamp).  Of course, these coins were only redeemable in the grocer and haberdashery of Deanston. Deaston was also the first village in Scotland to use gas lighting, 45 years before its neighbouring village of Doune!  Incredibly, the factory installed electical turbines in 1949, which to this day provide all of the electricity using water from the near by river.  They were certainly early adoptors of the need to move to a sustainable power source. When the cotton industry declined in the 60’s, the Deaston mill closed up business, but the buildings were converted to a distillery with the first bottle of Deaston Highland single malt scotch whiksy being produced in 1974. The water from the near by River Teith is not only used to power the plant, but also used in the production of the whisky and many of the casks they use come from Kentucky. Oddly, in the US, they can only use casks once when making whisky (apparently the sole reason for this is to keep casks makers in work).  So Deaston buy the once used kegs for a much cheaper price than new ones, other kegs they use come from Europe and have had red wine in them and some have previously be used for rum etc.  The red wine and rum ones are more expensive but are used for special edition whisky.     They expect to get 100 years use out of the casks before recycling them in to flower pots, trays etc. As we toured around the distillery, we learnt all about the Mash house (which has the largest open top Mash Tun in Scotland).  The mash tun is where the crushed grain is mixed with hot water to create a porridge type substain in whichenzymatic conversion of the startch takes place.     I won’t bored you (of maybe I already have lol) with the whole whisky making process, but it is important to know that Scottish Single malt whiskey has to be in cask for at least 3 years and 1 day It has to mature in oak cask and all the ingredients must come from Scotland.   It must also have a minimum 40% alcohol though of course it can be higher!     The oldest whisky the Deanston distillery has is a cask sealed in 1974.  If bottled today, they could sell it at approximately GBP5000.  But they are trying to make it to 50 years when they will get GBP11,000 per bottle.  The alcohol evapourates over time (this is the ‘angels share’) so the long it stays in the cask the less liquid there is, therefore the fewer bottles and in turn the higher cost per bottle. I must admit, although learning about the history of Deanston and the whisky making process was interesting, I was more interested was the origins of the saying “armed to the tieth”.  I always thought it was teeth but no, the saying came from soldiers not being allowed to take weapons in to Stirling so they would have to leave their weapons when they reached the River Teith – on the banks of which the Distillery sits. As we travelled north through the Highlands, the cloud and rain closed in.  Our guide kept saying the weather would clear but it seemed not to be the case.  They like rain in the Highlands as it is just whisky ready to be made lol.  Despite the weather, Glencoe was beautiful and we briefly (and I mean briefly) braved the wind and rain to jump out of the bus to take a photo.     Another ‘did you know’ moment … did you know that there are over 36,000 lochs (an inland body of water) in Scotland??  About 6,000 of those are sea lochs – obviously these have links directly to the sea. Of all these lochs, Loch Ness is the biggest (by volume), at over 220 metres deep and 36 km long.  In fact there is more water in Loch Ness that in England and Wales combined. We had an hour or so for lunch and to explore a little bit around the town of Fort Augustus, with a population of only 640 people, it is bolstered by the hoards of tourists that flock there daily to visit the famous loch.  It was interesting listening to the locals speak to each other and trying to understand what they where saying.  Although speaking English, some of the accents were so thick lol.     Thankfully the rain had cleared as we boarded the Spirit of Loch Ness for a cruise on the lake.  The boat was in true Nessie hunting mode with radar and sonar to show an sign of the Loch Ness monster – sadly no viewings that day except for the sticker on the windows 😂     Travel certainly is an education and I am always learning something new – I didn’t know that a fault line ran down the middle of the loch and that the sides of the loch look so different as one side was one part of North America and the other side was part of northern Europe. Another interesting fact about Loch Ness is that the water is very dark.  This is because of peat in the surrounding hills and the tannins in that peat – you also find tannins in tea, and of course the famous Scotch whisky. The rain picked up again  as we got back in to the bus and headed south back towards Edinburgh. Despite the cold weather, I still had to try the famous Whisky ice cream from Scotch Corner of Pitlochry.  Apparently it has so much alcohol in it they can not sell it to people under 18 or people who are driving.  The day had started with whisky so I though I may as well finish it with the same 👍🏻. I must admit I preferred the ice cream to the actual whisky we sampled at the distillery (of course I far prefer ice cream to whisky at any time)! The next day there was finally a little blue sky for my free walking tour of the city.   The tour guide was an Australian (though he said his father was Scottish) and a Shakespearean actor.  He definitely made it interesting and very theatrical and he had clearly had done his homework but I made a mental note to look harder for tours run by locals (like yesterday) as they all have their own stories rather than just information learnt from a book.     I won’t bore you with everything I learnt during this walking toward, but do want to share a few of the stories that particularly took my fancy … Important civic announcements are still made from the Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile as they have been for centuries before. The quirky bit to this story is that apparently, the announcements are made 3 days late, as it used to take 3 days for horse men to ride from London to Edinburgh with news. I can neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of this story but I guess that’s all part of the fun lol. The statue outside St Giles church was unveiled in 1888 and depicits Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott (not related to noted author Sir Walter Scott though he was a friend of his father!). He was educated at Eton and the wonderful Cambridge University (even then the best university in the country lol) and became Member of Parliment, a Knight of the Garter and a Privy Councillor. He was also responsible for creating signficant employment throughout the country, all the while wearing his “dark grey cut away coat, shepherd’s plaid trousers and a cap with a large peak”. As we walked up towards Edinburgh castle, we started to have to fight our way through the other tour groups and all the while I was wondering how early I needed to get up tomorrow to get photos of the castle without people in 🤔 Spoiler alert – I did not get up early the following morning!

