The Balkan States by Denise

June 2009

Ploce is in Croatia and the port that landlocked Bosnia with its 4 million population uses for sea access, and the reason why our ship stopped here was for our excursion to Mostar in Bosnia.    Overcast day, coached 1.5 hours inland through pretty rural countryside - once again oranges, olive trees and lemon groves main crop and grapes.    The river  Nevrin  comes down from the mountains through Mostar to the delta near Ploce.    Alot of the houses on the way and also on the outskirts of Mostar splattered with bullet holes  and damage from the cruel Balkan war which is still fresh in our minds - although we were amazed by the recovery and reconstruction of the houses.  When the war ended in 1995, 40 per cent had lost their homes and 90 per cent were unemployed.    The main export industry is aluminium  and wines although tourism is now generating income.    What a quaint wee town Mostar is with its ancient cobbled streets,  nestled in the hills and the old stone houses - 70 per cent of Bosnia is Muslim although not radical.  Our lovely local guide gave an excellent account of Muslim and Bosnian life.   Visited the mosque and tradtional Turkish house, this area know for its strong Turkish coffee.  The old restored bridge is just like the photos we have seen and and although by now it was pelting rain, creating rivers of water down the cobbled streets, the bridge still looked stunning . 

Back to ship and cruised to Korcula for our evening visit  - unfortunately cool and damp, but able to have a stroll around and see the many restaurants and souvenirs and references to the birth of Marco Polo (although history has him being born elsewhere!) Marina full of many gin palaces up to 50 metres and smaller yachts for charters on the Adriatic.  Every night on board we have a la carte meals, band and singing in the main lounge with dancing and some evenings cabaret type shows.

Got up early for our cruise into Montenegro Kotor Fjord for the sunrise! Visited the old town or Kotor with its large square and lovely buildings around before catching a bus to Budva which is a small medieval town near the sea (the beaches along this coast looked quite nice) Finally the sun came out and what a difference it made to the ambience of this lovely town.  We climbed the walls of Kotor Fort to St Johns Hill for stunning views out over the town and city

Next stop the largest port in Albania, Durres.    Our 33 year old well spoken very intelligent guide Elton arrived for our private tour.   Visited the mountain town of Kruja and a 200 year old Turkish Ottoman house with a local guide of 70 with his self taught English.    29 degrees so liking the weather better.   Albania liberated 19 years ago from the communist system and are coping well.  Loving private ownership, with Albania having the highest percentage of cars per capita.  Unfortunately mostly diesel and second hand from Germany so huge pollution. Albania discovered Mother Theresa was Albanian after the revolution and that was kept from them prior to that, and she is now a National hero with statues around and the airport named after her. It’s a Muslim county but extremely liberal.   Their mayor was an artist so has given paint to students and local people to paint their houses, so many are decorated with stripes, spots etc - bit bizarre !

Dubrovnik - lovely old walled town with many churches and museums, masterfully restored – a great walk around the walls with amazing views of the city and ocean and peoples private homes also.    Enjoyed our visit until the contents of 5 cruises ships and many coaches arrived into the old city.  Could hardly move, so we walked to a beach at Lapad and had a swim!