Holiday Time

I'm holidaying in India so I won't be posting until mid-January. If you want to see photos before then, check out my Instagram account Smithandchips. 

 

Ljubljana

The last country on our anniversary trip was Slovenia. We've actually been back from our trip for about two weeks but I'm just now getting caught up on the photos. Our airport shuttle driver told us that the dragon is the city emblem of Ljubljana. I asked him if there was a story behind it and he only said, "of course." After more prodding he told us that the dragon was mean to the residents and someone (possibly Jason and his Argonaut comrades) killed him to save the town. 

The Cathedral of St Nicholas dates from the start of the 18th century. A church has stood here since the 13th century. The interior is beautiful but the choir stalls and organs are especially stunning.

Ljubljana has the feel of a big beautiful European city but is still small enough to walk almost anywhere. It is also close enough to take a bus or train to Vienna, Budapest, Munich, and many other large cities. 

Most of the buildings of Ljubljana were destroyed in an earthquake in 1511 when the city was under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire. The city was rebuilt by mostly Italian architects since Italy was part of the same empire. 

From Ljubljana we took a day trip to Lake Bled, Slovenia's most popular resort. There were still loads of tourists even though it is the off season. We hiked up one of the hills to get a better view of Bled Island. 

Lake Bled was the summer residence of the Yugoslav royal family before Slovenia gained independence. Slovenians are known for their love of outdoor sports and this was confirmed to us by our shuttle driver who joked that he was born wearing skis. Lake Bled had many photos and plaques displayed about the Slovenian Olympic rowing team. 

Warren and I loved Ljubljana and Lake Bled. They seemed very upscale compared to some of the other cities we visited. It was a perfect way to end our anniversary trip around southeast Europe. 

Sarajevo

In Mostar we boarded a bus for Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo was the first city in Europe to have a full time electric tram network and was the host of the 1984 Winter Olympics. 

Sarajevo was also the site of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria, and his wife Sophie. The assassination led directly to World War I. It was humbling to stand on the street where an event that had such a tragic impact on history. 

So many buildings throughout Sarajevo were absolutely beautiful with intricate details. The buildings below were built during Sarajevo's time under Austro-Hungarian rule. 

The building below was opened in 1899 as an Evangelical church. By the end of World War I most Evangelicals left Sarajevo so it was no longer needed as a church. It was later renovated and adapted to become the Academy of Fine Arts.  

In the Turkish quarter of Old Sarajevo is the Orthodox Cathedral. Its opening in the late 1800s caused a lot of controversy with some of the locals and it was postponed for a year.

There were signs posted on the door saying that photography is not allowed but when we paid for our tickets the guys told us that we could take photos. We were super excited and took over a hundred photos between the two of us. It was so beautiful! The panel below was built by a Russian craftsmen sent by Tsar Alexander II. 

There are many examples of Ottoman architecture throughout Sarajevo. We toured the Svrzo House built in the 18th century. This is a photo of one of the ceilings that was restored inside the house. 

For Thanksgiving dinner we had Ćevapi and kefir. A friend of mine from Nebraska recommended we try his favorite place in Sarajevo, Zeljo. The yogurt drink was a little rough (it was described to me as a thin yogurt/sour milk) but the Ćevapi was awesome!

When I was a kid I remember hearing about Sarajevo on the news during the Bosnian War. It was sad to see the effect the war had on the cultural and architectural history of Sarajevo We saw many once beautiful buildings still standing but in ruin and uninhabitable. We even saw a pack of dogs living in one bombed out building. 

Throughout the city we saw several of these scars in concrete from shell explosions painted red. We found out later they are called a "Sarajevo Rose" and mark spots where mortar explosions caused one or more deaths. 

We took a guided tour of the Tunnel Museum, a hand-dug 800m tunnel beneath the airport runway connecting Bosniak-held Butmir and Sarajevo. Crossing the runway would have been incredibly dangerous so they dug the tunnel to move supplies and arms safely. Our guide told us that this house was selected because it is so close to the airport that the Serbian forces would have risked upsetting the UN if they bombed the neutral ground of the airport. 

The museum includes a 20m section of the tunnel that we were able to walk though. This was one of the tallest sections of the tunnel and neither of us could even stand upright. Our guide told us that he was able to cross in 40 minutes and in one 24 hour period he walked the tunnel 7 times, as both a police officer and a private citizen.

Sarajevo was a fascinating city to visit. It was both beautiful and tragic with so many reminders of the war. We had a couple challenging situations with our booked lodging and getting overcharged at restaurants (there is no way we ate 1kg of burek!) but both were easily resolved. I haven't seen snow in almost two years so I was especially excited that it snowed while we were there. 

Mostar

From Split, Croatia we headed to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Stari Most (Old Bridge) is Mostar's most recognizable landmark and was originally built in the 16th century. 

The bridge is lined with these raised stones which felt strange to walk on at first but I was grateful for them when it rained later as they helped me to not slip on the slick stones. 

Sadly, Stari Most was bombed in 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak War. It had stood 427 years before being destroyed. We went to a bookstore and watched a film about the destruction and rebuilding of the bridge. It was tragic to watch the footage and also to see reminders throughout Mostar of this sad period of time for this great city. 

The streets of the old town are lined with shops selling scarves, souvenirs, lamps, leather goods, and other items. 

The food in Mostar was amazing! We tried slow cooked onions filled with meat and rice, syrup soaked sponge cakes, borek (a meat filled puff pastry), and ground meat patties served with pita bread and cheese. 

My favorite dessert was this poached apple filled with walnuts and served with whipped cream. It was delicious! 

Mostar was amazing even though we had difficulty with our booked hotel (they never opened). The food was a highlight of the city, especially coming from Split where we weren't crazy about anything we tried. It was a great introduction to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Next stop...Sarajevo!

