Croatia and the Dalmatians and Dubrovnik

  Croatia, former Yugoslavia, known for the city of Dubrovnic, and Dalmation dogs. 

Croatia looks like a letter c or r, with a horizontal east west band across the top and a long coastline parallel to Italy.

Dalmatia is down the coast, with the spotted Dalmatian dogs, and the city of Dubrovnik facing Italy across the sea.

I remember visiting Dubrovnik with my parents when I was about 10 years old in 1956 when Yugoslavia was one country, united.

You can take a walking tour of the Games of Thrones.

Useful Websites

https://www.decantalo.com/uk/en/testament-the-dalmatian-dog-babic.html 

https://croatia.hr/en-gb

Serbia - see Beautiful Belgrade and more sights, North and South

Map of Serbia.

As the map shows, Hungary is to the north of Serbia. Romania and Bulgaria are to the East. The north is at the top of the map.
You would think that having north at the top of the map would be standard and obvious but it isn't. We drove around Vienna arguing. The driver looked at the road signs and said, "We must go right. I looked at the map and said, "No we go left." Finally, the driver pulled in and grbbed the map. He looked at the arrow and found that south was at the top of the page!

We also have a train line running West-East and East-West in London, called the Central line. On some trains the maps are designed so that the maps on each side of the train are mirror images, showing you the direction of travel, with the front of the train at one end of the map. Some people think that is logical. Others find it confusing. As the Irish joke goes, "If I were you, I wouldn't start from here!"

BELGRADE



























































Belgrade Fortress. Gardoš Tower. (Gardoš rhyming with gosh!)


Belgrade -  (the name means white city) is the capital of Serbia.
Belgrade was previously the capital of Yugoslavia. The river Danube flows into Belgrade.

Novi Sad (the name means new plant) is north of Belgrade.

You are likely to fly into Serbia towards the south at Niš (pronounced like niche or neesh). If you keep looking at the twon and airport name, it is easy to remember that the bowl shape on top of the s - š - is pronounced SH.

To type it, the lower case s3, hold down the s key on a laptop keyboard. You are offered a choice of three types of s: ß ś š . You get them by holding down the s with your left hand and simultaneously tapping the keys 1 or 2 or 3. If you are typing a lot of Serbian words and placenames, it's easy to remeber that s3 is three. You hold the s down with your second finger of your left hand and reach over and tap three with your second finger of your right hand and there it is, bingo,  š! Niš.





Žiča Monastery
Exterior of žiča Monastery. Photo from Wikimedia. Photo by Vera Bukvic.

This place is a photographer's dream.
It's also a typist's nightmare. I had trouble typing the capital Z with the diacritic above. So I copied it, cut and paste, from somewhere online.

The monastery is near Kraljevo. Where's that? Looking back at the map of Serbia, you can see that Kraljevo is south of Belgrade, in fact half way between Serbia and Niš.

Medieval Castle in Golubac. Photo from Wikitravel.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

CROATIA and Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Split to Zagreb

The flag looks pretty similar to that of Serbia, except for the addition of the shield in the middle. Since Serbo-Croat is the language, mutually intelligible, I suppose that is logical.

Problem
What do I know about Croatia? Croatia is Catholic, officially secular but mainly Catholic. It is coastal and famous for Dubrovnik. Croatia was previously part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia split up into several pieces like a jig-saw puzzle.

This map explains it all, what's where.

Cities, Towns and Villages
Dubrovnik on the coast in the south has 16th-century walls and a promenade.

Split from here at coastal Dubrovnik and drive three hours to Split, where you can roam around the Roman ruins.

Islands
Take the ferry from Split, and split via the island of Brac, to the island of
Hvar, an island fishing village, which has Dalmatian wines.

Islands are dotted like a string of oval pearls along the coast.

Korcula
Before the Romans there was scenery. Mountains surround the city.

Oddity
The oddest town layout is that of Karlovac in the north near Zagreb. Seen from the air, you can appreciate that the defensive layout is star-shape. The orange tiled roofs are attractive.

Offbeat Holidays
About a dozen lighthouses are available to you for a get away from it all holiday to watch the waves and write your novel.

Zagreb, the Capital
In the far north is the inland capital of Zagreb. The cathedral and churches are interesting. St Marks church is medieval and has a distinctive roof decorated with colourful tiles depicting two giant shields.

The art galleries include one with an impressive number of old masters.

The most modern, and unique is the award-winning Museum of Broken Relationships. You don't know whether to laugh or dry. Pointless but poignant and popular.

From the capital Zagreb, it's only two hours by bus, car or train to Ljubljana. From Zagreb you can fly home, or you could drive for about two hours to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana.

Food
Starters
Local olives and olive oil with your bread.

Savouries
The usual Med food, but often peppery or spicy. Cheese pastry (Strukli) and fingers of mincemeat on bread.