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From the castle at the top of the Royal Mile, we walked down in to the Grassmarket – once the home of horse and cattle markets and public executions, it is now one of the trendy parts of the city filled with bars and restuarants. Our final destination was Greyfrairs Kirkyard (or Church yard in English). Despite the large groups of tourists, it was a peaceful oasis and it is here you find the grave of police officer John Gray, who died in 1858. Now that is not a name you may be familar with, but you probably know his dog who is far more famous – Greyfrairs Bobby. As legend has it, Gray was not given a partner to assist him with his patrols, so instead he got a dog – not a big fierce german shepherd, but a little Skye Terrier who was named Bobby. Bobby was so loyal to Gray, that after Gray’s death, he would not leave his owners grave until his own death 14 years later. (Though some say that Skye Terriers don’t live that long and it was likely more than one dog!) As the dog would not leave, the community rallied around, paid for his licence and collar and feed him. Rumour has it, he was also given the right to vote – not only odd that a dog was given the right to vote, but that it was 70 years before women were given the same right in Scotland! Although the main point of interest in the kirkyard for most is the Greyfrairs Bobby story, I was also fasinated by the history of the Flodden Wall. The Flodden Wall in the grave yard is one of the few remaining parts of the city walls from the 1500’s and therefore once represented the edge of the city. The walls were built not only as a defense for the city, but it also assisted the city with it’s smuggler problem, enabling the city to charge taxes to enter and leave through the gates in the wall such as the Bristo Gate. These city walls also lead to the building of the high tenement buildings in the old town as they could only build up rather than out beyond the walls. Unfortunately our time in Scotland came to an end to soon and it was time for the long journey south. Thankfully, another straightforward journey with not too many traffic disruptions.

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I was greatful for the fact that the holiday was not over yet, and we headed straight in to London for a few days over Easter – the weather was stunning. Hot and sunny and perfect for sightseeing. Having spent many years living in London in the passed, I love seeing the city through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. We walked through the quiet financial district (it was a Saturday after all), and down to the river by the Tower of London where it was definitely not quiet! We continued across Tower Bridge and back down the South Bank to Millenum Bridge, crossing back towards St Pauls Cathedral. It really is a wonderful city with its contrast of old and new We then made our way in to Soho, where we had an AirBnB arranged for the weekend. It was a compact studio but it was right in the heart of everything but still quiet enough to get a good nights sleep. But before sleep we explored the wonderfully touristy Piccadilly Circus and Carnaby Stree, both just a few minutes walk from where we were staying. Next day our misson was two folder – firstly, to visit the London Eye. We were out relatively early so the crowds through Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden was not too bad, nor were the queues for the London Eye.

