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My  aunt and I recognised  each other straight away on the very small station at Sremski Karlovci. Anka is a very warm caring individual and we both felt welcome straight away. Her and I talked flat out all the 3 days we were there about everything imaginable while Rick tried to understand, amused himself as best as he could. Anka has a lot of wise sayings such as; a a wise man doesn’t need to be given money and a fool doesn’t  know what to do with it! Anka also is a very generous cook, so we ate up hearty meals of mostly home grown fruit and vegetables and meat. We went to the cemetry which has her husband Stevo and my grandmother Boja buried there. It was good to go there and see the site but sad to see that Ankas face and birth date is already etched next to her husband on the granite stone , all that is necessary is her casket and her  date of death which hopefully will be a long time as she’s only 68! The town is one of the cultural centres of Serbia and has just been made the official legal centre with the main court of Serbia moving here in Belgrade’s process of decentralisation. The has been part of several different dynasties starting off as a Roman fort , passing over to the House of Hasbbourg , the Ottoman Empire and back to the House of Hasbourg(later the Austrian-Hungarian Empire) following the treaty of Karlovitz- which was signed here and ended hostilities between the two. The solid stone buildings of its streets are heritage listed. The population is largely Serbian in origin. At the end of Ulica Mitripolita Stratimirovica (Anka’s street ) is a mineral spring which runs continuously and has people coming from far and wide to collect the water. The town is situated on the Danube river 8 km from Novi Sad . During a walk along the banks of the Danube there were many frogs hopping into the water when I disturbed then and I also happened across a metre long black coloured snake which no doubt preys on them .

It was an early start catching the bus from Sarajevo at 6 am , with our packed breakfast from the hotel. The countryside out of Sarajevo was again spectacular with us climbing out of Sarajevo over the mountain range and finally down onto the flats near the Serbian border. There was a brief stop for coffe/breakfast at the top.After the border formalities , which didn’t take too long , there was a distinct change in the quality of the roads for the worse – explaining why the last 150km to Belgrade would take over 3 hours. The land in this area is dead flat and full of corn fields. They must use the corn to feed livestock because it was rare to ever see it on a menu anywhere in the Balkans . Finallly we arrived at Belgrade which is really just a typical big city – the train station however when we found it suffered from a distinct lack of trains! We bought tickets for the train to Sremski Karlovci which is on the line to Novi Sad . The platfroms have no signs indicating where the train is going on the platform and you will almost certainly not understand the Serbian announcement – as the locals have trouble getting it , but there is a screen in the ticket area which we were able to work out. There was a conductor on the platform whom we asked whether this train was to Novi Sad as did 90% of the locals that walked past him. The train was appalling and crowded , much worse than Melbourne. There were no announcements about where the train was stopping ( in Switzerland they announce it in about 6 languages) , at some of the stops you couldn’t make out the signs on the platform , at many of the stops there was no platform! Somehow between a combination of smart phone technology , asking locals who possibly might know , we got out at the correct place. There was another lone Australian travelling in our carriage , as we were about to get out I said ” Hey mate , this will make the trains back home look really good .” He said “I’m glad my stop is at the end of the line ” .When we got off onto the very narrow platfrom Lily’s aunt Anka was there to greet us and a friend drove us the short distance to her house in the town of Sremski Karlovci.

A run was definitely order given my ankle seems to have recovered. I find it is further than I realised and is 5.7 km to the outer  edge of the old dock. After getting back to the hotel I make way to Cava beach .I snap a few shots from my phone of the surrounds. The little fish of many colours accompany me while I swim. In fact where the water depth drops off sharply to 5-6 metres they are still calmly there – I guess that means everything that eats them has been caught. As I am getting my gear back on my eye is caught by a couple covered only by a towel no doubt getting their rocks off on the rocks.( If you look closely at the image you may see them in the shadows – I didn’t when I took the shot ! ) Following a buffet breakfast at the hotel we get a bus down to the main bus depot . The lady opposite  us doesn’t realise Lil understands her swearing in Croatian about all the tourist’s bags! We purchase tickets to Sarajevo. The trip goes over 3 borders , from Croatia to Bosnia back to Croatia and finally into Bosnia . We get to see Neum and Ploce in the daylight this time . The trip goes through spectacular country following the Neretvar river . Along the way there are many buildings riddled with shell and bullet holes and I note about 10 identical gravestones dated 1994 as the bus slows down alongside a Mostar cemetery. There is a gradual change as we travel from large crosses to more and more  Mosques ,yet there are still ,in Sarajevo even ,very few women in head scarves . How do you tell the difference between a Bosnian Serb ,a Bosnian Croat and a Bosniak — you can’t and what are 3 main causes of war – religion , religion ,religion . Sarajevo ,despite Torvill and Dean , unfortunately is not spectacular; maybe it is in winter.

Woke to a glorious Mediterranean morning but it was going to be warm. After a big feed at the buffet breakfast we made our way down , the 5 km or so ,to the old town of Dubrovnik . You enter over a drawbridge , through a stone gate and onto the cobbled main road. I presume in the past there was a water filled moat rather than the road that is now underneath. We joined the queue for tickets to the walls before it got too long. The guys that walked these walls must have been fit as the steps are steep – no OH&S back then . It is a total of 2 km round the walls. There is evidence of recent damage from Serb airstrikes and shells , re-rendering and new rooves etc. The town has been rebuilt several times over the centuries due to wars and after the earthquake of the 1600′s. The coast around the walls is beautiful like the rest of the Adriatic. We watched a 3d movie on the history and walk round the old port. It is busy in the main port we note there are 4 large cruise ships docked which dwarf the Jadrolinja car ferry. After a drink at one of the cafes we make our way back up the hill to hotel Tirena. A swim at the nearby Cava beach is in order and refreshing though Lil decides it is too choppy. I note the first evidence of current here which is very gentle – apparently the tidal movements are undefined a metre.

