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![]() This video mixes different sights and sounds from our short visit to the enchanting and haunting city of Mostar, the largest city in the country's southern region - Herzegovina. Although we arrived towards the end of the tourism season, the Old Town, bazaar and Stari Most, were buzzing with locals, visitors from Europe, the Middle East, Eastern Asia & Australia (and of course the cats and dogs that seem to rule the streets :) ).Their soft roars merge with the sounds of rivers that weave between + beneath city streets, the calls to prayer that echoes between mosques and the persistent quiet that infiltrates many small places in this city.
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![]() Mostar was a challenging city for me to visit. It was the first time I have entered a recently active war zone. The first time I've seen a landscape with marks of brutality and opposition in every view. When we first entered Mostar, our bus drove through tight streets of stone + cement homes and shop fronts. From my window I could see the walls race by, flat walls turned to lace with bullet holes. I had heard of the war in Bosnia, remember many young people joining my classes in high school as their families had to flee to other countries, but never could imagine the destruction that happened here - never expected a town still in ruins so many years later. So when we first arrived I was afraid - not sure that I was safe after the startling first views. I saw the graffiti on the walls screaming political or football inclinations, but dripping in ethnic tension. It seems as though the divisions between the Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs continues to permeate all realms of life. One day I saw a group of five or six men working on a concrete building on my street. A couple loaded gravel from the street into wheelbarrows, hooked them to ropes as others hauled them to the fourth floor to mix for concrete. They were repairing a battered building or finishing one of many that were frozen in construction many years ago. Their tools were so simple and their work seemed so slow and heavy. I saw the effort in recovery - a layer of Mostar that seems slow and heavy, recovering from so many wounds. ![]() It took an entire day to relax & realize that the blasted walls are not a sign to fear, but in fact a backdrop of a familiar kind of everyday life. The town mixes the picturesque and touristic Old Town with quiet mansion-laden residential areas, high-rises, river parks and buzzing university campuses, all with a mix of war-ruins within. It's a bizarre, sad and lovely town, filled with lively energy, good food, music, & smiling, resilient faces. The famous bridge of Mostar, the Stari Most, presents a wonderful story of the city on its own. It was first commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent, a massive feat of Ottoman construction - 90 feet long and 64 feet above the river's surface. It stood for four and a half centuries, connecting the east and west towns. Until in 1993 it was exploded during the Croat-Bosniak war, for strategy or intentional destruction of a shared culture. Many people (mostly Muslim Bosniaks) were stranded on the west side with little food, water and no electricity for months. A small cable bridge was raised in its place. In 2001 an international coalition sponsored the reconstruction of the Stari Most, hiring many experts in Ottoman-style construction to reproduce the bridge using many of the original stones. As the bridge was once destroyed in hate of ethnic differences it was raised again in hope of joining these diverse peoples. The struggle goes on... Om Nom Bosnian Foods :)![]() Finally! Talk of foods! Eating is really one of my favorite things to do - fortunately for me it is also a powerful way to experience a place, its history, its culture & environment and to share wonderful hours of pleasure with others. Nate and I have both traveled in Italy + were surprised at how much Croatian food reminded us of Italian cuisines: with so much thin, stone-fired pizza, & seafood-filled pasta and risotto available. However there are also many exciting varieties of sea-food stews, hammered meats and potato-y greens to expand the local food experience. Many of these delights are shown below and there is a brief discussion of the slow-home style foods we had in Solin in the last post. & Introducing a new segment!I gotta say, I think it's about time Nate joined this effort + began sending his important opinions about our travels into the internet abyss. For this effort we have devised a segment, which Nate will write about the topic most dear to his heart...and maybe mine too. So without further ado: Pizza Reviews by Nate!DUBROVNIK It all started while walking the walls of the old city in Dubrovnik. We spotted a quaint little restaurant below with a nautical theme and local dishes including cuttlefish risotto and ćevapčići, but we decided on the pizza. Cooked in a wood-fire oven, the pizza had a crispy thin crust - the Italian influence has done wonders on the local cuisine. Croatian cheeses tend to be a bit saltier than what we would normally find on a pizza but it pairs well with the ham and mushrooms that also topped the pizza. Overall, the pizza was quite satisfying after a long walking day; a good balance of flavor and crunch which set the bar high on our future expectations in our culinary endeavors. From our first meal we learned two things: 1. What a liter of wine looks like 2. More research needed to be conducted in regards to the local delicacies otherwise known as pizza What is pizza? Crust, Sauce, Cheese, Toppings? Or A slice of heaven. The second night we found ourselves back within the walls of old town after spending some time at the beach. We starting looking for a place suggested on Tripadvisor, but after getting somewhat lost in the web of streets we happened to walk by a pizzeria with a walk-up window for slices. But upon turning the corner and we found that Oliva also had open tables to eat at, and we did.