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Our second mission for the day was an English premiership football game – a must for all visitors to England I think. I was lucky enough to call in a favour from a friend and get a couple of tickets to an Arsenal game. There is really nothing quite like English football fans. Rugby fans are much more reserved compared to the football fans with all their chanting and very passionate language. (Not all of it particularly family friendly though!) Its incredible to think that around 60,000 people show up week in and week out to support their teams. We stopped in to the Arsenal shop before the game and armed with our new arsenal shirts we headed to the stadium, sitting right behind the goal. We were in the sun for most of the game and it was sweltering hot and sadly not the result Arsenal, and more importantly the Arsenal fans expected but it was certainly a great end to our holiday.

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And so ends the ramblings of my UK “staycation” – next up I am off to check out some ‘Slavs’.    

After all the drama of settling in, I was definitely ready to start enjoying my weekends, and make the most of my time here and when I am not on a trip abroad, I set about exploring my new backyard in Cambridge, the beautiful parks and colleges, and the surrounding country side. I must admit I just love the history of England, the UK and Europe in general. Being able to wander down a track that was a main throughfare in the 13th century and around colleges founded in the 12th century just blows my mind.  Spoiler alert – there is a history lesson coming up! Speaking of colleges, did you know that although colleges are partly responsible for admission of undergraduates, colleges are actually glorified halls of residences.  Lectures are held elsewhere aruond the city. I certainly did not know that! Cambridge is a ‘collegiate’ university, which means it comprises University faculties and departments in different academic subjects, and a number of Colleges – 31 in all.   Not sure I will get to all 31 in the year but I will do my best. Cambridge University was founded in 1209, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English speaking workd (second to Oxford, as it was founded by Oxford University students who left Oxford after a dispute with the locals). For many years only male students were enrolled into the university  with colleges for women being founded initially in 1869.  That said, the women studying here did not actually graduate with a degree from Cambridge University until 1948 (despite studying and sitting exams)! Since students must belong to a college, and since established colleges remained closed to women, women found admissions restricted to colleges established only for women.  The former men’s colleges began to admit women between 1972 and 1988 but oddly Cambridge stil has 3 women’s only colleges!  When visiting the colleges, some are free and open for the public just to wander around, others charge (up to £10 to enter).  There are even some you can’t enter at all as a member of the public.  There are also those that I am not sure I am allowed in to but I walk through the open gates like I know where I am going and no one stops me lol! As well as exploring the city, I am also taking the opportunity to explore around Cambridgeshire and surrounds.  I found a great app called ifootpath which has self guided walks all around the country.  So far I have only done 2 but look forward to more over the coming months. Of course the spring flowers and blossom are stunning everywhere. My first foray in to the world of colleges was to Jesus College and Sidney Sussex College. The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge (what mouthful), or Jesus College as it is known, was established between 1496 and 1516 and is the third wealthiest colleges in Cambridge.  It’s has vast grounds in near the river and lovely buildings. Although I had planned to try and visit Jesus College, my wanderings that day also lead me to Sidney Sussex College which is right in the centre of the main down town area of the city.  As I have soon learnt, many of the colleges are tardis like – looking small from the outside but one courtyard leads to another and another and then seems to open up into grounds much bigger than you could imagine from the outside. Sidney Sussex College definitely was one that fell in to that category.  Founded in 1596, Sidney (as it is informal known) is one of the smaller colleges and boasts the likes of William Cromwell (political and military ruler who’s skull is now buried under the chapel) and TV personality Carol Voderman. My next weekend in the city I was back treading the pavements to explore.  First stop this weekend was Magdalene College, which I have subsequently learnt is pronouned “MAWD-lin”.  Another small college (with only around 300 undergraduates), it was founded in 1542.  The college still has a very traditional style and holds a candlelit formal hall every evening.  It was also the last all-male college to admit women – in 1988!  At the time, some of the male undergraduates wore black arm baans and flew the college flag at half mast! I then headed over to Christ’s College, founded in 1437. For me their most famous alunmi was Charles Darwin.  I really felt like I was walking in the footsteps of greatness. My next trip in to the city was on a lovely sunny day.  