A Croatian long weekend

[onlyMark]

We’d decided to have a short relaxing break for the May bank holiday in Croatia. Nice that we can reach the coast in just a few hours. For example, Dubrovnik is four hours away and this time we weren’t even going as far as that.
There is a small coastal area in Bosnia at a town called Neum which is the only access to the sea. It came from some agreement between ruling powers in the middle of the 19th Century (as far as I remember).
This made life difficult for anyone wanting to travel north from Dubrovnik along the coast because they had to enter a different country for a short while (about 8km/5 miles) before returning to Croatia.

But after many years of debate and money finding, a bridge was built which connected a large Croatian peninsula back to the mainland.
So now, driving north, you can travel onto the peninsula, go along it bypassing Neum and Bosnia and take the bridge back to the mainland. We took the bridge route onto the peninsula where we stayed for a few days.
The weather wasn’t very promising after the first day so we decided to take a short ferry to an island proper to do a bit of sightseeing before the rain came. Fortunately, and as happens quite often, the forecast wasn’t accurate.

Our main aim that day was to have a wander round an old town called Korcula. The island has the same name.
I took a few photos as we wandered but nothing much. It’s a pleasant walk in and out, up and down but a quite typical town from the Middle Ages.
First a 20min journey on a ferry -




Parked up outside town and meandered -




























We then just went to a few little villages on the coast on the island to further stretch our legs and do nothing much but have lunch and so on -








Took the ferry back to the peninsula and called it a day. Croatia has more islands than you can shake a stick at and subsequently, many ferries as well. Most are quite short journeys and many only allow foot passengers. This one, 20 minutes or so, cost 3 Euro per person and 9 Euros for the car. So easily affordable.
“The Croatian archipelago lies along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and has 1 244 natural formations, of which 78 are islands, 524 are islets, 642 are cliffs and reefs. 49 of the islands are permanently inhabited, all of which are located relatively close to the shore.”



The next day we went for a proper walk.

[onlyMark]

We had rented a small house in an old village called Mali Ston (mali means small) which was just a couple of kilometres from its bigger namesake, Ston.
Both were connected by a series of defensive walls and each had a fortification and walls around the villages.
In total the length of the defensive walls are reputed to be second only the the Great Wall of China. Good marketing but inaccurate. I know of at least one place in India with longer.
Nevertheless, they were long and you can walk a few sections of them.

We started off walking out of our village -




Turned onto the road heading to Ston -




Nice sunny morning and a decent footpath at the side of the road. On the side of the hill you can see the wall we will walk back on -




Carried on and soon ended up in the village -

[onlyMark]

This is the beginning and the wall heads off to the right -




There are two more walls to the left -




Better idea of them -




Nice house decoration -




We begin the walk proper. Advisable to take a hat and water. In the summer, where it can be 35 to 40 degrees, probably not such a good idea and I’ve read of those who’ve turned back -




Quite steep going up -




A quick look back at Ston -




Still onwards and upwards -




Several views back as we eventually get to the top -

[onlyMark]

A good view of the salt pans, more or less the main reason for the fortifications in order to monitor and protect them. At one time this area was the major producer of salt in medieval times -




The section crossing the side of the hill is reasonably flat but has many “trip hazards” as the best I can put it -






Coming into view is Mali Ston from where we set off -




We saw the fortress in Ston and this is the one in Mali Ston -




The wall back down. Suffice to say it wasn’t so easy in the ankles, knees and calves at my age -




View over to the mainland Croatia -

[onlyMark]

Down and down. Same height as the up and up we did -






Eventually all the way down to the fortress -




Looking back up again where we came from -




A gentle walk back through Mali Ston and, would you believe it, back along the road to Ston where we had a late lunch and a wander. Ston fortress -














Many houses had this set up by the windows where they could be shuttered either against storms I suppose or maybe also for defensive purposes, no idea for sure but I never saw any actually with the shutters in place -

[bjd]

I guess there is no surprise that it reminds me of Dubrovnik and its nearby islands.

