On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good morning everyone,
Be safe, and lift each other up. We’re all under crazy stress.
Leaving Budva for Dubronik, instead of taking the typical route along the coastline, I was interested in doing an inland detour to see Trebinje in the Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, since it’s one of the stops in the Rick Steves tour of Croatia.
As mentioned previously, back in 2012, the online maps of Bosnia and Herzegovina were oddly scant, but I did spot what appeared to be a highway leading up to the Montenegrin border, and it was logical to assume that it went on to Trebinje, since it was the only major town nearby. The good news, yes it did. The bad news, the road turned out to be a tollroad — and I’d gotten rid of the last of my marks a few days earlier. And no, they didn’t take Euros. Finally, with traffic backing up behind me, the toll taker finally allowed me through.
It turns out that I needn’t have bothered. Trebinje, a town of 30,000, turned out to be a fairly depressing place, since its economy tanked after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Although in fairness to Rick Steves, his tour visits the local Serbian Orthodox monastery, which would’ve been an interesting exposure to all three of ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia.
On the other hand, Dubrovnik was as fabulous as its reputation, and I was lucky that no cruise ships were visiting that day — Dubrovnik is actually quite small, and having visitors two or three cruise ships at once can make it unpleasantly crowded
The main street in Dubrovnik, is actually a bit slippy from all the stones being worn down by centuries of people walking over them.
Unfortunately, during the Yugoslavia civil war the street was also a lethal place to be, since snipes in the nearby hills had a clean line of sight along the length of the street.
A CGI-augmented Dubrovnik was the locale of King’s Landing in “Game of Thrones.”
As with other Adriatic coastal towns, Dubrovnik was heavily fortified. Unlike most towns, the walls are still standing, and walking the walls is one of the popular tourist activities. (Pro tip: The walls can get pretty toasty mid-day, so it’s best to do them either early in the morning, or early in the evening.)
Despite its fairytale appearance, Dubrovnik is still an actual town with people living in it, and small parks and recreation areas are crammed in where they can find room.
It wouldn’t be a BJ post without critters, so without further adieu, I present “cats of Dubrovnik.”
New Friends for Tough Times
J R in WV
ETA: First… I guess Alain got confused with am and pm times… ;-)
Splendid place, photos, everything just so.
Thanks, Sister Golden Bear. Alain, also too.
Ken
I could have sworn this was the first line of Dracula, but Harker travels from Munich to Budapest. Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing.
Old School
Wonderful any time of day. Looks like a fantastic trip.
cckids
So beautiful; thank you for including the cats! Being a left-coaster, I’m almost never awake to comment on the on-the-road posts; this is nice!
zhena gogolia
Beautiful pictures.
raven
I like the wide free throw lanes!
realbtl
Seeing the kid with the net I don’t think the two cats are there for the sunshine.
MomSense
Thanks so much for the beautiful photos. Some of them look like they could have been taken in Greece.
Hope you are doing well, SGB.
Dorothy A. Winsor
What a great city.
tokyokie
I’ve read that Dubrovnik is the only walled city with a beach, but that the huge influx of people from cruise ships has stripped the place of a bit of its charm. With the cruise industry in the crapper, once travel restrictions are eased, it might be a good time to visit.
WaterGirl
Love all the cats!
Also: cats, kids, bicycles, water and boats. The perfect picture!
jayjaybear
Every time I hear or read “Dubrovnik”, I’m reminded of the Kander & Ebb song, “Ring Them Bells”. A NYC girl in the early 70s goes to Europe to find a husband, and has no luck. Until someone suggests “Try Dubrovnik, dear, before you go home.” Where she finds, on the beach, a man who lives ACROSS THE HALL from her apartment and eventually marries him. It’s a very dated song, but I still crack up listening to Liza Minnelli’s version from “Liza With A Z”.
jayjaybear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJSLZnKCv0
JPL
@J R in WV: Heck I am no longer sure of the day of the week, so are we sure it’s not us? hmmm
Baud
@J R in WV:
Some people have a really hard time adjusting to spring forward.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Really like the first shot, it’s got a nice contrast in color temperature between the warm light on the side buildings and the cool light on the tower.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I was thinking the same thing, should I worry?
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
No point worrying. It’s probably too late to do anything about it.
JPL
Some of us are still wondering wtf an astrophysicist put magnets up his nose. I appreciate posts no matter what time of day or night.
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: @Baud:
Alain schedules these to post automatically, and WordPress is on military time, so it’s easy enough to goof up the time when you schedule a post.
Sister Golden Bear
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks!
i was shooting with an Olympus XZ-1, which was a nice little camera. Obviously not as sure as a full-sized DSLR, but quite capable within its limits, and I literally could fit it into a jacket pocket.
And thanks all. When I get a chance, I’ll send in photos from other trips.
SkyBluePink
The window with orchids? is wonderful
bjacques
Lovely pictures! I was there about 20 years ago, when the civil war was finishing up in Kosovo/a. In the old town were small bullet and shell holes and tiles missing from a few roofs. Lots of crowds even before the cruise ship invasion but few or no Americans, since many thought the war was still on.
The hulking Hotel Libertas between the old and new towns was still abandoned, but a kindly caretaker had let us wander inside and take photos of the Ostblocky interior (with a crappy color film camera alas).
The early afternoon train ride back to Zagreb was one of the most spectacular I’d ever had. I struck up a conversation with a local passenger about a punk band that used to feature frequently in Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll’s international scene report and learned the band’s singer had died in the war.