A Croatian long weekend

[OnlyMark]

We’d decided to have a short relaxing break for the May bank holiday in Croatia. Nice that we can reach the coast in just a few hours. For example, Dubrovnik is four hours away and this time we weren’t even going as far as that.
There is a small coastal area in Bosnia at a town called Neum which is the only access to the sea. It came from some agreement between ruling powers in the middle of the 19th Century (as far as I remember).
This made life difficult for anyone wanting to travel north from Dubrovnik along the coast because they had to enter a different country for a short while (about 8km/5 miles) before returning to Croatia.

But after many years of debate and money finding, a bridge was built which connected a large Croatian peninsula back to the mainland.
So now, driving north, you can travel onto the peninsula, go along it bypassing Neum and Bosnia and take the bridge back to the mainland. We took the bridge route onto the peninsula where we stayed for a few days.
The weather wasn’t very promising after the first day so we decided to take a short ferry to an island proper to do a bit of sightseeing before the rain came. Fortunately, and as happens quite often, the forecast wasn’t accurate.

Our main aim that day was to have a wander round an old town called Korcula. The island has the same name.
I took a few photos as we wandered but nothing much. It’s a pleasant walk in and out, up and down but a quite typical town from the Middle Ages.
First a 20min journey on a ferry -




Parked up outside town and meandered -




























We then just went to a few little villages on the coast on the island to further stretch our legs and do nothing much but have lunch and so on -








Took the ferry back to the peninsula and called it a day. Croatia has more islands than you can shake a stick at and subsequently, many ferries as well. Most are quite short journeys and many only allow foot passengers. This one, 20 minutes or so, cost 3 Euro per person and 9 Euros for the car. So easily affordable.
“The Croatian archipelago lies along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and has 1 244 natural formations, of which 78 are islands, 524 are islets, 642 are cliffs and reefs. 49 of the islands are permanently inhabited, all of which are located relatively close to the shore.”



The next day we went for a proper walk.

[Voy]

Mark, here is a link to a lot about Korcula -- from WWII - Fitzroy MacLean ( who is one of my heroes ), and with David Stirling founding the SAS, and probably the main model for James Bond !

[OnlyMark]

No link Voy.

[OnlyMark]

We had rented a small house in an old village called Mali Ston (mali means small) which was just a couple of kilometres from its bigger namesake, Ston.
Both were connected by a series of defensive walls and each had a fortification and walls around the villages.
In total the length of the defensive walls are reputed to be second only the the Great Wall of China. Good marketing but inaccurate. I know of at least one place in India with longer.
Nevertheless, they were long and you can walk a few sections of them.

We started off walking out of our village -




Turned onto the road heading to Ston -




Nice sunny morning and a decent footpath at the side of the road. On the side of the hill you can see the wall we will walk back on -




Carried on and soon ended up in the village -

[OnlyMark]

This is the beginning and the wall heads off to the right -




There are two more walls to the left -




Better idea of them -




Nice house decoration -




We begin the walk proper. Advisable to take a hat and water. In the summer, where it can be 35 to 40 degrees, probably not such a good idea and I’ve read of those who’ve turned back -




Quite steep going up -




A quick look back at Ston -




Still onwards and upwards -




Several views back as we eventually get to the top -

[OnlyMark]

A good view of the salt pans, more or less the main reason for the fortifications in order to monitor and protect them. At one time this area was the major producer of salt in medieval times -




The section crossing the side of the hill is reasonably flat but has many “trip hazards” as the best I can put it -






Coming into view is Mali Ston from where we set off -




We saw the fortress in Ston and this is the one in Mali Ston -




The wall back down. Suffice to say it wasn’t so easy in the ankles, knees and calves at my age -




View over to the mainland Croatia -

[OnlyMark]

Down and down. Same height as the up and up we did -






Eventually all the way down to the fortress -




Looking back up again where we came from -




A gentle walk back through Mali Ston and, would you believe it, back along the road to Ston where we had a late lunch and a wander. Ston fortress -














Many houses had this set up by the windows where they could be shuttered either against storms I suppose or maybe also for defensive purposes, no idea for sure but I never saw any actually with the shutters in place -

[Voy]

These are wonderful ( as always !!) and , oops -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclean_Mission

[Voy]

In one of the ones, as you come back to "your" village, in the water to the left are tons of buoys (?) - are they part of the salt thing too?

[OnlyMark]

Fish farms Voy I think.

[sophie]

You earned your lunch!

[OnlyMark]

Certainly did.

[OnlyMark]

The next day was another wandering with no destination in mind so photos were few and far between -








I’ve been told this little harbour featured in Game of Thrones. No idea myself -




That was it for Croatia but on the way back and into Bosnia we stopped for lunch at a scenic restaurant. One thing that struck us straight away were the prices for a meal were half as expensive as in Croatia -










We also stopped at a place called Jablanica. In 1943 the Axis powers became concerned about the Allies launching an offensive in and through the Balkans, so they set out to destroy the Partisan movement led by Tito. They planned to launch an offensive in three stages, overall called Case White/Fall Weiss. After two stages which didn’t turn out as well as they’d hoped, they cancelled the third.
At one point Tito had few options left to him as he and his Central Command were being chased from pillar to post, plus they were attempting to avoid the capture of approx 4000 wounded who had been formed into a column after having to abandon a central hospital and who they believed would be treated badly by the Germans.

One major strategic incident for both sides was the issue of bridges across the Neretva River. Tito decided to blow them up. Later, in 1969, a film was made featuring Yul Brynner and Curt Jurgens. The film was State sponsored by Yugoslavia and more specifically, by Tito himself.
The original bridge featured in the film was initially destroyed in 1943 and the one destroyed in the film was a replacement railway bridge that became disused years later. This is the one in the photo.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_White

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Neretva_(film)








That’s it.

[Voy]

Mark, you gotta read Eastern Approaches , by Fitzroy MacLean. He was a 30s yo GENERAL ( and had enlisted as a private...) sent on a mission to Yugoslavia -- tho the Chetniks were Conservatives, Winston Churchill told FM he didn't care - he wanted to help whoever was killing the most Germans. And you will love the first 2 sections of the book , before the Yugoslavia one, about travelling to Uzbekistan during the Stalinist purges.. clearly - something he wasn't supposed to do ! and then, actually I think the best bit is the second - where he is in the original SAS ,with Stirling, and the Long Range Desert Group - attacking the Germans from the desert ....I think I'll go back and have a re-read - Happy Reading !