Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and some reflections

July 28 through 31, 2022

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R.Tolkien 

... but in the maze of Sarajevo's Old Town, sometimes you really are lost 😅. This is our final day in Bosnia-Herzegovina (also our last in eastern Europe) so it seems an appropriate time for an update and some reflections on our trip so far. 

On Thursday, I was fortunate to book a tour to see a (small) piece of Serbia since the border is just a few hours from Sarajevo. The first thing to mention is that when you have a tour that is crossing borders, the tour guide should really check with everyone at the very start to make sure they have their passports (!). I had mine, but the other participant did not, and unfortunately the tour guide didn't ask that question until 20 minutes in. So... we had to turn around and drive all the way back, which definitely affected the timing of the whole day, and eventually made us miss lunch and the historic train ride 😞 I am a super patient tourist but that was annoying to say the least. We did spend the day exploring Serbia and the Republic of Srpska (which is in Bosnia but is largely made up of Serbians), seeing the town of Visegrad and its cool bridge, taking a boat ride on the River Drina (which was beautiful), and visiting some "touristic" villages. I'm not really a fan of "touristic" places but these were at least charming and pretty 😍

On Friday, Art gave his talk at the Fibonacci Conference so I went to give moral support (not that he needed it). I also heard 4 other talks (of which I understood very little) and got to meet more of the attendees. Art and I dipped out after the conference ended, skipped the final lunch (we had many meals with the group already) and walked around Old Town. We tried more local foods, bought some souvenirs (small ones, of course) and soaked up the sabbath vibe. Later we headed to another part of town to try a fancy Italian place that one of my tour guides recommended. After so many heavy meat meals, we were ready for some good pasta. Unfortunately we didn't realize we needed a reservation 😓 Fortunately we were able to make a reservation for the very next night (the benefits of staying awhile in one place). An added bonus was that we passed a procession of international folk dancers along the way which was super cool to see. This city seems to always have a festival or cultural event happening!

Yesterday was a full day tour of another part of BiH which included a long drive (way longer than Art expected), a view from a fortress (way more steps than Art expected), a visit to the historic town of Travnik (way more history than we expected), and a trip to the stunning Jajce waterfall (as beautiful as expected 💗). The day also included a lunch of "cevapi" which is a type of mini-sausage and pita that Bosnia is famous for and is supposedly especially good in Travnik. At this point in the trip, I was fully maxed out on meat so it was just okay 😐  We did end the long day with a fabulous Italian dinner that was only marred by the number of smokers in our restaurant. I still don't understand why there are so many smokers in this country and so many of them are teenagers 😕

We are now one month into our travels so it seems like a good time to offer some reflections.

• I have now seen 3 new countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia). Yay!
  
• Smoking is way too prevalent in eastern Europe.
• Although you can find vegetarian food in BiH, it's helpful to like meat (especially veal and lamb). 
• Drinking water is safe in Bosnia-Herzegovina and is readily available at fountains in the city center. Love that!
• BiH is way more multicultural than expected and has 3 presidents to represent its 3 ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks). By every tour guide's account, it's a great idea that doesn't really work.
• Seeing mosques, churches, and synagogues all in one area is amazing to experience (outside of Jerusalem).
• The weather has been much hotter than we thought. Haven't touched my fleece since Canada.
  
• It was definitely worth packing light and in packing cubes, and my travel vest, travel pillow, and sneakers have been extremely helpful. In retrospect, I could have managed with fewer clothes. 
• Happily, even after so many nights eating out, my clothes still fit 👍
  
• Most of my luggage weight is cameras, devices, batteries, and chargers (crazy!)
• We've kept our phones on airplane mode the whole time we've been away (except once at the Canadian border) 😜 Wifi has been prevalent and pretty efficient.
• We've stayed safe and healthy (although others from our various conferences have gotten COVID). I credit my diligent masking; not sure what to credit for Art's good health 😏

We miss our girls very much but we know they're managing without us. FaceTime and Zoom has helped us stay connected every few days. Tomorrow we leave for Copenhagen, Denmark for two weeks, where we hope it's a bit cooler. I expect we will have a lot more downtime and a chance to catch our breath.