Sweets
Delightful Desserts
Almond cake from Rab island, called Rapska torta; cream cake called kremšnite; pancakes with cream cheese filling; pastries with walnut, poppy (makovnaka) or pumpkin and cheese, and strudels.

You can also buy chocolate-filled, freshly-baked doughnuts to end the day and end the diet. They are called Krafne.

Drink
Vineyards and tastings are all over the country. If, like me, you are not keen on red wine, you will be delighted to learn that evanda is a rich red wine diluted with tap water. Gemish is wine with mineral water. There's a sparkling red in Istria with herbal extracts. Also look for Maraschino from the marasca cherries. For non-alcoholics and drivers, a wake-up drink (smrikva) is made from sour berries. You have to be sober to say smrikva.

Airport
You can fly into Dubrovnik, from London, Edinburgh Toronto and many more places, on Air Canada, British Airways and WestJet.
From America, I suggest you fly to London for a stopover. Or into Europe to Frankfurt. Fly or drive from Europe or fly in direct from Dubai, Qatar or Tel Aviv.

Croatian Airlines is a member of Star Alliance, so if I flew on Singapore Airlines into Europe I could pick up air-miles for the rest of the trip on Croatian Airlines, as well as enjoying any airport lounges..

Wikitravel gives you all your airline options.
Fifty best holidays chosen from those suggested by an assortment of travel writers including myself are on one list chosen by judges for flightnetwors.com/blog.
They have a lovely sliding slideshow of pictures of Croatia scenery.
https://www.flightnetwork.com/blog/dalmatian-coast-of-croatia/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagorski_Štrukli Recipe for savoury cheese pancake.
https://wikitravel.org/en/Croatia

https://www.learncroatian.eu/blog/basic-croatian-for-your-holiday-in-croatia
https://www.learncroatian.eu/blog/the-croatian-letters

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my post on Slovenia, love Slovenia.

What to see in Serbia? Belgrade's murals and Tesla

Problem
First where is it?
Second what is there to see? Four fun places.

Answers
Serbia was part of the former Yugoslavia. The capital is Belgrade. Not meaning beautiful city, although the tourist board says it is, but white city. In the local language it is spelled BEOGRAD.

What's on my list of what to see in Belgrade?
You arrive at Nikola Tesla airport. After seeing the man's name at the airport, it's easy to remember who is one of the national heroes.

The first place to see is:

1 The fortress above the city overlooking the town and river. Free!

2 Nikola Tesla Museum.
Who was Tesla. He invented household items using alternating current. How will I remember that? TElsLA ALTErnating current. TEsla alTErnating current. TesLA ALternating current.

Nikola Tesla Museum
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10-6. (So the staff get Sunday and Monday off. Visitors can see the museum one day at the weekend, the first day of the weekend, and every day of the week except the first day.)
Is there an entrance fee? Yes. RSD 500.
(Check on opening times and prices before you go.)

After modern science, some ancient art.

3 Gallery of Frescoes at the National Museum.
Medieval murals.

(NB two of the main museums and galleries are closed in 2017, opening 2018. Check all opening times.)

4 After ancient murals, all the modern ones, troupe l'oeuil of old time buildings, in the Bohemian area of Skadarska street (in local language Skadarlija). Cobblestoned area, the Serbian Montmartre, arts and artists and old style Serbian restaurants.

Trompe l'oeuil mural in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, in Skadarlija, pedestrian street.

After modern murals, the traditional Roma culture.

4 Museum of Roma Culture.

What else? An aviation museum, a railway museum, as usual in big cities - a zoo.

Stories
Years ago when I was a teenager we went on a cruise which stopped at the port city of Dubrovnik, a popular cruise stop. My parents were very taken with the beauty of the architecture and Yugoslavia.

Later we had an au pair girl from Yugoslavia, then under Communist rule. She told me three things about her country at that time:
Yugoslavia has three groups of people and five great lakes.
If you want something done, you need to have a friend.
I cut the labels off my clothes to pretend they are old, so nobody knows I earn money or buy clothes in England.

I had very mixed feelings when Yugoslavia divided. From a tourist's point of view, I now have more countries to add to my list of places I have visited or want to visit.

Getting There
The national airline is Air Serbia which flies to : JFK, USA; Heathrow, London; Sarajevo ; and Skopje. Air Serbia is linked to the smaller carrier Aviolet. The Hungarian low cost carrier, Wizz Air, goes to Luton, UK, for London and other area.

What to eat, drink and buy to bring home? Slivovitz or plum brandy. Pear in spirits with a whole pear in the bottle. Cheaper in supermarkets than at the airport.

Where next? Maybe the art nouveau city of Subotica.

Tips - websites
Wikitravel.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer and blogger. See my previous posts on murals.