From Ljubljana
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Well, I promised to tell you about my latest trip, so here is a short account of it.
I joined a bus tour to Črna Gora (Montenegro), a former state of Yugoslavia. It took about 15 hours to get there. We left in the evening and arrived the next day about 2PM. The coach was comfortable and only half full, watched a movie and then tried to sleep. In the morning I enjoyed viewing the beautiful Adriatic coast - truly awesome! I didn't realize how mountainous the country is. If it wasn't for the populated areas (Split, Makarska, Dubrovnik, etc.), the agricultural strips at the foot of the barren rocky mountains devoid of forests, and the resorts catering to tourists, it could have been as wild as the coast of northern Calif. if it had no trees. Actually it reminded me more of the barren Italian rocky countryside, rocks everywhere, hard ones, not "soft" rocks (Dobrina and Ian know what they are).
I think that tourism is now the primary source of income all down the Adriatic coast, though there are also groves of olive trees and vineyards, along with the fishing industry that contribute to the local economy. In prior times, these people were the notorious pirates that plied the Adriatic sea from Venice to Greece.
We stayed for a full week at the seaside resort town of Budva in Črna Gora (south, past Croatia and Bosnia). The very large and spread out community is named "Slovenska plaža" (Slovene beach). It adjoins the actual town of Budva, and it got its name from the tourists from Slovakia (not Slovenia) that used to favor it many years ago. The beautiful new resort town with its park like character was however built and designed by Slovenians, and many now spend their vacations there. It surprised me that the resort is also popular with Russians as well as Germans. When the tour guides gave their talks it was never in English but either in Serbian, Russian or German, in rare instances also in Italian.
Though I had my swimming trunks with me, and the water was warm, I mostly went on hikes, lounged around, caught up on my reading, pigged out all day on excellent food and drink, watched TV in the evening and in general, enjoyed the leisure (regretfully by myself). The "old town" of Budva is a typical ancient walled city (A Dubrovnik in miniature), surrounded on three sides with water and seemingly impenetrable. On the hillsides above it and ever spreading out are new communities - I was amazed at how much construction is going on everywhere. In my walking around I came across a peculiarity (perhaps not just localized) - on various corners of their streets are set up bulletin boards with death notices of the recently departed. At first it came to my mind that they are from the fighting in Yugoslavia when it was braking up, but on closer inspection the dates were recent and mostly of elderly individuals.
During my visit the people had a referendum to break away from the parent country of Yugoslavia (this was the last remnant, other than Kosovo, that maintained unity with Serbia to still be called Yugoslavia - which is now no more). Črna Gora and Serbia are now separate and independent countries. The referendum for independence passed in spite of there being more posters evident urging its defeat (the natives comprise less than half of the population) - it was a close call but sufficient for the international community to give it recognition.
Nex time about the short visit to Albania prior to returning to Ljubljana.
Love from ata.
Well, I promised to tell you about my latest trip, so here is a short account of it.
I joined a bus tour to Črna Gora (Montenegro), a former state of Yugoslavia. It took about 15 hours to get there. We left in the evening and arrived the next day about 2PM. The coach was comfortable and only half full, watched a movie and then tried to sleep. In the morning I enjoyed viewing the beautiful Adriatic coast - truly awesome! I didn't realize how mountainous the country is. If it wasn't for the populated areas (Split, Makarska, Dubrovnik, etc.), the agricultural strips at the foot of the barren rocky mountains devoid of forests, and the resorts catering to tourists, it could have been as wild as the coast of northern Calif. if it had no trees. Actually it reminded me more of the barren Italian rocky countryside, rocks everywhere, hard ones, not "soft" rocks (Dobrina and Ian know what they are).
I think that tourism is now the primary source of income all down the Adriatic coast, though there are also groves of olive trees and vineyards, along with the fishing industry that contribute to the local economy. In prior times, these people were the notorious pirates that plied the Adriatic sea from Venice to Greece.
We stayed for a full week at the seaside resort town of Budva in Črna Gora (south, past Croatia and Bosnia). The very large and spread out community is named "Slovenska plaža" (Slovene beach). It adjoins the actual town of Budva, and it got its name from the tourists from Slovakia (not Slovenia) that used to favor it many years ago. The beautiful new resort town with its park like character was however built and designed by Slovenians, and many now spend their vacations there. It surprised me that the resort is also popular with Russians as well as Germans. When the tour guides gave their talks it was never in English but either in Serbian, Russian or German, in rare instances also in Italian.
Though I had my swimming trunks with me, and the water was warm, I mostly went on hikes, lounged around, caught up on my reading, pigged out all day on excellent food and drink, watched TV in the evening and in general, enjoyed the leisure (regretfully by myself). The "old town" of Budva is a typical ancient walled city (A Dubrovnik in miniature), surrounded on three sides with water and seemingly impenetrable. On the hillsides above it and ever spreading out are new communities - I was amazed at how much construction is going on everywhere. In my walking around I came across a peculiarity (perhaps not just localized) - on various corners of their streets are set up bulletin boards with death notices of the recently departed. At first it came to my mind that they are from the fighting in Yugoslavia when it was braking up, but on closer inspection the dates were recent and mostly of elderly individuals.
During my visit the people had a referendum to break away from the parent country of Yugoslavia (this was the last remnant, other than Kosovo, that maintained unity with Serbia to still be called Yugoslavia - which is now no more). Črna Gora and Serbia are now separate and independent countries. The referendum for independence passed in spite of there being more posters evident urging its defeat (the natives comprise less than half of the population) - it was a close call but sufficient for the international community to give it recognition.
Nex time about the short visit to Albania prior to returning to Ljubljana.
Love from ata.
posted by Okorn Family at 8:38 AM
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