Art and Deena

Fortress in Sarajevo
 

 

View from top of fortress

Jajce waterfall

Way more steps than he wanted to climb ;)

Visegrad bridge

Cevapi lunch

Rainbow in Sarajevo (outside our hotel)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

July 23 through 27, 2022

We arrived in Sarajevo in time for dinner and a walk around the city. We quickly realized that this town comes alive at night! We are staying near the Old Town which has blocks and blocks of pedestrian and shopping/restaurant areas. Dinner is typically not eaten until at least 8pm so we've had to adjust (dinner time for us is usually closer to 6pm) and there is no shortage of meat offerings (I'm certain a vegetarian can find what to eat but it would be a challenge). Lamb and veal and beef are very popular, the pita and all types of bread are far superior to what I've had in the US, and Bosnian coffee is served and savored everywhere. I think my digestive system is a bit overwhelmed with so much meat so we're working on finding alternative offerings 😐 Gelato and ice cream can always substitute for a meal, amiright?

Sarajevo prides itself on its blending of cultures from east and west. In the city center you can find mosques, churches, and synagogues all within feet of one another. From what we can tell (as tourists anyway), it has resulted in an amazing city of ethnic, religious, and culinary diversity. 💗

Art's conference (the 20th Annual Fibonacci Conference) started on Monday and we have had many opportunities to mix, mingle, and dine with the participants. (I'm clearly out of my scholarly league but everyone has been very nice.) I have been going on various tours trying to take in the vibe and atmosphere as well as the culture and history. We both went on a free walking tour the first day to get the lay of the land and learned a ton about Bosnia and Herzegovina's history, especially as it related to the World Wars and the recent Bosnian war of 1992-95. Since it was so recent, our tour guides often have very personal stories to tell of their experiences and survival. It's been sobering at times. 

I was fortunate to have a private tour of the Jewish history of Sarajevo and visited the only functioning synagogue in Sarajevo today. It was built in 1902 and now serves a congregation smaller than ours back in Pomona. I also had the chance to visit some farther-reaching areas in BiH, including Mostar, Kravice Falls, and Blagaj. We also got to see former Yugoslav President Tito's bunker, a Cold War era nuclear bunker designed to protect Tito and his officials. It was amazingly intricate and much more vast than we expected. So many destinations and bridges and waterfalls, and not quite enough time.

Bonus stuff: Art got to experience his first Tesla (see photo below), we both got to walk on the bobsled track from the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics (still a big point of pride for the Bosnians) and I got to see the Sarajevo hagaddah (well, a replica) and visit the second largest Jewish cemetery in Europe (opened in 1630 and second in size to Prague). 

We're still in Sarajevo for a few more days and I am planning to dip into Serbia for a day trip tomorrow. Here's hoping the temps drop down from the 90's 😅

Art and Deena

 Town center in Sarajevo (free water fountains)

 Local bridge (one of many)

 Art meeting Nicola Tesla (local hero)

 Sarajevo market

 Sarajevo gondola ride

 Kravice Lakes waterfalls

  Mostar bridge (rebuilt after Bosnia War 1995)

 Only functioning synagogue in Sarajevo

Croatia and Montenegro

July 19 through 22, 2022

We had visited Croatia a few years ago, on a side trip from Budapest, to briefly see its capital city of Zagreb. Since we had more time and flexibility on this trip, we decided to visit Dubrovnik and we are so glad we did. Dubrovnik is nicknamed the "Pearl of the Adriatic" for good reason. The water shimmers clear blue and aqua green, the Old Town is steeped in history, and the whole city has benefited from Hollywood's "Game of Thrones" filming (I really need to watch that sometime ;). We could easily have spent several more days or weeks (!) there exploring the city and the beaches and the outlying islands. 

We took a free walking tour of Dubrovnik, explored alleyways up and down the Old Town, and hiked all around the nearby island of Lokrum. I did a tour of a Croatian winery (which ages its wine under the sea!), Korcula Island, Ston village, and the Peljesac Peninsula, which was positively picturesque. We also took the opportunity to visit the neighboring country of Montenegro, a day tour that included a visit to Our Lady of the Rocks island and the beautiful Bay of Kotor. In spite of the heavy heat (which seems to be hitting northern Europe and the UK even harder) and the only-sort-of-air-conditioned bus, we enjoyed the tour 😰 At one point we even found a spot to dip our feet in the Adriatic which was a lot cooler than we thought it would be, a much appreciated feature.

One important note about Dubrovnik: it is built along a narrow but steep strip of coastline. Everywhere we went involved steps and more steps. I counted 200+ steps from our Airbnb down to the beach (and the same number to get back up again!). We're pretty sure we built up some good calf muscles this week 😅 In spite of the (unavoidable) steps, we were very pleased with our Airbnb, nearby food offerings, and of course, solid wifi. We also got to try the best gelato and the best ice cream in Croatia (we know they were the best because the signs said so 😉). There is no shortage of gelato and ice cream in this town. See below for a collection of photos 🍦

We bid farewell to Dubrovnik this morning and flew to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina. Pretty quick flight this time, much shorter than the previous one from Calgary to Dubrovnik, and no time zone changes! We settled into our hotel and explored the local dinner offerings and the old town / nightlife. Sarajevo seems to be quite a popular hot spot which we'll explore during this week. I'm sure we'll also learn much more about its complex distant (and recent) history. 

