Iberostar Epidaurus Hotel Cavtat

... to keep those crumbling buildings standing so it just goes to show that home can be anywhere you make it.<br><br>I did make it back in time for my overnight bus on to Sarajevo, and I will let you know what I find in Bosnia and Hercegovina and its country in a country Republika Srpska. Srpska thinks it is a country but isn't recognized by anyone. The name means Serbian Republic, not to be confused with the real Serbia.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>

Another early departure to beat the tourist crowd! Actually, I wanted the leave early as I would be heading down the cost and could catch the sun rising over Dubrovnik and other coastal towns. It was beautiful. At the border, they asked for the car papers and recorded all sorts of information. I hope that was for my protection!! Anyway, I cleared immigration and now, off I go to explore this corner of Montenegro. The coastal road went ...

... by the airline. Getting to JFK for departure in mid August 2002 proved to be an almost insurmountable task in and of itself owing to my heavy luggage and everyone I asked to drop me at the airport that day had strongly held views against my going. Arnold Stark declined to bring me owing to his personal jealousies insofar as Darko and everyone else had one or another excuse rooted in the anti-American sentiment in Serbia at that time and danger involved. Undeterred, I finally ...

... room, then down to the Lounge where David Peterson, the cruise director is showing his 'home movies' -slides from his 16 years of working on cruise ships. After that was the vocalist Tambye Harvey singing a tribute to swing and Broadway music-as always, good entertainment. Another busy but fun day. Tonight we are docked at Dubrovnik, Croatia and have a very early tour there. Some of the ship guests went into town tonight but we didn't feel comfortable going there in the dark.

... zabral nas prosto do Kotoru, po drodze zapraszajac na cole i zatrzymujac sie w zapierajacych dech miejscach. W Kotorze czekaly na nas same niespodzianki. Starowka, calkowicie otoczona murami, byla absolutnie fenomenalna. Czules sie tam jak z powrotem w XV wieku. Bladzilismy uliczkami, napawajac sie widokiem kotow wylegujacych sie w sloncu i ...

... Gibraltar and shuddering to find everything suddenly priced in Pounds, though Kotor is lacking in English pubs. The old town is quite small, and for a few minutes, I ever wonder if I'm missing something. It must be packed with tourists in the summer, but during my visit, I see no one. It's becoming a theme. I wander the streets and squares for a while, but with no one to talk to, it gets boring more quickly than I would have liked. These last few months, I have met ...

... after blowing off all the dust. One thing I have to say about Dubrovnik is it is rich in culture. There are always multiple concerts going on in the Old Town on any given day. I mean, when is the last time I have been able to enjoy two concerts back to back? Both the 4th Annual International Choir Festival and the Dubrovnik Woodwind Trio concert within a 30 hour span. Well, now thinking about it, when did I start enjoying concerts?

... spent more time than usual looking for accomodation, b/c since we had planned on staying only 1 night, no one wanted to host us. They prefer hosting people who plan on staying 2-3 nights, understandably. So we were really struggling to find a room, until a woman offered up a room at her place, but raised the price by $5 euros since it was only 1 night... ok. we took it. So once we were settled, it was dark outside, and we never got the chance to admire the ...

... who gave me hotel splurge money for Christmas (Yes, I am a half-Jewish agnostic/atheist whose family exchanges gifts for Christmas - I'm sure Dante has a special place for me). In addition to wandering around and walking the walls, we went to a female war photographers exhibit. It covered not only the Balkan war(s), but also Iraq and Afganistan. Very moving, and a powerful reminder that man's inhumanity to man is almost always wrapped in ethnic ...

... handed our passports to a series of different Croatian/Montenegrian officials, got stamps and carried on walking a bit more and then got on another bus towards Kotor. One of the strange things about Montenegro is how it uses German Deutschmarks as currency. We knew this before we arrived, but what we didn't know was that there are absolutely no bank-machines, no places to use credit-cards and certainly, it seems no one would dare cash an American Express Travelers cheque!! We ...