Day trip to Mostar in Bosnia

We headed off in a minivan for a day trip which first took us to Pocitelj, an ancient town with a fortress built in the 15th century. We were told a story about the mosque which had to be rebuilt after the Croatian Bosnians destroyed it in the war. There was a lot of ethnic cleansing around this region and I have to say I had a wee cry just thinking about how appalling it must have been to be here. We had a brief stay here before heading off again to Mostar.

During the Turkish rule, this city was an important trade centre and there are several mosques which show this influence. Mostar is the city where east meets west. One side of the bridge is Muslim and the other side is Catholic, so the city is split in two. The churches try to outdo each other. The Catholics built their spire to make sure it was higher than the mosque and they placed a cross high on the hill that can only be seen from the Muslim side! So there is a simmering tension. Also evident are the bullet holes and destroyed buildings, the old cars and a place that seems to be stuck in time. We watched a movie that showed the bombing of the bridge during the war and it was incredibly disturbing.


For lunch, we went to a little cafe which was clearly where the locals go. Sitting across from us were a group of locals who were not interested in our smiles, they just stared. It was a little uncomfortable at first but we just ploughed on. The man who took our order and who had only a few words in English was great. We got by with gesturing and then he would just call us 'New Zealand.' Terry ordered the mixed grill which included a local dish cevapcici which is meat like a sausage. It was delicious. Grace's salad (pictured) was a little tragic though but she just got on with it then nabbed the chicken from terry's mixed grill. At the end of our meal, our man said "New Zealand? then gestured at the food to which we responded with thumbs up, smiles and nods of the head. Obviously, none of those gestures was obscene in this culture. We all parted happily after he tried to explain to us what the name of his business meant. Hmmm, not quite getting it but it had something to do with a door and the street.

Our final destination was a trip to Medugorje which is a place of much significance to Catholics for it is where the Virgin Mary appeared to a group of children. Now the place is a significant pilgrimage site. However, we had an hour to explore and could not go up the mountain to the exact location where she made her appearance. Instead, we wandered aimlessly through the town past many, many shops filled to the brim with tacky religious souvenirs. One couldn't help questioning whether someone had a very clever marketing strategy... still, each to their own. We got ice cream and waited to be picked up again. No photos. There was nothing to take a photo of. hang on, I found one. enough said.

The journey home was through some pretty lovely scenery. At times it could have been New Zealand we were driving through with its lake surrounded by mountains and trees. The main difference would have to be in the sparseness of the mountains and in how dry they were. I loved how dramatic they looked behind the little villages with their orange roofs. We passed grapevines, fishermen propped up on the riverbank, mandarin orchards and all the while Grace was giving Harry Potter a thrashing; book two down, now where to get book three?

Cilipi (pronounced chilipi)

Day four was a trip to Cilipi. It was a short minivan ride with a tour to get to this little village. It really did not have much to skite about except for the traditional folk show it puts on every Sunday which is exactly why we came. Time to get a taste of the culture with the costumes and song. Clever marketing brings many tourists to this place and they sell their wares which are often little bags of home-grown lavender, or hand-embroidered cloth. Terry and I sampled the grappa and it was nasty! There were two kinds and both were equally difficult to consume. Anna likened it to 'rocket fuel' and that description is so apt. Then I found the sweet wine and so had a few of those and then a few more for good measure. We sat sampling while listening to a folk group. I so enjoyed their music that I bought their CD! And everyone back home will be treated to it. I did try to upload a video to give you a taster but it didn't work. The dancing was also a treat to watch although the music was a little repetitive as were the dance steps, the odd movements were amusing and in particular one dance where the males stole another male's dance partner.

Scenes from mallorca

Dazzling Dubrovnik

Today we arrived in lovely Croatia. It was a smooth flight despite Ella and me only just escaping being decapitated at the neck by a murderous psychopath who was on the plane with us. Mum and dad, however, thought of him as ‘just a friendly guy who wanted to talk. Our way to our apartment was up millions of slippery marble stairs that were all facing a 90-degree angle to our accommodation. It was not a lot of fun dragging our bags up and we were breathing pretty heavily by the time we reached the top. Our apartment is an awesome old house that has 3 stories, 3 bedrooms and a washing machine which was a bonus. We made ourselves at home and went down to the Buza bar just down the path for a drink. It’s a bar that’s hanging off the cliff face to accommodate the handful of people who go cliff jumping every day. Today happened to be the day that a very nervous, inexperienced English dude would jump. He was a bit unsure at first but with Ella and me (along with his friends) yelling at him to jump and mum yelling at him not to he took the plunge (about a 5-second  free fall) and came back up telling us that he thought he had broken his arse. About 5 minutes later a pod of dolphins cruised past, so that was cool to see.