I had spotted a beautiful view of Kings College as I drove by on Friday (dropping something off for work) and I set out on a mission to find it on foot.  It always takes me way longer to reach anywhere I plan to go as I am constantly getting distracted but other things – cute streets with bicycles, cute little cottages with beautiful daffodills in the gardens and this day Castle Mound (literally the only raised vantage point in the city and was the site of a Norman castle in 1068 by William the Conqueror). I wandered down what they call “the backs”, basically just the backs of the colleges (see they are not that smart lol).  From this side you can wander through the beautiful gardens and up to the river.  That morning I wandered through the beautiful gardens of Trinity College with their wonderful spring flowers in bloom, and great views in to St Johns College.  It was still early and still weren’t many people around and no punts out on the river yet, meaning the river was still with beautiful reflections (until a some Canadian geese decided to mess it up!). Some of the detours I take, take me to places I am probably not supposed to be – I just act like I belong and no one seems to stop me 👍🏻I continued wandering the streets and the near by meadows until I came across Cassius and Gonville College (which was actually closed that day but I didn’t even realise until I was walking out and over heard someone else being told they weren’t allowed in!) 🤦🏻‍♀️ Gonville & Caius College, the fourth oldest colleges at Cambridge founded in 1348 and one of the wealthiest.  It boasted 14 nobel prize winners (second after Trinity College) including Francis Crick (joint discoverer of the structure of DNA – as a side note, I saw a very interesting play called Photograph 51 about this discovery a few weeks, primarly about Dr Rosalind Franklin, an x-ray Crystallographer who was key in the discovery of the double helix strucutre but overlooked when it came to the noble prize for the discovery).  Dr Stephen Hawkings received a research fellowship here to and it is where he got his PhD in applied maths and theoretical physics. This day I got so distracted with other things I ended up not having time to go to the colleges I had planned to see 🤦🏻‍♀️ but I can always go another day and I saw lots of other lovely places. Cambridge is really such a beautiful city and I look forward to continuing to explore it throughout the year. To help me give some structure to some of my wandering (but not necessary my writing), I have bought a booked called 111 Places in Cambrudge That You Shouldn’t Miss.  Not only does it include some of the colleges, it also includes gardens, cafes and other quirky littel places and things to look out for.  At the time of writing this blog, I have managed to cross of 13 of the 111.  It will be interesting to see how many I get to in the year. Also in the pursuit of giving structure to my wandering outside of the city, I have found a great app call iFootpath, which shows walks throughout the country.  Not only does it give directions for the walks and show them on the map, but it also provides information about the sites along the route. The first one of these walks I did was around the city of Ely – now something I still can’t get my head around how a town comes a city here.  I had always thought it was to do with population, but it seems here that is not the case, as the City of Ely only has a population of only 20,000 or so.  Apparently, having a cathedral helps, but it basically the city just needs has to apply (and there is much competition) and the Queen formly grants the city status as she (or her advisors) sees fit.  Ely was granted this status in 1974 and is one of the smallest cities in England. My morning walk around the city of Ely was brisk but with filled with blue skies, bird song and blossom. If I haven’t said it already (though I think I have) English history blows my mind as I just casually strolled down a narrow  pathway that once was the main route to Ely in the 13th century!!!! Ely is reknown for it’s beautiful cathedral that dominates the skyline (rather than it’s name originating from the name the ‘Isle of Eels’)! The current building dates back to 1083 –  apparently the stone used to build the cathedral were purchased from a quarry owned by Peterborough Abbey  for 8,000 eels a year!  I had no idea how much value eels had lol. My next walk from my app was around Grantchester and its beautiful river side meadows. Grantchester is a beautiful village just 3km outside of Cambridge with a population of just over 500, but it has received fame in recent years due to the TV series Grantchester, which is filmed in the village itself as well as Cambridge.  (I had not watched it till I moved to Cambridge but have subsequently binged watched all the series!) This walk took me through beautiful the village, across beautiful fields and passed the the quaint ‘Old Vicarage’, once the home of English poet Rupert Brooke and now the home of novelist and politian Jeffery Archer. I then carried on to a small nature reserve call Byron’s Pool, named after poet Lord Byron who attended Trinity College from 1805 and who used to swim in the weir pool. The pathway ended walking through the lovely Grantchester meadows – wide rural pathways that run along by the River Cam.  Apparently you can walk all the way to Cambridge along the pathway, a walk (and I am sure a story) for another day. Of all the places I could live in the UK, I am gratefully to be living in such a beautiful one.      

