Part II: Athens to Zagreb 2006



We met as a group of forty on May 20 for an overview of the tour and then walked to the Plaka for a taverna dinner. The next morning we explored the Acropolis with on-site lectures of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, and the Odeon. As we were standing in front of the Parthenon, a twenty-something American passing by said to her friend, “So where is this Acropolis thing?” She had apparently missed the fact that this entire “high hill” was it, and she had been walking on the “sacred rock” for probably the last hour.

Judy, my roommate, and I continued on our own past the Agora to the Tower of Winds, and the wonderful little Museum of Musical Instruments. In the evening saw another changing of the-guard, this time in full-dress whites, as it was Sunday. Into the cathedral for the rich chanting and to see the Acropolis lit at night on the walk back to the hotel.

Out of Athens to Delphi, an impressive site, plus its museum with the Naxian Sphinx, and goddess figurines from when the site had been Gaia’s. A long drive in the afternoon to Kalambaka, where our hotel had a pool so I had a brisk swim before dinner.

The next day, admiring the landscape of Meteora, we drove up the mountain to visit the monastery of Varlaam with its Byzantine paintings and museum of treasures. All of the monasteries in the area are built on promontories, and in earlier times, the monks traveled from their rocky perch in a basket maneuvered with pulleys. Meaning ‘suspended in air’ the name Meteora came to encompass the entire rock community of 24 monasteries, of which only 6 survive today.

Continuing on through the state of Thessaly, I was missing the island landscape of Greece, as in this northern part of the country the geography changes to continental, and with a cursory glance we could have been in Germany. Long delay at the border as our guide and bus driver negotiated our entry into Macedonia, or rather the FYROM.

We left our hotel by Lake Ochrid the next morning for a tour of the town of Ochrid with visits to St. Sofia, the fortress, old streets and harbor. After lunch, we crossed the border into Albania: gorgeous mountain scenery interspersed with towns of rubble and poverty. In Tirana with its fancifully painted buildings to brighten the leftover Communist gray, we noticed hefty new SUV’s in contrast to the small cars almost everywhere else on the trip. Some thought it was a necessity for the potholed streets, but the feeling in the central part of the city was of a hustle toward capitalism with dealmaking around tables of different nationalities vying for a piece of the action.

A tour of Tirana the next day focused on the National History Museum with depictions of the suffering of the country, from earlier more glorious times to the grim Communist barbed wire and portraits of the persecuted and executed.

Through broken Skodra the next day, and a walk in Budva in the newly independent Montenego. It was a day of much driving and long border delays and a lunch stop at our first glimpse of the Adriatic. We arrived quite late in Dubrovnik.

Morning tour of the Old City with its statues, fountains, and walls. Wonderful to hear part of a Mass/sermon in Spanish: “El cuerpo es el templo del espiritu. Dice, ‘Entre, entre’”. I was sitting on a side street looking at brochures to decide which island ship to take the next day, when an ancient lady came out to invite me in for coffee. We went through our list of languages and had only sparse Italian in common. She showed me photo albums of her late husband, and her daughters living in Zagreb and the US, leaving her with only photos of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The most poignant moment came when she opened a drawer and brought out a ragged bundle of cloth. On the kitchen table, she unwrapped the cloth to reveal shrapnel from the bombing of Dubrovnik in December 1991. With pantomime and our few words in common, she acted out her fear as her house was bombarded, and closed with the words, “Mala Serbi, Mala Serbi”.

Throughout the entire trip I had, or took, opportunities to talk with people of various age groups and experiences; my cumulative impression was hope and renewal mixed with centuries-old hostilities hovering at the edges.

For our free day in Dubrovnik, I chose to go on a three-island trip to Kolocep, Sipon, Lopud. There were only seven of us on the launch, so we could move around and sample a well-watered herbal brandy called travarica. In Lopud we walked up to a café on a hill overlooking the church tower for a grilled fish lunch. I hiked to the other side of the island for a swim in the sea before the 30-minute hike through aromatic pines back to the boat and return to Dubrovnik.

Along the Adriatic Coast, stopping for lunch at the seaside town of Makarsha, and our first experience of the strong south wind known as Yugo. In Split we had a tour of the impressive Diocletian Palace with its wonderful Romanesque architecture preserved by being used as a garbage dump by those who built houses over it. There was a 3000 year-old Sphinx, a church, Venetian balconies, all juxtaposed inside the walls of the Palace. In the evening I walked back to see the lights along the Riva and illuminating the Palace.

The next day we stopped in Trogir, and then Zadar with its singing steps and Roman forum and marble streets. There was heavy rain by the time we reached the Plivice Lakes.

Last night we were worried that our day in Plitvice National Park would be a soggy one, but the day brought sun for our walk by the cascades and a boat trip on the lake, a bus up to the top, and a walk down past rivuleting cascades with sun glinting through canopies of trees – glorious.

Early departure the next day. Stopped in Opatija with its elegant hotels and waterfront where we experienced the north winds. At the Postojna Caves in Slovenia we took a little train into the underground caverns and chambers with formations of stalactites and stalagmites, a wonderland carved by nature over 3 million years. On to Lake Bled.

Though a bit rainy I took the optional tour the next morning to the island in the center of Lake Bled with its church and bell to make wishes come true, gift shop with bilberry liqueur, and beautiful scenery all around. By bus through an Alpine village to Lake Bohinj, seeing Slovenia’s highest mountain, Triglav, in the distance. We all had a tour of Bled Castle, before continuing on to Ljubljana and its nighttime illumination.

Walking tour of Ljubljana, and the many architectural contributions of Josef Plecnik. Back into Croatia to visit the capital, Zagreb, and have a boisterous farewell dinner complete with folk musicians and singing.