Arrival Dubrovnik, Croatia - via Bosnia-Herzegovina (13 June)

Our bus trip from Split to Dubrovnik passed through a little protrusion of Bosnia and so we stopped there, too, for a snack. This was on the heels of our bus driver nearly causing a serious rear/end collision with a motorist in front of us on a slippery rainy road. Bargain basement prices in Bosnia/Herzegovina on German confection favorites of Emily's. Of course, Mom had to try a Coca Cola from every former Yugoslav republic to keep up my record! *So far, no country can beat Mexican cokes though!) Met a very nice lady, June, from Lake Tahoe NV who gave us excellent guidance on things to do in Dubrovnik. We have now checked in with our gracious home-stay hosts, son Ante and mother Anka. Our accommodations required a sweaty long walk and are halfway between the bus station and the Old Town. We have walked the Old Town's city walls all the way around already and plan a seafood meal and then a concert tonight, all still in the Old Town pictured below. Emily gets her long-awaited beach time tomorrow on an albeit pebbly beach. Everyone in Croatia is ecstatic over their soccer win over Germany last night. Our sleep was definitely interrupted due to that exuberance last night in Split!


Dubrovnik - Dalmatian and Italian Ragusa (official name until 1909), Latin Ragusium, also Rhausium, Rhaugia) is a historic city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. [2] In the 2001 census, 88.39% of its citizens declared themselves as Croats. The prosperity of the city of Dubrovnik has always been based on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages, as the Republic of Ragusa, it became the only eastern Adriatic city-state to rival Venice. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the city achieved a remarkable level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries. Ragusa was one of the centres of the development of primarily the Croatian language and literature, home to many notable poets, playwrights, painters, mathematicians, physicists and other scholars.


In 1991 Croatia and Slovenia, which at that time were republics within Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, declared their independence. Despite demilitarization of the old town in early 1970s in an attempt to prevent it from ever becoming a casualty of war, following Croatia's independence in 1991, Serbian-Montenegrin remains of Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) attacked the city. On October 1, 1991 Dubrovnik was attacked by JNA with a siege of Dubrovnik that lasted for seven months. In May 1992 Croatian Army liberated Dubrovnik and its surroundings, but danger of JNA sudden attacks lasted for another three years.
Following the end of the war, damage caused by shelling of the Old Town was repaired. Adhering to UNESCO guidelines, repairs were performed in the original style. As of 2005, most damage had been repaired. Emily says she is sick of busses, so I had to snap this of her.

Wendy at rest stop in Bosnia Herzegovina.

Our host mother, Anka, and Emily.

Atop wall around old town of Dubrovnik.

Note the bright orange, brand new tiles on the rooftops . . . all reconstruction since the Serb bombardments of 1991. (We head for Serbia in 3 days. No worries.)

OK, HouseMaster inspectors, this device is all over Eastern Europe. Please, what exactly is it? "LG" makes cellphones, I know, but A/C units?