SPLIT We arrived in Split after spending 4+ hours on the road to find our apartment host Mirta at the bus station. We asked her the important questions about the city the location of the beaches, attractions and of course the best pizza place in town.
The restaurant is small, tucked into a little portion of excess space created by the old fortress wall and the backs of newer construction. The menu is full of interesting items but more importantly pizzas. Only a half-liter of wine this time we decided on the bacon mushroom and shrimp/scampi pizza with some leaves on it (arugula). The location removes you from the on going choreographed dance of people within the city streets and transports you to a far quieter place where you can just stare at an ancient wall and eat pizza just as many famous roman emperors probably did before me. The pizza arrives, an extra-large since who could say no to an upgrade for only 5 kuna (less than a dollar) and more pizza! The crust was a little thicker than in Dubrovnik, but the use of fresh and seemingly local flavor combinations made the meal: cured ham + Croatian cheese paired with a sweet tomato sauce showcases the flavors of fresh raw arugula (with authentic bug-chewed edges) and shrimp. Since it was the best meal we had had in Split so far it was instantly put on our list of backup restaurants if we happened not to find anywhere else to eat during our stay . . . and we may have returned the next day for another pizza. This time, for a late evening vegetarian pizza with mushrooms, onions, peppers and the surprise addition of corn. As almost expected now, another wood-oven baked crust, sweet sauce and toppings that are a bit al dente. Every pizza so far has had some sort of olive thrown on top sometime during the baking process making a warm olive with a cool pit (although the pitted olives do slow down the eating process). Flavor combinations and portion size definitely won me over in Split, and there are still a few more pizzas including a steak and mustard seed, which I hope to try some time soon. SOLIN Then there was Solin. Great place: if you like looking at a sprawling communist-style city skyline with a spotting of Mexican mafia-owned industries along the riverfront or cascading mountain ranges that reach out of mosquito infested pine forests. After volunteering for a few days, we went down the street to the local internet source and bar and spent the day enjoying air conditioning and secondhand smoke. But since the cafes do not serve food, we got hungry and decided to venture out to the Smurf themed fast food chain - Štrumf! Štrumf had a list of about ten different pizzas of which they actually possessed toppings for one - ham, cheese, and mushrooms. Made to order, it took less than 10 minutes to: top, bake and ask me if I wanted any mayo or ketchup (actual ketchup at this place) squirted on top from the sandwich bar they also had. I declined but opted for some corn since it was such an interesting addition to the pizza in Split. The taste was one you would probably expect of a Smurf-themed fast food chain, the crust was light and doughy, the cheese was goopy and it was warm so it pretty much satisfied the most basic needs one has after spending 8 hours in a Croatian internet café. It was not the best pizza I have had on the trip, but it still beat some of the gas station pizzas I have had in the past. So if you are in Solin and you need a place to eat, Štrumf pizza is probably just what you need, because - hey, you are in Solin. SPLIT - REVISITED We took a break from the natural scenery of Solin and returned to Split for a day. We arrived too early to head back to Maslina, so we decided to walk some of the city and check out the main beach area. The coast was shaped by rock formations, which break the waves and keep both the water and the mood of the sandy cove nice and calm. The coast transitions from sandy beach to cement as it wraps around the bay where a variety of restaurants and even a casino have established themselves. Luckily we discovered another pizza place after a day of swimming (and sea-bathing as explained in the last post). A seemingly American inspired place - Pizzeria Karaka, with pizzas named after movies and actors including DeNiro. We decided on the gorgonzola, blue cheese and chicken pizza and I also opted to add mushrooms.