Thank you ("hvala" in Croatian) for reading!

Deena and Art

  Dubrovnik views

  Dubrovnik coastline

  Old Town area

  Best ice cream in Croatia

  Best gelato in Dubrovnik

  Picturesque alleyways

 

 

 

 

Glacier National Park (Montana) to Dubrovnik, Croatia

July 15 through 18, 2022

Glacier National Park is an amazingly beautiful place and certainly can't be covered in just 4 days but we sure did our best to try! We were fortunate that the Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park opened up just two days before our arrival (it had been closed because of too much snow 😲). Thanks to the Red Bus tours, we were able to see quite a bit of the eastern and southern parts of the park without having to navigate the roads by ourselves. 

We did have a rental car though (our one and only time this year) and one day we drove to Many Glacier to explore and hike. We wound up on a trail to Apikuni Falls which was only 0.8 miles but with 650 ft in elevation gain it felt a whole lot longer 😅. I'm happy to report that the view at the end was definitely worth it (see photo below). The most exciting part of the hike happened on our return when we saw many folks in the parking lot excitedly waving to us. How nice and friendly that was! As it turned out, they were actually waving to warn us about the large bear that was just 15 ft to our right lurking in the trees. Although we didn't see the bear, we saw it on the cameras of those nice friendly folks, and obviously we made it back safely (but just bear-ly!). 

Other highlights of Glacier included trying bison burgers and huckleberry ice cream, standing on the Continental Divide, walking on snow in mid-July, viewing wondrous waterfalls, and enjoying long hours of daylight (past 10pm). Finally it was time to head north back to Calgary for our flight to Croatia. We made sure in advance that the border crossing was open (see previous blog post for that snafu) even though their road signs are still wildly unhelpful. This time we encountered a different issue at the border: we hadn't filled out our ArriveCan app for this visit (the one that seemed so irrelevant last week 😑) so we had to turn around and re-enter the US and then fill it out (with spotty wifi no less) and then re-enter Canada. And all of this had to be done in short order to make it to our flight on time. Just a teeny bit stressful. All went well, and thanks to no traffic, we made it (and by the way that was the last and only time that we plan to be in the US this year)!

Our long day of travel involved flying 8.5 hours from Calgary to Amsterdam, a layover for 2 hours, then 2.5 more hours of travel to Dubrovnik whose time zone is 8 hours later than Calgary. We started our day in Calgary at 8am on Sunday and landed in Dubrovnik at 1pm on Monday. Good thing we're so young 😄 and flexible with traveling. Even with all that, we did a bit of exploring this afternoon/evening, taking a gondola ride to see the view of Dubrovnik from above, enjoying some local cuisine, and finding our way to the Old Town. (Disclaimer: we're not Game of Thrones fans but we're told much of their filming took place here... maybe we should watch an episode??) We're looking forward to seeing more of this Gem on the Adriatic in the next few days, including some side trips further afield.

Art and Deena

 Red Bus tour at Glacier

 

 

 

 

Waterfall at Glacier

 

 

Better view of waterfall

 

 

 

 

 

 Glacier National Park sights

  

Banff to Calgary to Montana

July 12 through 14, 2022

After so many days of sightseeing in Banff, we finally got a chance to relax in Calgary. Thanks to an old friend of Art's, we had a lovely lunch near Prince's Island and got an insider's tour of (part of) the city. We enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and the fact that most of the tourists were at the annual Calgary Stampede (we decided to pass on that for Covid safety 😉). One of the day's highlights was, believe it or not, the chance to do laundry (for free) at our hotel. The timing was perfect!

Wednesday morning we headed south toward the Canada-US border. On the advice of a local taxi driver in Banff, we decided to stop off at Waterton Lakes National Park near the border in Alberta. We loved the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a beautiful waterfront UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the snow-capped mountains and blue-green lakes. Added more to my hundreds of photos 📷

Next stop was the Canada-US border crossing at Piegan / Carway. We arrived around 7pm, only to discover that the border had closed at 6pm (who knew? certainly not Google). No worries, we would just need to continue on to the next border crossing... which turned out to be over 90 miles away! It made for a very long night of driving and we finally pulled into our (spooky dark) motel at 11pm, completely exhausted. We were lucky the motel was still open; the check-in desk was only staffed until 9pm but they left the key for us in our door (somehow that was safe?). So, if you are ever planing to cross the border, you have been forewarned: be sure to double-check the hours of operation 😞 Our motel is a far cry from the top "notch" hotels we had during our Canadian Rockies journey but hey it has wifi (which made Art very happy!) even though we're out in remote Montana.