We hired out kayaks on our second day and cruised around Lokrum Island which was close to where we were staying. We stopped off to have lunch and went to investigate what was on the island. We could tell by the sound that there were peacocks but we were surprised when we came across an outside gym. We had a go on the equipment and then visited a small lagoon for a quick dip. Finally, we kayaked the rest of the way around the island. We were almost back when we found the nudist beach. Nuff said. We paddled past slower, sorry faster than usual and swam in the beautiful blue-green, very salty water before returning the kayaks.  in the afternoon we took a casual stroll to explore outside the walled city and we fell upon this wee cafe with bathtubs for couches. Soooo we just had to have a drink there. All about food, in the evening we decided on an Italian restaurant and the pasta was divine. I had an anchovy and caper pasta with red wine to wash it all down. Very tasty.

On day three we took the cable car to the top of the hill framing the old city. The view was awesome from up the top. You could see from one end of the island to the other and everything in-between. The orange roofed houses were quite a contrast to the turquoise water. Mum and Dad went to the war museum at the top which was in an old fort that Napoleon had built. There were visible signs of where the bullets and bombs had hit. Mum said it was good and quite emotional. Ella and I sat in the restaurant and had a drink and looked at the view, which just happened to be one of the waiters.

Mallorca

Day one
In Mallorca, we were greeted by Leo, blue sky and sunshine. It was so wonderful to be driven along so we could look at the view; the beautiful blue sea with yachts majestically bobbing, the beaches surrounded by clay houses of all shapes with their brick tiled roofs. We settled in and were then taken to a local beach for a swim. The girls were quite surprised that topless women were commonplace and they were mortified when I suggested that I would go topless also! The water was cool and perfect after sitting in 29-degree heat. Surprisingly it is not an uncomfortable heat and I thought it would be.

After the swim, we went out on a boat that Leo was taking for a test run which was pretty cool, especially when we could look back at the land with its huge cathedral dominating the skyline. The marina has many huge superyachts owned by famous people and definitely those from a world very different from our own. Still, we managed to pretend that we belonged on this boat. Then off for a drink in a bar like no other. Fabulous location and once again I sampled Sangria, followed by another then a Mojito. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time… when in Spain… this bar was right on the waterfront and you had to either get there by boat or walk along the rocks a little way. A few jet skis and runabouts ferried people from their yachts to the bar. When the heat became too much for us we plopped into the water! We are staying in the hills in a place called Calvia. The evening was spent on the deck gathered around a large table with friends, food and wine. Dinner was served at 11pm I might add! A perfect start to our stay in Mallorca.

Day two

This was to be a shopping day so we headed into Palma to the ‘cool’ shops, having been informed by a Spanish lassie age 13 who speaks very little English. With our very little Spanish, it makes for some entertaining silences and mime sessions. The girls have not managed to overcome their embarrassment at not knowing the language and so will not attempt to communicate. However, I’m right in there making a complete ass of myself but at least we are getting somewhere. The shopping was not very successful on the purchasing front but I loved walking around the streets as I knew I would. I love the windows and the shutters and the flowers and the cobbles and tan walls and very narrow streets where the houses seem to lean into each other. The street performers here are pretty original in their costuming also. We have seen statues, men suspended in the air and the invisible man. I bought shoes! And they are like plastic and an orange/red colour which is hard to imagine I’m sure.  I still haven’t found the perfect pair but I think you’ll still appreciate these Moira.

After lunch we went swimming again; in and out for a few hours before heading home with food for our night's meal which was again a very late affair. Next door a family were celebrating a birthday and it was lovely to get a sneak view into the lives of the locals. There were about thirty people sitting around tables in a courtyard having their meal which of course didn’t begin until after 9pm. They were singing and laughing and it was all very movie picture perfect.

