Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/89721
One morning, we walk from our sprawl- ing luxury hotel, Rixos Libertas, which is built into the side of a hill not far from the old city, to meet our walking-tour guide, Duska. "If you put your fi nger in the seawater," she tells us, "you are connected with the whole world. Not long ago, however – in October 1991 – Dubrovnik was cut off from the world by a siege during the Croatian War of Independence. The Yugoslav People's Army surrounded the city and some 30,000 residents, including Duska, had to flee to escape a three-month bombardment. Much of the city was destroyed. Duska escorts us to the Memorial Room of Defenders of Dubrovnik, a museum in the old city, where we see photos of the bombing. Local fi ghters who died appear in portraits along the wall. For dinner, we board a wooden boat and ride out to a quiet bay. The city is aglow with lights, reflecting off the limestone walls of houses and the karstic hillside. As we dine on our meal of red snapper, rocket salad and apple strudel, we sip Croatian white wine and brandy and gaze up at the bright white orb of the full moon, which hangs as if strung on a wire between the peaks of two hills. OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS, WE TAKE A TOUR TO Montenegro, an optional side trip that takes us south, along the coast, through the community of Kotor, the 3,500-year-old town of Budva and the resort islet of Sveti Stefan. By now we are on day 11. We make our way north to overnight in a Communist-era hotel in Plitvice Lakes National Park, in central Croatia. The accommodations are spare but clean. Encased in glass in the lobby is a taxidermied bear, upright on its back legs. The park quickly becomes a highlight of the trip. Founded in 1949, it is the largest national park in Croatia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the morning we discover why. We walk the perimeter of small lakes linked by a boardwalk and fed by endless waterfalls. There are 16 interconnected lakes, all shades of emerald and aquamarine. When we get to a series of cascading falls that shroud a small chunk of rock face, our young Croatian guide, Blanka, says, "This is what we call the Croatian Niagara Falls." Throughout the walk, Blanka throws out snippets about the region's natural history: the 800 varieties of mushrooms, the forests of beech, fi r, maple and hornbeam that sur- round us, the travertine dams where fallen tree trunks calcify over many, many years 24 WESTWORLD >> NOVEMBER 2012 Linda Cramer AMA Travel Specialist EUROPE Coach touring may not be for everyone, but it's one of my favourite ways to travel. My fi rst experience was in Israel and I was immediately hooked. I had a fabulous time visiting places that I had only read about and would have taken me hours to research. I've since travelled all around Britain and Western Europe by coach. The relaxed pace of coach touring allows travellers to cover more ground than they would by other means – train, for example. Another plus is the chance to meet and explore with a diverse group of people, young and old, from around the world. Despite the slow pace, there's lots to do on these tours. Tour buses generally stop into stone. Occasionally she stops to point out a rare orchid or the holes in a beech tree made by dormice. Near the end of the walk she becomes serious. "You hear about Croatia rebuilding itself quickly," she says. "That was the will of the people." By lunchtime we are on our way. We alight, briefl y, in Karlovac, near Zagreb, to see bullet-riddled houses, still unrepaired from the war of the 1990s, and an outdoor museum of tanks and artillery. As we con- tinue on to Slovenia, I recall Blanka's words. THE SCENERY BECOMES GREENER AND LESS populated as we exit Croatia and drift north. Slovenia is at the northern edge of the Balkan Peninsula, "squeezed between the Alps and the Adriatic Peninsula," Beata says as we roll toward the capital, Ljubljana. On the long drive, I practise my pro- nunciation: Lube-lee-yan-ah. Though the Slovenes arrived in these parts around the seventh century, Slovenia itself is a young country, established in 1991 when it broke away from Yugoslavia. As for the capital, it isn't much older than its roughly 300,000 residents (the average age is early 30s), and we quickly see evidence of that youthful energy in the city's café culture and markets. An 1895 earthquake destroyed many of Ljubljana's buildings. These were replaced, our walking guide Spela tells us the next every few hours at attractions. Your admission is taken care of for you. No need to worry about standing in long lineups – you'll spend your precious time learning about the local culture and history instead. The guides on these trips are virtual encyclopedias of information. But some of my most memorable moments on coach tours have happened when the bus makes an unscheduled stop. Perhaps there's a local selling fruit by the side of the road or a sunset that's too good to pass up. Still wavering on coach travel? Consider starting with a leisurely tour that allows for more than one night at each stop and plenty of free time. I promise, you'll love it! Need help planning or booking a coach tour? Contact Linda at 1-888-989-8423 or WWTravelSpecialist@ama.ab.ca. morning, with art nouveau and modern buildings – such as the "skyscraper" that was the tallest building in the Balkans when it was built in the 1930s. We peer up: it is no more than 12 storeys high. Spela leads us on a brisk walk around town – you can see most of it in an hour or two – and then I break away from the group to visit Ljubljana Castle, the best place in town for photos. A funicular takes me to the top of Castle Hill, where I wander the medieval grounds and climb a tower for sweeping views of the green city. Here, from the highest point in the city, I can see how far we've come. Just a few days ago we were more than 600 km away, sailing in the sea outside Dubrovnik and gazing at the moon. And soon we'll hit the road for our ne xt adventure. AMA MEMBERS SAVE MORE Before you go: Book your Trafalgar Tours or Insight Vacations coach tour with AMA Travel by January 31, 2013, for travel between April 1 and December 31, 2013, and save 10%, plus $100 off your European holiday. 1-866-667-4777; AMATravel.ca While you're there: Save 25% at Hotel I, near Zagreb Airport and Zagreb Interna- tional Fair and 25% on Zagreb's Mimara Museum. ama.ab.ca/SearchforDiscounts