Travel Letters

Mostar: Stari Most

Mostar

Bosnia-Herzegovina

June 3, 2015

Dear Adventure Travelers,

Did you know that for a small fee of a mere 25 Euros, you can personally perform a (supervised) high dive off the most famous bridge in the Balkans?   

The Stari Most or Old Bridge of Mostar, built in the Sixteenth Century, stands 25 meters (82 feet) above the Neretva River.  By comparison, the Olympics Platform Dive is a measly 10 meters (33 feet).

In 1993, during the Civil War in the former Yugoslavia, the original bridge built by the Ottomans was destroyed.

The elegant bridge was rebuilt in 2004 and is the most recognizable landmark in the country.  There’s a lot of history here.* 

Trebinje: Quiet and Attractive Town

Trebinje

(Pop 36,000)

Semi-Autonomous Republika Srpske

 Bosnia-Herzegovina

June 8, 2015

My kinda town, Trebinje is ...

Quiet off-the-tourist-track …

Shady town square …

Café to read a book...

Attractive lived-in Old Town …

Path along the Trebišnjica River… go fishing … row a boat …

16th Century Arslanagić Bridge …

Pizza … pastry … café … to read a book …

My kinda town, Trebinje is 

Zagreb: Capital City

Zagreb   (pop 790,000)

Republic of Croatia

May 25, 2015

 

Rain!

Every  day.  Day after day.   Hour after hour.  

Raining! Hard!

Will I ever see this city?

I do manage a slightly damp early morning stroll and find impressive Austro-Hungarian architecture.

When the sun makes a brief appearance, I venture up to the Antiques Market where I dig up some piano music.  I pause at a café and nurse a cappuccino while taking candid shots.

Sibenik: A Worthy Day Trip

Šibenik 

Dalmatia

Croatia

May 28, 2015

 

Hello,

Driving south, between Zadar and Split, I stop for a coffee in the small coastal city of Šibenik.

Despite the fact that Šibenik is not even mentioned in my guidebook, I decide to take a stroll.  No matter where, there is always something of interest to discover.

Šibenik will be no exception.

Svalbard: Arctic Wildlife

On Board 

MS Nordstjernen

The Greenland Sea

Svalbard

August 9, 2015

Hello,

Even the experienced guides had never seen such a sight!

A dead walrus?  Sure.  They had seen one before.  They had seen a polar bear feasting on the carcass.  They had seen a polar bear and her cub feasting at the scene.

But never before had they seen such a sight!

Tashkent: 400,000

Tashkent, Uzbekistan
May 22, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Now here's a delightful stroll:

The broad, shady walkways around Independence Park are lined with university halls, government buildings, flower gardens and rose bushes. A statue of Marx has been replaced by a suitably patriotic statue of Amir Timur on horseback. At Independence Square, the new senate building is guarded by a tall gate with good-luck pelicans at the top. Near the gate, Lenin gave way to a large statue of a seated Uzbek woman gazing into the eyes of her infant child.

At the far side of the park is another woman, The Crying Mother Monument. The monument was built in 1999 to honor the four hundred thousand Uzbek soldiers who died fighting for The Soviet Union in World War II. In front of the statue is an eternal flame. *

The names of the fallen soldiers are engraved on brass plaques that swing like pages of a book. Many, many books. These books of the dead are attached to the walls of two parallel arcades. The Crying Mother cannot bear to face these pages...

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