I can’t believe I have been in the UK two months already, time truly does fly (though not sure about the having fun part!).

As I mentioned in a previous blog, the first month was a difficult one for me and definitely far more difficult that I had anticipated.  Of course I have lived in the UK before, as well as living in countries that you would think would be far more difficult, but that really did not prepare me!

Firstly the struggles of finding somewhere live … trying to be organised as always, I had 

 already arranged a place sharing with 2 others, but when I turned up to meet them in person, I was told the house (that they were renting) had been sold!  

So it was back to the drawing board.  Most shared houses were either huge (5-6 rooms/people), lodging situations (where you were not allowed to use the living room) or more like hostels, with padlocks on bedroom doors and numbers on shelves!!  None of which I really wanted.

 Thankfully after about 3 weeks of spending most non-working hours searching, I managed to find a small two bed house, sharing with another kiwi (though she has been here so long you would never guess by her accent) and her two cats and so far so good.

Next on the list of troubles was buying a car!  I have only ever owned 2 cars and both were purchased from friends of friends so I had never had to look too hard.  When I wasn’t viewing house options, I was driving miles to see cars.  It didn’t help that I really don’t know much about cars!  One weekend I had arranged to see a car and drove 1.5 hours to get there – to be told they had sent the car away for a service, despite the fact they knew I was coming to see it!  Very deflating!  

When I finally did get a car (with the help of my brother who was also trawling the internet for me) I had a tyre slashed the first night I had it parked outside the Air BnB I was staying.  (If I thought looking for a car was deflating – this was far more so … pun intended!)

Of course this meant I could not get to work, but thankfully I had a breakdown serve already set up so was picked up by a breakdown truck and taken to a tyre centre … who then informed me that 3 of the 4 tyres needed replacing – not a great start to my relationship with my new car!

I also completely underestimated the cost of car insurance in the UK – I have ended up paying almost 3 times the amount I pay in New Zealand for a car that is worth half as much!   The cost is also hugely dependant on the address you live at – varying GBP250 from one place to the next, less than 1 km apart!!  The whole process is even more complicated when you don’t have address!!!  

I had not even contemplated that I could not be able to get a credit card, apparently becuase I have not lived here for 6 months – not even the bank I have had an account with for 25 years will give me one.  

To compound it all, I could not get travel insurance!  I had just assumed I would sign up for the annual multitrip policy that I had always had when I was in the UK before, but again, I am not considered a resident so I could not get it – the other catch is that most of the policies I looked at would only insurance ‘gadgets’ like computers, ipads etc if they were purchased in the UK which rules out everything I own!  So I ended up having to get insurance from New Zealand (just a matter of hours before my trip to Riga) at massive unplanned expensive because it is considered 1 long trip rather than lots of little ones!

Of course I was also trying to do all these annoying life tasks whilst working full time – to be honest I think the job was probably the only thing that kept me sane during that first month!

Still being deep in winter it was also cold and dark – in those first weeks we had snow, rain and fog and some lovely mornings whilst I waited for the car to defrost!

When I did get an hour to spare, I already started to  enjoy walking around the city of Cambridge, exploring different colleges and the narrow little side streets.  I also discovered the colourful daily market in Market Hill – apparently there has been a market here since Saxon times.  

The stalls included fruit & vegetables, flowers, cheeses, breads, international foods, clothes and jewelry and my personal favourite, the most amazing looking cakes and fudges!

A highlight of the first few weeks was a trip to London to attend the New Zealand Society Waitangi Day Ball.   It was a lovely opportunity to forget about the dramas of finding my feet, get dressed up and enjoy some lovely kiwi hospitality (read wine and lamb!) at the Waldorf Hilton hotel.

Having spent the night in London, I took the opportunity to re-explore some of my old haunts, and the following morning I spent walking through part of the city of London to Liverpool St,  – areas I used to work in and where I spent many enjoyable years.  