Day three

Today we headed further into the hills to a winery which is only open for two hours. The surrounding area is rocky and fairly dry and barren with shrubs and some houses dotted around. Some houses do not have electricity and so the fires were burning to heat the water. The winery was built into the side of the hill and it was cool in temperature and cave-like. We sat and ate olives, cheese and Palma ham and drinking the local white wine. A tour took us to Port d’Andratx and then on to Santa Ponsa where my uncle was moored. In the evening Leo’s lovely family arrived and we again sat around the table on the deck and enjoyed the food and the company.

Day four

Today Terry, Leo and I headed into Port Portals for a coffee and croissant before heading to the beach for a swim while the kids were still sleeping. Amazing that there were many others on the beach enjoying the morning sun and it was not yet 10am. On the way back to the house we had a quick visit to a local market, made a small purchase plus sampled buffalo and sheep cheese which was delicious. We hired a car today and went to Santa Ponsa again to join Doug and Josie on their yacht. We spent a fabulous day diving off the boat and getting to know each other. Enough said; it was perfect. We finished the day off with an adult meal out, tasting some Mallorcan tapas: garlic prawns, green peppers, mushrooms, chicken liver and vegetables, beer, local red wine and an aniseed/fennel drink. Mmmmmmmm

Sprint through France

You know you’re back in France when you suddenly can’t read anything and it’s just a few hundred degrees hotter. We spent the day looking around the Normandy war sites. We went to Melville which is the site where the Germans were based during D-day WW2. It was very interesting looking at all the bunkers where they spent so much of their time and to get a sense of the lives lost. Just before we left mum and dad went and watched a sound and light show that makes you feel like bombs are getting dropped around you. Then we drove to Mont St Michel. That was disappointing because it has become such a tourist attraction now, so we decided not to go up to it but to look at it from far away. We then went and had baguettes at a roadside park before driving to our first campsite where we would be staying for a night. These campsites were great because they had pools and there weren’t very many people there so it was a nice contrast because we were usually surrounded by people.

La Rochelle had real character and it is definitely a place that is worth more time than we had for it. Again it is a town that used to be a walled city with the entrances to the harbour having fortifications. Living by the sea really added pressure to the citizens of these towns! We wandered around and it was hot and we were sick of travelling in the car. I had a great idea to travel via the coast so we could see some charming French farmhouses and villages. Yes, we did see some but they were few and it did not compensate for the slower journey not on the motorway. I was happy enough but the rest of the family… La Rochelle has beautiful buildings in the sandstone colour, cobbled streets again and a market. We had a poke around and Terry bought some duck, venison and beef salami (for your benefit Terry W!) and we bought fresh vegetables.

Mum has found her favourite place; an old medieval town with little buildings and shutters galore! Sarlat was the only town that almost made her cry. (Not hard to do mind) We spent ages wandering around all of the hidden cafes and letting mum take thousands of photos. Sarlat had a festival where the games they played were games from the past. They even had geese cooking much to my disgust and people dressed in traditional clothes. We eventually stopped at a crepe restaurant in a lovely courtyard and Ella, Mum and Dad got one each. After a few more hours of looking at houses and wandering around streets we drove off to the second place that we would stay, that had a bigger pool.

Our final French town was Collioure which is touted as the St Trope of the south. Again it had the fortifications and bags of character. Terry and I wandered around the fortification in the hills, situated right on the cliff. We swam in the med and it was our first swim and quite delicious. Ice cream followed and an ooh and ahh at more buildings and at some pastries which we felt the need to sample.

Today we crossed the border from France into Spain and arrived at the wonderful Barcelona! It’s not the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen but it was cool all the same. We went out for tea at our camping site and sampled a few Spanish meals. Mum sampled sangria again! The next day we got the bus into the town and spent the first half of the day on the open-top bus tour. Our first stop was at Pueblo Espanol which showcases Spanish architecture through the years. While there we listened to a choir singing which was rather sweet. We got back on the bus after a couple of painful hours and saw the Olympic stadium and the Barcelona football stadium and the Sagrada Familia and then decided to go for lunch. We were stopped by a man holding a sign about a shop that sold baguettes so decided to go there. Once we had ordered we got three Grande (big) drinks and one small. You can probably imagine the looks on our faces when our drinks came out in glasses that were just a bit bigger than a jug of beer. We reluctantly drank them and waited on the bill. Some people would say that 120 New Zealand dollars (70 euro) was a lot to pay for 4 little sandwiches and 4 drinks but we just laughed and let it go, because what else could you do. We then walked to Gaudi’s house in the park and looked around there until the heat became unbearable.