Happily today was filled with wonderful scenic drives, winding hikes, and gorgeous vistas around Glacier National Park (which allowed us to use our National Parks pass one last time this year, and which had been on my national parks bucket list for a long time!). We got to experience temps high in the 80's, and then down in the 60's, as we climbed in elevation along the Going-to-the-Sun Road up to Logan Pass. And we got to touch snow in July! Apparently there's snowfall in northwest Montana almost every month of the year. See below for a small selection of my photos. We are glad to have two more days here to further explore the beauty of this national park. 🌲

Deena and Art

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Waterton Lakes National Park

 

 

 

 

Glacier National Park

 

 

Vancouver to Banff (Rocky Mountaineer)

July 7 through 11, 2022

"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein

I would add to Einstein's quote that there's no better place to experience this feeling than the Canadian Rockies. We were fortunate to have one more day in Vancouver during which we explored Granville Island, Stanley Park (again), and Lynn Canyon Park suspension bridge and hiking trails. Then we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer train with the rest of our tour group, where the first class service and dining rivaled the outstanding scenic views. It seemed like every mile of the 500-mile two-day journey was more beautiful than the previous one. We were very lucky to have amazing weather and impeccable service throughout. And they fed us so often, having to wear our face masks was less of an issue 😬 See below for a few of the (many hundreds of) photos I took.

We arrived in Banff (again) a couple of days ago and were reminded how charming it is! I could imagine living here, were it not for the brutal winter months. Our waiter at breakfast today said it's not so bad in March or April when it gets up into the 30's and 40's (Farenheit) 🥶 We finally got to try to famous Cow's ice cream which we were told is a Canadian favorite and the best ice cream in the world (maybe?). Art especially appreciated their punny ice cream flavors (wowie cowie, mooey gooey, caramel moochiato, among others).

Yesterday we opted off our tour and took an amazing excursion to the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park. Not only did we take in some amazing views, we also got to walk on the Athabasca Glacier and we saw the bluest-greenest lake ever (Peyto Lake). Breathtaking! More photos below. Today included a ride up the Banff Gondola for some 360 degree views around Sulphur Mountain. All I can say is wow! See (even more) photos below 😁

Heading to Calgary tomorrow where we have a day to catch our breath before heading down to Glacier National Park. O Canada, you didn't disappoint!

Deena and Art

Rocky Mountaineer train
 

 

Train interior

Rounding the curve

Lake views

Mountain and lake views

Snow-capped mountains in July :)

 

 

Day 6 and 7 (Banff to Vancouver)

July 5 and 6, 2022

The past couple of days, following the Renaissance conference, allowed us the opportunity to see more of Banff and then Vancouver. We are lucky we'll be back in Banff after the Canadian Rockies train trip because the weather conditions in Banff this week went from summer and sunny to fall and rainy in a hurry. We hope our planned gondola ride will happen with better viewing weather next week 🌞

Our flight to Vancouver was smooth and, happily, uneventful. We arrived in time for an absolutely wonderful dinner at Vij's featuring creative Indian cuisine. We also had a chance to finally catch our breath and reorganize our luggage (special shout-out to the airport security woman who felt the need to check out every inch of my overstuffed backpack 😑).

Today was a free day that allowed us to explore the beautiful Vancouver coastline and seawall and Stanley Park. Although overcast at first, the day brightened up and our hours-long walk was quite delightful. I've included some photos below.

This evening we switched to the tour's hotel, the Fairmont, and we are living large 😎. It was also the first time we got to meet our companions for the train journey, about 40 folks from several different university alumni groups. We signed up through Johns Hopkins but apparently the groups combine with others as needed. This is their first post-Covid Canadian Rockies train trip so it's all very exciting. We learned that Canada requires the tour participants to be masked on the train; this elicited massive groans from the entire group (except me). However, you do not need to be masked while eating/drinking so I'm expecting the group to eat/drink throughout the entire 8-hour train journey (!). I guess we'll see how that goes 😏

We're looking forward to a Vancouver city tour tomorrow and more free time to explore (my favorite part!). Stay tuned.

Dinner at Vij's in Vancouver

Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park

Vancouver coastline in Stanley Park

Deena at Stanley Park

Vancouver Farmer's Market

Vancouver Pride (view from our hotel)