I must admit, at this point in time I definitely wished I was back living in London (to be honest, I actually wished I was back in NZ but London is a little closer) where I think life would have been easier (though in reality, the only thing that would have been easier would have been that I would not need a car, everything else would be just as painful)!

But onwards and upwards!

 

 

Settling in has been much harder than I had anticipated (but that is a story for another day) and after giving myself just over a month to find my feet in my new life in Cambridge, it was time to start exploring beyond my new backyard.

So, with my budget airline approved cabin baggage I drove to Luton airport (just over an hour away) for my first trip of the year – to Riga in Latvia.  Not only my first European trip for the year, but also my first trip to the Balkans ever.

This was also my first experience on WizzAir, an airline I had actually never heard of it before but it was a typical budget airline with typical budget airline type seats.  Thankfully I had prepaid for extras like priority security and boarding so things went pretty smoothly.

Except …. I was randomly selected to have extra screening at security – that meant they wanted to ‘test’ my liquids and apparently Simple hydration face moisturiser has something in it that can be used to make explosives 🤔🤔🤔 – so much for the ‘no harsh chemicals’ claim! So, with my bomb making moisturiser confiscated I was allowed through.  It’s odd to be back to a world where there is no immigration to leave the country … will be interesting to see how that changes in a post Brexit world!

I must admit I do not feel like that adventurous back packer I once was. Paying for the extras on the so-called budget airline and hey, why wait for a bus in -3 at midday when you arrive when you get a taxi for less than euro 12!!  Back in the day that would have been 3 meals! 😂

As I was arriving very late, the hostel had sent me very detailed instructions to find the hostel, get in the door and find my room which could not be missed with a large hand drawn sign with my name on it 😂.   All very well organised and in fact, it was a great hostel (highly recommend the Tree House hostel, very central and very warm and comfortable).

My next ‘I am no longer a backpacker’ move was a private driver to take me to Sigulda in the east of the country and only 50 minutes’ drive from the city centre.  Unfortunately, it is too early in the year for the normal tours to run, and yes, I could have caught the train … but that would have taken all day and with only 2 days I already have limited time.  So I could easily justify the additional expense of a half day private tour to myself and it meant I got to see some of the best of the Latvian county side and not just Riga.

(Oddly I feel a little guilty about not being a ‘backpacker’ anymore. 🤔 Not really sure why – that style of travel is great when you have a lot of time and not a lot of money but when time is limited (and money slightly less so) I want to make sure my time is used wisely. I don’t think it lessens the experience and in fact I get to see more.)

As we drove out of the old city centre, much of the suburban areas were made up from grey Soviet era buildings– coupled with the snow on the ground and the greying skies, it all added to that the ambience I expected from part of the old Soviet Union.  But, as we drove out of town, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty.

The downside of coming at this time of year is that it is cold, bitterly cold and not everything is open – on the positive side I had the castles almost to myself.

Unfortunately, my driver was not very talkative despite his excellent English.  He would answer questions but did not volunteer any information but lucky I had a guide book with met read up on what I was seeing.

First stop was at Sigulda Medieval castle, now not much more than ruins located on the edge of Gauja National Park.  The original castle was built in 1207 as a fortress and subsequently has had lives as a convent and a residence and headquarters to the Livonian Brothers of the Sword.

 

Not long after I arrive, the light snow turned in to heavier snow as I wandered around the site.  For some reason I felt that it added to the medieval atmosphere.

I jumped back in to the van to warm up as we drove through the snow to the next stop at Turaida Castle and Museum Reserve.  This castle was a far better preserved site.  Work on the stone castle began in 1214 and it was an important castle for the archbishops of Riga during the middle ages with additional fortifications and guard towers during the 16^th century.  As it ia set up as a museum, this site was well documented and signed in several languages including English.

 

Arriving here in the snow, it soon cleared and ended up with the most beautiful skies with the sun breaking through and I was so glad I got out of the city to see the castles and countryside.

