Summer vacation part 5, Lake Bled, Slovenia

Lake Bled in Slovenia's Julian alps is a little piece of heaven on earth. Slovenia was quite different from the other former Yugoslavian countries that we visited on our Summer trip.  It has been in the European community the longest and it's location close to the alps near Austria certainly makes it feel like the most Western of the 4 former Yugoslavian countries we visited on the trip.  Lake Bled is a picture perfect lake in the mountains near the Austrian border.  It features a fairy tale like castle on the top of a steep cliff as well as a little island in the center of the lake complete with an old church.  During our brief stay here we hiked around the lake to the castle and rented a row boat to get to the little island in the center of the lake.  Our children had fun taking some chairlifts up the mountain in order to bobsled in tracks down to the bottom.  The views, peaceful nature and clean mountain air made this a perfect respite from the busy cities we had already visited.  We only spent around 24 hours in Lake Bled, but it was totally worth the visit and highly recommended should you decide to visit Slovenia yourself.  Lake Bled is around a one hour train ride to Slovenia's capital Ljubjana.

Summer vacation part 3, side trip to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzgovinia

Perhaps the most interesting side trip and most unique place we visited during our entire vacation was the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  This interesting country has a very complicated history and was  involved in a bitter war in the mid 1990s.  The country is actually divided into 3 distinct areas, The republic of Srpska (Serbia), Bosnia and lastly Herzegovina.  The geographic area we visited was west Herzegovina. The city of Mostar is the main city in the republic of Herzgovina.  Mostar was known as one of the major campaigns in the brutal war which rocked this area for several years. The war is now over but the psychical and mental scars of the city and people remain.  The damage was apparent as we noticed many buildings with large bullet holes which had been shelled during the war.  The highlight of the trip was a visit to the famous Mostar bridge which divides the city in half.  This 500 year old bridge was completely destroyed in the war in 1993, but now it is beautifully reconstructed to it's original dimensions.  The bridge is a tourist magnet today and many young locals stand on the bridge collecting money and later when they have collected a total of 25 euros will jump into the icy river below.  It is a thrilling and scary plunge of 24 meters (80 feet).  Bridge diving has been a tradition of Mostar for hundreds of years.  The old city was very interesting and featured cobblestone streets and vendors selling local goods everywhere.  Mostar has many different ethnic groups and religions now attempting to live together and there is even a strong Muslim presence with minarets and Turkish mosques in the city.  The old town itself is relatively small and can be covered in a day on foot.  Mostar has only been on the tourist path for about a decade and is still relatively cheap. Mostar has had a painful history and the local economy is still hurting, but you can see change happening as the locals are proud of their city and background.   We really enjoyed the day trip into this historical old city situated beautifully on a river.  I would suggest it for any adventurous traveler who is considering a trip to the former Yugoslavia.

Mostar

Mostar bridge

War torn past

Summer vacation part 1, Dubrovnik, Croatia

My family recently completed a nearly three week tour of Eastern Europe.  We spent the largest percentage of our time in Croatia, which included an entire week in Dubrovnik.  Dubrovnik is sometimes called the pearl of the Adriatic and it features a beautifully preserved city with medieval walls built along the seashore.  We stayed in a wonderful villa just outside the downtown (Lapad district) with my extended family.  Old town Dubrovnik is relatively small and can be explored in one day, however the Southern Dalmatian coast is very scenic and stretches a long distance and can take several days to see. The prices were cheaper than Finland and central Europe, but not as cheap as you might expect considering it is the former Yugoslavia and suffered a major war just over 20 years ago.  During the week in Croatia we relaxed around the pool and beach most of the time, although we did a few day trip excursions to both Mostar in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina and a trip to a few beautiful coastal cities in the small country of Montenegro.  We had a wonderful stay in Dubrovnik and enjoyed several trips to the medieval walled city soaking in the gorgeous seaside views and spending equal time relaxing by both the villa's swimming pool and nearby beach.   Capitalism has hit this area hard since the war tragically rocked the city in the early 90s.  68% of the city was destroyed, but it has been beautifully restored now. Now you can expect fairly expensive cab fares, souvenirs on every corner and vendors ready to sell you a trip to a nearby Island or day excursion to a neighboring country.  However, relatively speaking Croatia is still much cheaper than Finland, but you probably already knew that.  :)   Stay tuned for more blog posts from Eastern Europe.