[onlyMark]

Just up the road. All part of the same area.
Parts of Game of Thrones were filmed in Dubrovnik I think though I've never seen the series and other locations as above.

[kerouac2]

I quite understand the people who got tired of the rough grey stones and decided on a smooth blue stucco. Naturally, this requires more upkeep than the natural stones which don't need to be touched for a hundred years or more in most cases.

[onlyMark]

The next day was another wandering with no destination in mind so photos were few and far between -








I’ve been told this little harbour featured in Game of Thrones. No idea myself -




That was it for Croatia but on the way back and into Bosnia we stopped for lunch at a scenic restaurant. One thing that struck us straight away were the prices for a meal were half as expensive as in Croatia -










We also stopped at a place called Jablanica. In 1943 the Axis powers became concerned about the Allies launching an offensive in and through the Balkans, so they set out to destroy the Partisan movement led by Tito. They planned to launch an offensive in three stages, overall called Case White/Fall Weiss. After two stages which didn’t turn out as well as they’d hoped, they cancelled the third.
At one point Tito had few options left to him as he and his Central Command were being chased from pillar to post, plus they were attempting to avoid the capture of approx 4000 wounded who had been formed into a column after having to abandon a central hospital and who they believed would be treated badly by the Germans.

One major strategic incident for both sides was the issue of bridges across the Neretva River. Tito decided to blow them up. Later, in 1969, a film was made featuring Yul Brynner and Curt Jurgens. The film was State sponsored by Yugoslavia and more specifically, by Tito himself.
The original bridge featured in the film was initially destroyed in 1943 and the one destroyed in the film was a replacement railway bridge that became disused years later. This is the one in the photo.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_White

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Neretva_(film)






That's it.

[bixaorellana]

That's it? That was an awful lot of beauty packed into one (apparently brief) trip! The medieval towns look so, well, medieval, as though the original inhabitants could be brought forward in time & not notice anything out of place.

I can see how you all were motivated to take that trip up the wall, although coming back down must have been hell. Even if the wall is not as long as claimed, it's still monumentally impressive.

But the landscapes alone make would make this a trip to remember. Really, I can't believe how utterly lovely it all is. And you saw goldfishies!

Thanks for showing all of this -- armchair travel at its best.

[bjd]

Isn't the Neretva River also the one that flows through Mostar? Scene of another famous blown up bridge.

Those pictures of water and greenery are really lovely.

[onlyMark]

Yes, the river flows through Mostar. It's about 225km long. I follow it when driving to and past Mostar and the section from Jablanica (where the last two photos are from) to Mostar is one of the most beautiful rail and road journeys I've ever done.
Lots of rivers in Bosnia so lots of bridges - the bridge in Mostar is the most famous one that was destroyed between 1992 and 1995 but hundreds of other were also. There is a town called Visegrad with a special bridge over the River Drina, built 1577 but hardly any of it is original now after being renovated at least six times and most arches were destroyed in either WWI or WWII.

At one time when the area was ruled by the Ottomans, they made a concerted effort to connect towns by building numerous bridges, but over time they were destroyed etc. Sarajevo had at least seven bridges itself of which four are still standing, though heavily renovated, apart from one we walk to regularly called the Goat Bridge which has just been touched up from time to time.

Bixa, yes, that's it - and it is probably totally it for this area of the world for me. No more excursions are planned at all. I will drive to Germany end of May and return, then end June back to Germany and to Spain and then return to Germany at the end of the summer where I'll stay for the foreseeable future.
In walking around the towns, especially the none touristic bits and out of season, it is very easy to imagine turning a corner and seeing an old widow dressed in black crouched over, carrying a basket of vegetables from her garden to sell in the market because she has been left without money.
I'm almost sure in the night in the old house we stayed in in Mali Ston I could hear the faint clip clop of donkey hooves passing through the village.