Back in the city and I got dropped off at the Museum of Occupation – it was a smaller exhibition than normal as the normal building is being refurbished so it is being housed in the old US embassy.  As I entered the building, my attention was drawn to a sign on the very heavy bullet Proof door. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, most American Embassies were additional secured, adding heavy bullet proof doors like this one!  It certainly makes you stop and think – well it did me anyway.

I will be the first to admit, I only had a brief knowledge of more recent history of Latvian occupation including Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, but I was interested to learn that the history of foreign occupation dates back to the German crusaders in 1201!  Having been occupied by Germany, Sweden, Poland, Russia … some of them more than once!

The guide on my walking tour the following day summed it up well … “We have literally been conquered by everyone not too lazy to come!”

They certainly have had a rough time of it, in particular during the 20th century when much of the population was exterminated or sent to the far reaches of the Soviet Union until September 6, 1991 when Latvian independence was once again recognized by the Soviet Union.

After a long day and information filled day, it was time to sample some of the Latvian delicacies.    Apparently, you have not been to Latvia if you have not had potato pancakes with spek sauce (spek is like bacon) and I must admit they were really tasty.   To accompany my potato pancakes, I had what was called a hot tea cocktail (blackberry and blueberry) – didn’t really know what was is in but lots of berry, orange and spices, similar to mulled wine but without the alcohol – it was soooo good! In fact, it was so good I had to go back and find out more – apparently it was a Sbiten, hot winter Russian traditional drink which can be very spicy, sweeten with honey.

I can say I had more than 1 of them in my 2 days in the country lol.

I headed out again in the evening, just it started snowing, this time to try the infamous Riga black balsam in the famous Black Magic bar.  The drink is described as a mix of botanicals (24 herbs) in spirit water and was historical used as a traditional medicine.

According to tradition only the Head Liquor master and two apprentices know the recipe passed down for over 250 years and the recipe was lost during WWII but it was pieced together again after the war and remains unchanged.  It apparently also cured Catherine the Great of Russia when she became ill during a visit to Latvia!

Again, my walking tour guide had an interesting snippet about the Balsam – “Balsam makes good medicine, 2 shots and you are better or you don’t care!”

I was not keen on drinking it straight (I am not sure many are) so I had it with hot black currant juice – rather like very strong, hot  medicine – not terrible on a freezing night and I felt rather regal sitting in a red leather arm chair, sipping my Hot Blackcurrant to the soundtrack of cellos playing classical music and the light of a flickering candle.

To mix it up, my next stop was a lively roadhouse style bar with a live band playing blues and rock n roll music (and a car in the middle of the restaurant) to sample some more of the local liquor 🤦🏻‍♀️

2 drinks and I was done – one thing was clear … Latvians don’t mess around with their spirits!! They were strong!

My final stop for the night a cafe for a raspberry gin and tonic (ok so I was not completely done after the first 2 drinks) and some traditional yeast pancakes – again delicious and I convinced myself I needed them to soak up the alcohol.

 

The following morning, I joined a free walking tour around the old city.  Something I do in most places I visit these days and always very informative (and cheap)!  Of course, it was freezing cold but initially not snowing or raining!

The guide was really interesting and it was a great couple of hours wandering around learning about the city and culture and I was happy to have a spare 30 minutes at the end to grab another Sbiten before my next tour.

With only a short time in the city, I had to make tough decisions about what to see and what to miss – 1 more day would have been ideal, but without that extra day, I decided to miss out on cupcake looking art nouveau area and instead, I opted to explore the grittier part of the city including the Jewish ghetto and memorial and some of the Soviet built suburbs and tower.

We started off in the Central market – a massive market and one of the cleanest markets I have ever seen.  I could have stayed there for much longer than we did but we had to move on back in to the rain that was now falling.

It was a cold grey day, snow was forecast but instead we got rain … quite the weather for the grey and gritty Riga beyond the old town.  In this side of town there were no pretty Instagram pictures to be had, but lots of fascinating human stories about life in the USSR and Nazi occupation – how individuals were conscripted into fighting for one side or the other with no choice, meaning family members were often fighting against each other.

Something else that fascinated me was learning about the Non-Citizens.  When the Soviet Union fell, the resulting countries had to decide how they would determine citizenship.  In Latvia, people were given citizenship if they could prove they or direct relatives lived there prior to Soviet occupation, or if they learnt Latvian and past a culture/history test.