And lastly, in remembranceNate's camera was a good little machine, could go underwater to 50 feet, made waaaay better panoramas than mine and had a pretty successful macro setting for the essential flower interior shots. However, for no reason that we understand, his camera - though just a year old - has ceased to function in anyway. So while we are grateful for it's time and are sad at it's loss, I must also say - don't buy the Nikon AW110. Here are some of shots from the cameras last recoverable moments:
Since earning my undergrad degree, I've been increasingly into voluntourism and the concept of giving while travelling. This idea does not rely entirely on the typical exchange of money for goods & services, but a more interwoven exchange of knowledge, labor and experience between hosts and travelling volunteers. It can be a way to travel near and far, connect with local people and learning from their efforts, expertise and life styles. To do this Nate and I set up a joint account on Workway.info - the website works very similarly to WWOOFing, which I've posted about in the past, in that it connects thousands of volunteers with thousands of their potential hosts around the world. The work and living situations vary greatly from host to host (which demands quite a bit of research and communication) but the basic rules are the exchange of labor hours for some kind of food and housing. So the first place we volunteered at on our trip is in a town called Solin, an industrial town full of cement plants and stone cutters that sprawls along the foot of a heavily quarried mountain range. We moved to a place called Nove Starine, an island patch of pine forest with huge magnificent stone carvings, wild-growing jasmine, passion fruit, blackberry and cherry tomato masses, and of course our host Ivan Tokic. Ivan is a self-proclaimed eccentric and former regional marble-carving celebrity turned off-the-grid/landfill squatter turned community-driven good energy generator and sustainability advocate. He's a man full of ambition and knowledge and Nove Starine is his biggest effort yet. Ivan works everyday to transform the land into "a multifunctional art park where travelers from around the world can gather for art projects, community events, agriculture and sustainability education, language practice and cultural exchange." It is a place that makes all things grow. daily life in solinOf course, we worked too![]() Before & After: views of the cleaned squash patch and new trellis for zucchini and gourds to hang from. On the hunt for soothing watersAfter days of mosquito attacks, ineffective deet applications, dirty work and camping we were reeeeaaaally hoping for a chance to shower. There is an outdoor shower at Nove Starine that consists of a wall on three sides made of dead stacked christmas trees with forest on the fourth side (really quite beautiful). The shower requires water to be dragged up the hill and poured into a bucket (for water pressure). While we were there, however the site was pretty low on water and besides, with all the bug welts coating my body, I wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of taking my clothes off in a pile of dead pine - seems like a foolish self-sacrifice to the mosquitos. So Nate and I started brainstorming how we could find waters to soothe our bodies before we cracked under the stress of dirt and itchiness. First trying (unsuccessfully) to navigate through the industrial coast of Solin to reach the sea, then getting a tour guide to help us there the next day, then remembering (brilliantly!?) that the public beaches in Split have showers (fresh water!!!!) built into the boardwalks and setting forth on a day of public bus rides and city walks to find a way to bathe. :) Solin walk-through + Volunteer Adventure Video! |
AuthorAn Upstate New York-grown, art history + Italian major turned organic farm volunteer turned Home Health Aide turned Landscape Architecture Grad student currently adventuring about the globe and taking far too many photos for one travel blog to handle. Archives
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