The next part of our trip was a short ferry trip from the historic town of Trogir to the island of Drvenik Mali for a stay at Nedeljko’s family house.  The ferry nosed in to the narrow dock at the island and drops the bow door which we walk over to the dock and find Nedeljko there to welcome us. Lily immediately recognises her cousin Marica and I am introduced to her and her husband Miljenko. The island is like stepping back in time and definitely stepping back in pace , but with the convenience of modern services eg electricity. We walk up the narrow streets lined with stone fences up to the house. The house was originally built in the 1930′s  , the walls being solid stone.  After a traditional welcome with a drink of Rakia ( a distilled Croation spirit) we have Rucak(lunch ) in typical style with chicken soup , chicken , potatoes and beef cooked in the traditional style accompanied by home brewed red wine . There is much of conversation and much of it I get the gist of due to my rudimentary grasp of Croation – though my attempts at speaking it are usually met with amusement.  We take a walk down to the “beach” and take a dip in the Adriatic – which this time is in crystal clear waters free of the rubbish that accompanied you in Split. There are many small fish , sea snails and sea slugs and sea grass in the deeper waters. We go back to the house and have Vecera( dinner ) , and then take a trip around part of the island on Nedeljko’s “traktor” which travels slower than walking pace and overheats several times.

We sleep like babies. My ankle is still too sore to run so we get up to walk around the,  island. Nedeljko is waiting for us downstairs and offering me a cup of Croatian coffee. This is made very strong , black , sweet , and of course you should add just a little Rakia ! It is followed by a glass of water . Lily and I go for a walk around part of the island managing not to get lost . Along the way we pick and eat grapes , figs ,  almonds and rugac(carob) either from the street sides or overhanging peoples’ fences . Finally we make our way down to the water . I step out the distance to a mooring and decides 3 laps will be close to 1.5k . The Adriatic is warm as usual and there is a chop this morning caused by the wind coming of the mainland from the land generated breeze. We continue snacking on the fresh fruit ( figs, almonds) while Nedeljko prepares a  feed of  Sarum ( Mediterranean Horse Mackerel) , which are cooked over an open fire after marination in olive oil and salt – they are delicious ! We take the midday ferry back to Kastel Stari – I note the tuna farms on the way which will soon be the only source of the Atlantic/Mediteranean bluefin tune , I suspect.  A feed of  cuttlefish , previously caught by  Nedeljko is prepared for us all . After many pleasantries and photos , Nevena kindly drives us to the  terminal in Split for us to catch the bus to Dubrovnik . The bus leaves at 7pm – it is a very scenic journey with steep country next to the coast. We have to have our passports handy as we make 2 border crossings  - Croatia- Bosnia-Croatia! The area around Ploce in Croatia and around Neum in Bosnia are spectacular despite us seeing it in the dark . We arrive at Dubrovnik after 11.

So the run training could commence again with the ankle settling down a little . I had a couple of Venetians to pace me early ; one on water and one on land. After breakfast we headed over the Accademia and Rialto bridges back to Piazzale Roma to get info on boats to Croatia. Found the Venezia lines office eventually with no-one at the office so got the web address and booked online for trip to Rovinj. Lunch in the shade by a canal was then in order . I ordered swordfish , which must be some Mediteranean fish served whole – obviously not a Pacific Swordfish. After that we headed back over the bridge and on to Piaza San Marco – which I guess is the big centre – with a visit to a church  displaying old musical instruments and the story of Vivaldi. A large square with old buildings surrounding it including the famous Basilica – which was closed to visitors as we arrived after 5. There was several bands playing  and the already expensive drinks had an 11.40 Euro music supply charge  added. After dinner , Pizza and icecream , we were off the Chiesa San Vidal for some culture , Vivaldi concertos by an Italian group Interpreti Veneziano – with a very animated small orchestra especially the Cellist. Vivaldi had it right even 400 years ago  - make the movements 2-3 minutes so the audience doesn’t get bored – he would have sold a lot of singles! .

So the  plan was train to Milan , stop for a couple of hours ,train to Venice. So  I bought tickets to Milan – first class as 2nd class was sold out. Pretty much the whole trip the scenery was just built up areas . At Milan we tried to find storage for our bags but found it too difficult so we bought tickets for Venezia Santa Lucia – you just have to know to enter the right thing in the ticket machine. The built up areas of Milan soon gave way to large area of farmland consisting mainly of corn and later grapes. The train travels very fast , the  top speed must be around 200km/h ,2:40 for 280km with stops. On arriving in Venice we got the tourism office to book a hotel for us and then found our way to the ferry ( not the size of a Sydney ferry) to take us around the Grand canal to Salute , the stop nearest our quaint 2 star hotel. After a long pleasant walk and getting lost , which is easy to do as there is no “ring road ” as such round any of the islands and it is a maze of canals and narrow streets, we went for dinner at a place serving authentic Italian food . I must admit we were both pleasantly surprised by Venice and it is much cleaner that we thought it would be . I don’t know that I’d swim in the water ( there is too much traffic anyway) but there appears to be normal green weed growing and plenty of fish.