Some choose to not learn Latvian (mostly ethnic Russians) so remained in Latvia as non-citizens.  Of course, this is an aging population so the issue of non-citizens will not be around much longer.  Still, they have a Latvian Non-Citizen passport and can still freely travel around the EU/Schengen region as well as to Russia visa free (Latvian’s need a visa) so not sure what they lose by this very unique status.

With my day of learning over, I headed back to the airport to head home just as the snow started again.

 

What a wonderful and fascinating country which has definitely given me a taste for exploring more of this part of the world.

And what a stunning sunset on the way home.

6 months after returning from South America in September last year, I am surprised that I am now writing from Cambridge in England …  just when I thought I had it all worked out, everything changed!

I kept meaning to sum up my South American trip … it really was a trip of a life time (although for me, I hope not once in a life time).  I certainly got around …   

•  21 flights
• 20 intercity buses
• 5 days on a boat (and 14 other shorter boat journeys)!

But I guess that is the modern world live in where transportation from one place to another, even the most remote of places is possible.

I did 12 incredible dives in the Galapagos islands surrounded by Hammerhead Sharks and turtles. I snorkelled with Galapagos penguins, sealions and dolphins.  I tubed down a river in the Amazon jungle watching monkeys swinging in the branches above, I played paintball in one of Pablo Escobar’s mansions.  I trekked high in the Andes and explored otherworldly salt flats … honestly just too many incredible moments to express them all here.

I challenged myself physical with a 5-day hike in the Colombian jungle to Ciudad Perdida and a 4-day hike in the Andes on the spectacular Inca Trial to Machu Picchu.   

I challenged myself mentally by spending 4 weeks doing intensive Spanish lessons and I can safely say, I am the closest I have ever been to speaking a second language (though to be honest that is not saying much!)

I overcame fears by sailing from Colombia to Panama and hiking the Inca Trail (its hard to put in to words just how scared I was of doing this hike and how much I actually loved the entire experience.)

And … then it was all over and I was back home.  For those of us ‘tainted’ with the passion for travel or wanderlust, coming home is always bittersweet.  It is wonderful to see family and catch up with friends, but the familiar almost seems unfamiliar. 

It wasn’t long until part of me was itching to be back on the road again.  Just a few days back and it was straight back to work – the same job at the same desk …I was incredibly lucky to get this opportunity again, but it did make the feeling that I had never been away that much stronger 😬

I am driven by the need to always be on the search for somewhere new to go and new things to see but oddly I don’t often take full advantage of the wonderful country I call home.  Weekends when I am working the 9-5 seem to be all about relaxing, not having the pressure of having to travel, or to be anywhere at any particular time.  Though I guess that is often true, you put off doing things close at hand as you think you can always do that another time – why is that??

Just when I thought I had 2019 mapped out, a curve ball was thrown and I was offered a job in the UK, just north of Cambridge and after much deliberation I decided to accept … so the countdown was on again.

To make the most of my remaining time in New Zealand I planned a couple of road trips to enjoy time with family and the beautiful New Zealand summer, revisiting places I have not been since I was a child.

The first stop was New Year’s camping on the West Coast.  The long warm summer nights, the smell of beach fires and toasting Marshmallows, the sounds of crashing waves and bird song … this to me is perfect.  

It brought back happy childhood memories of campground life, weka roaming around the campground (weka are endemic flightless birds and a member of the ratite family – they have a tendency to prowl around and a penchant for stealing anything you leave lying around outside), native tuis and bellbirds singing in the trees in the campground.

We spent the days hiking in the beautiful fern filled bush, exploring caves filled with 1000’s of glow worms and tubing down rivers and the evening watching the sunset and the stars come out …. oh so many stars. 

A few weeks later and we drove 6 hours south to Wanaka, in the winter a hub for skiers and lovers of winter sports and in the summer a haven for boaties.  Here we spent a lovely couple of days with my brother and his family … out on the boat, exploring the small beaches around the lake, just a typical New Zealand summer.

Both these trips were real reminders of what a spectacular place I am lucky enough to call home.

But soon enough it was time to pack my bags and head of again …

Europe here I come.