Joanne Kuzma trip to Vietnam 2011

On Wednesday I flew from Manchester to Ljubljana, Slovenia on Adria Airlines. It is the national carrier of Slovenia and was about a 2.20 hour flight. We met our tour group and had a nice buffet dinnet at M Hotel (which was a bit far from the city centre, but fine).

On Thursday we first drove about 50 minutes to the Postojna Caves. The first and last 20 minutes was a train ride through the caves and it was very nice. Then we had about a 1 hour walk and it was just beautiful. But, they do not allow pictures in most parts of the cave (some guy took a few and the tour guide really chewed him out in front of everyone and threatened him with a 500 euro fine. I don't know if they actually did - but it was enough to ensure that the rest of the group took care not to take pictures). Later we passed to Croatia and had a very scenic drive down the coast to Zadar. The walled peninsula-town contains Roman ruins and 16th century defensive walls. We walked to the Western Quay where they have a very interesting feature called the Sea Organ. This unusual organ is powered by the wind and the sea. When the sea pushes air through the whistles, a series of melancholy chords are played, with the sound emerging through the perforated stone openings. You really have to hear it to believe it - something very different! We visited the site of the old Roman forum - there are a few broken pillars still there. We went in the Church of Saint Donat (round pre-Romanesque church dates from around the 9th century). Although its empty inside, it has great acoustics.

On Friday we had another long but spectacular drive to Split (Croatia's second largest city). The highlight was a visit to Diocletian's Palace (built about 295-305 AD). I have always wanted to visit this, and it was different than I expected. Most of the above-ground part is now a commercial and residential centre. We saw the Mausoleum where Diocletian was originally buried, although his body is no longer there, as it was taken over and converted to a church. The best part of the complex was the basement halls -cavernous cellars form the substructure of the Palace. As it was dark - it was difficult to take really good pictures. Part of the cellars are directly under people's homes, so they cannot excavate a lot more.

On Saturday we could take a 1 hour tour of Dubrovnik and have a rest of the day free. That did not sound terribly exciting, so I opted to book a full-day tour to Montenegro with 3 other members of our group (along with others from various hotels). It was a chance to get to visit another country that I probably would not have gotten to, so I definitely took that option. We first drove past the island of Our Lady of the Rocks and arrived in Kotor. We had a 1-hour sightseeing tour and time to walk around. There was a small farmers market selling fruits and veggies outside of the wall. I was going to buy some fruit, but was totally grossed out as there were so many flies, bees and flying creatures all over the food. Not very sanitary. We then drove past a resort on St. Stefan peninsula - very pretty, and drove to Budva for another short tour. I felt they gave us way too much 'free' time in Montenegro, as the towns were extremely small and not much to do. But, it was worth seeing.

Entrance to Postojna Caves

Train inside caves

Joanne on train insides caves

Zadar - Sea Organ

Zadar - interesting solar panels that you walk over

Zadar - site of Roman Forum and Church of Saint Donat

Split - guide showing how Diocletian's Palace looked like

Underground part of Palace

Underground part of Palace under homes.

Bust of Diocletian

Mausoleum of Diocletian (Cathedral St. Domnius)

Town of Kotor

Walls of Kotor

St. Stefan peninsula

Sunday we crossed the border from Coatia fro Bosnia-Herzegovina and first stopped at the old Turkish garrison town of Mostar. This town was really devistated by the recent war and there were many building that still had many bullet holes and damage. We also saw graves of many of the young men who died in the war, and when we drove - there were still many places with land mines. We visited a historical Turkish house where a family still lives, and it was interesting hearing about the cultural aspects and how the people live. The old town was very interesting with the famous Stan Most Old Bridge which was rebuilt (we saw someone diving off the bridge). On a side note, I had the best gelato in Mostar - coconut! I also found the pistachio and kiwi flavors wonderful as well.

After Mostar, we drove on to Sarajevo, where they had the 1984 Winter Olympics. We saw the spot where Archduke Ferdinand was assasinated and caused the start of World War I. Overall, most of the group just did not care for the atmosphere of the city and were rather glad to go on.

On Monday we drove back across the border to Croatia (all the border crossing were very quick and easy). We checked into the hotel (free PCs with Internet access!) and then had a 2.5 hour visit to the Plitvice National Park. When I originally read the tour agenda, I was not really that enthused as I thought it was just a dull walk in the woods. But I was really surprised and thought the Park was absolutely spectacular. They build walking trails around the lakes and there were georgeous waterfalls. The air temperature here was also very pleasant. After the entire week of 90+ degree weather, it was nice to be about 80. The colors of the Park water were just awesome -vivid blues and greens - better than what you could do with Photoshop! The only sad thing was that the guide told us that a few years ago there used to be trout in the lakes. However, someone introduced carp and now all the trout are gone because of the invasive carp species.

Mostar - old Turkish house.

Well in Turkish house

Inside of house

War damage to building

Old Bridge

Sarajavo - site where assassin killed Archduke

Bridge where Archduke was assassinated

Plitvice National Park

Walk in Park

Joanne at waterfall in Park

Walk in Park

Tuesday we drove to Zagreb (the capital of Croatia) and enjoyed a walking visit. St. Stephans Cathedral was interesting, and we walked to the hilltop distrist - Gornji Grad and the medieval quarter - Gradec.

There were some intersting museums - like the 'Museum of Broken Relationships', but in this case, there was not a lot of time to see everything. It was a very nice city, but then we were on to the capital of Slovenia - Ljubljana. I was extremely impressed with this city - extremely clean, with interesting architecture (both modern and older). They are doing some wonderful thing like providing electric stations (free) for electric cars. This is a very forward-thinking government that is doing much for sustainability. There was a really interesting 'milk station' by the market where you could put in your bottles and fresh milk would come out - that is certainly something I have never seen before.

Zagreb - Interesting restaurant name

Zagreb - icon

Zagreb - St. Mark's Church with beautiful roof

Ljubljana - very modern trash recepticles

free electric stations for electric cars

Milk station

River view