Split

Our last city in Croatia was Split. Neither of us enjoyed Split very much so I questioned whether to do a post on it or not. But there are a few sights in Split that were really great, even though I wasn't crazy about the city as a whole. 

Split is most known for the ruins of Diocletian's Palace. It was built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the fourth century AD as a retirement palace.The palace was massive and today over 3,000 people live on the original territory. Only the foundation and lower floors of the royal apartments have survived and Diocletian's mausoleum was turned into a Christian church (pictured in the background of the photo below). 

The Cathedral of Saint Domnius is the church built in Diocletian's mausoleum. It is one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the world that is still used used for its original purpose, consecrated in the 7th century. 

Gregory of Nin was a medieval bishop who introduced the national Croatian language in religious services, rather than Latin. Rubbing the toe of the statue is said to bring good luck. The story goes that a woman dropped a bottle of milk and it didn't break when it fell on the toe of the statue. I figured I wouldn't turn down an opportunity for good luck. 

These are the highlights of our time in Split (notice there were no food photos, because nothing we tasted was worth mentioning). This final photo is of a quote from a sidewalk in Split which translates to "everything changes, nothing perishes" by the Roman poet Ovid. 

Kotor

One day we took a bus from Dubrovnik to Kotor, Montenegro. Throughout its history, Kotor has been under the rule of Romans, Venetians, Ottomans, Habsburgs, Napoleon, and was part of Yugoslavia before Montenegro gained independence. 

One of the most well known sights in Kotor is the city walls. The construction for these walls began in the 9th century and they have been restored several times since their completion. 

When we got to the entrance of the city walls we were greeted by this sweet calico kitten who walked all the way up to the church with us, meowing the entire time. She would pause sometimes (mostly to lick herself) but she would come running to catch up when I would call out to her. 

I was sad when she stayed at the church as we moved up higher to see the fortress. As we made our way back down the path I was surprised to see that she had waited for us at the church for 45 minutes! She came jumping out of the bushes and went right back to her spot walking alongside us. She was the sweetest kitten!

Kotor was very small so it didn't take long to see the important sights plus almost all of the beautiful marbled lanes. Kotor is a great little town, so I'm glad that we popped over for the day.

Dubrovnik

This Thursday marks Warren's and my tenth wedding anniversary. We thought we'd take a special trip to southeast Europe to celebrate. We started in Dubrovnik, a well preserved walled city in Croatia. In the summer, Dubrovnik is a bustling resort town but we practically had the city to ourselves since it is the off season. 

The weather was beautiful our last day in Dubrovnik so we took the opportunity to walk the city walls. It includes sixteen towers, several forts, and amazing views of the city on one side and the clear blue water on the other.

Croatia is across the Adriatic Sea from Italy so the food seemed similar to Italian food, which I was happy to see. The best meal I had was this spaghetti with shrimp at one of the few restaurants still open during the off season. It was amazing! I accidentally forgot to let Warren try it because it was so delicious. 

Sponza Palace currently holds the city archives, with documents dating back to 1022. It was built between 1516 and 1522 and was not damaged by the earthquake in 1667 that destroyed most of Dubrovnik's buildings. 

The city bell tower was built in 1444 and is located in Luza Square, a market area at the time. The bell tower has two clocks, one is a traditional face clock and the other was added in the 20th century and is unlike anything I've seen before. It has roman numerals for the hour and regular numbers for the minutes, but it only changes every five minutes. So the time is inaccurate every four minutes out of five.

Inside the old city walls Dubrovnik is pedestrian only which made for an easy weekend of wandering. We didn't have to worry about which side of the street we were on or getting lost as everything we wanted to see was contained inside those walls. This is truly one place where the city is the site. 

I was really impressed with Dubrovnik and am pleased we started our trip in this beautiful city. I know it isn't an authentic look at Croatian life but the city is picturesque and a great starting point to many other worthwhile destinations in this part of Europe. Now, off to the next!

Charles Dickens Museum

Last week my mother-in-law and I visited the Charles Dickens Museum. It is located in the only remaining London home of Dickens (the house where he was born in Portsmouth is also still standing). 

The house is set up how it would have looked when Dickens lived there, including very minimal lighting which made it hard to read the descriptions of some of the objects. 

The kitchen area in the basement looked as if food items had just been delivered. There was also a copper pot for washing laundry that would have also been used to boil puddings at Christmas, a detail Dickens mentioned in A Christmas Carol when he writes, "...while the two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house, that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper."

The rooms on the main floor focused on Dickens love of entertaining and especially how he would do readings and act out stories from his books. The dinner table was set up with names and descriptions of his friends and frequent dinner invitees. 

Upstairs in the nursery were items from Dickens' youth and the years he spent working at a young age. The photo below shows a grille from Marshalsea Debtors Prison where Charles's father, mother, and siblings were imprisoned in 1824. 

While his family was in Marshalsea, the 12 year old Charles Dickens worked at Warren's Blacking Factory near Charing Cross in London. He would work ten hour days putting labels on jars of boot polish. Charles's mother forced him to continue working at the factory even after his father's release from prison because the family's financial situation was still dire. 

The museum also had a pantry window about the size of the one Bill Sikes had Oliver Twist crawl through during the robbery of the country house. It was so tiny, I see why he needed a small young person to fit through.

The museum featured a special exhibit on Dickens last and unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I'd never heard of this novel before but now I am very curious about reading it (it is a free download on iBooks). The crime novelist Patricia Cornwall even wrote her own ending to this unsolved mystery. 

Both Nadine and I really enjoyed exploring the Charles Dickens Museum. It was interesting to find out more about the life of the man who created so many characters that have been a part of my life for many years.