FRIENDS AWAIT

COUNTRIES DISSIPATE

The Yugoslavia I knew is gone. Has been since April, 1992 when the siege of Sarajevo began. That lasted over 1,400 days, longer than the Nazi siege of Leningrad during WWII, and took the lives of over 5,000 civilians and displaced many others and many dear friends. One was in Moscow visiting family and was unable to return home for the duration of the conflict. Another fled to Croatia and then was part of a group that helped get a lot of children through to safety.

And you get mad when the guy in front of you doesn’t move fast enough when the red-light changes?

I have been in Yugoslavia twice. Once for the Sarajevo Olympics. I was there from December, 1983 until April, 1984 and then again for a much shorter visit in the summer of 1987. During those two visits there was no hint of the horrors to come. When Communism fell, the fragile cohesion that evidently was holding Yugoslavia together, broke the country apart when Slovenia and Croatia claimed independence. They were successful after relatively brief conflicts, but then Bosnia and Herzegovina tried to do the same. Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) Croats and Serbs all butted heads on this. Serbs fought to keep Bosnia in Yugoslavia, the Croats wanted more land and the Bosniaks bore the brunt of the conflict with horrific tales of vicious ethnic cleansing, genocide, snipers and incessant shelling. When the Markale marketplace was targeted and killed scores of civilians the world finally heeded the distress of Bosnia and the United States brokered the Dayton Peace Accords.

IT'S COMPLICATED 

SARAJEVO ROSE

To this day Bosnia is still split in two; the mostly Serbian populated Republika Sprska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a population of Croats and Bozniaks. The peace agreement brought about the end of the Bosnian conflict but later conflicts flared up in Kosovo and Macedonia.

We are traveling to Croatia soon, flying into Dubrovnik and sailing through the beautiful Dalmatian Islands and you’re probably wondering why?  Dubrovnik, this proud and beautiful walled city on the Adriatic, was not spared during the Yugoslav Wars and shelled repeatedly. Reminders of the war can still be seen in walls pitted by shell fragments and bullet holes in buildings away from the coast and there are still dangerous areas where landmines have not been cleared. Although our trip will not take us to Sarajevo this time, the scars of the constant shelling during the siege are now called “Sarajevo Roses.” The gouges in the concrete have been immortalized and filled with a red resin to mark the spot. Sounds morbid, but this is the city where the conflagration of WWI began with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and how the assassin, Gavrilo Princip, stood as he fired his gun is also immortalized in concrete.

Indeed, Yugoslavia began after the Allied victory in WWI as a big “F.U.” to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by taking away their land and then thrusting a lot of different people with different attitudes and grudges that were at times, centuries old, into one country.

Yeah, the area is complicated and when the long-time ruler of Yugoslavia Marshal Tito died cracks in the iron-fisted rule that kept Yugoslavia together began to show.

Now, I’ll bet you’re thinking a week at Seaside Heights, New Jersey is a lot easier to negotiate than traveling to this area, or better yet, turning on the air conditioning and drawing the curtains and not leaving the house is a safer way to go. If you do that though, you’ll be missing out on the most important aspect of this trip; a friendship that transcends decades. I have kept in touch with my friend, Zeljko, his wife, Hana, and now his son through social media. During the war he fled Sarajevo with his family to Zagreb and from there helped broker the safe passage of several busloads of children out of the horrors of Sarajevo.

Perhaps I feel guilty. When the war raged, I was immersed in my young family and turned a blind eye to my friends and their troubles and I can conjure up a myriad of excuses why this was necessary. Well, regardless of the past, now is time to redefine the locus of my travels.  We will be staying with them for the latter part of the trip at their seaside home in Trpanj on the Peljesac Peninsula to catch up. This is a trip of a lifetime...literally..

SAILING AWAY

CAROUSING IN CROATIA  

This July your favorite traveling duo is off to Croatia. I’ll warn you it’s a costly trip but we have quite a bit of freebees and mooching going on to make it happen.

  

DUBROVNIK

Here’s our itinerary. We fly to the walled city of Dubrovnik and stay there for a few days. We then board a luxury cruise ship that will sail us through the Dalmatian Islands for a week. Disembarking in Split we rent a car to travel a few days to see Plitvice Lakes National Park. Then it’s back to Split for a day and then it’s on to Trpanj to stay with a friend whom I worked with at the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984.

 

PLITVICE LAKES

Here’s the freebee.

Our airfare is free, because we signed up for an American Airlines credit card that gave us enough miles to fly to Dubrovnik. American Airlines just started flying into Dubrovnik this June. It’s quite a savings anytime you can get free airfare to Europe in the middle of summer.

Here’s the mooch. 

Through Facebook I’ve kept in touch with my friend over all these years and for years he’s been sending me pictures and imploring that I should come visit he and his wife during the summer. So, how could we refuse him?

We haven’t seen each other since I traveled back to Yugoslavia in 1987 after the Frank Sinatra Italian Tour ended and I took three days out to fly into Sarajevo. Lot’s of living and sadness for us both since then, and this will be our time to reconnect.  

Here’s the ouch.

The sailing is expensive, but that’s been a bucket list item for me, to sail through the Dalmatian Islands in the Adriatic Sea. It’s through a company called “Unforgettable Croatia”. They operate a small fleet of cruise ships with varying degrees of luxury. We could have gotten down and dirty with a trip, but that would have involved a lot of drunken naked younger folks, so we settled on a wrinkle in time…ahem.

Here’s the wow.

Our ship is the MV Infinity that has just a 38-passenger capacity and we will sail to islands like Mljet, Korcula (where Marco Polo was born), Vis and Hvar. There are many amenities included in our approximately $4,000 sailing adventure like meals with beer and wine included, tours to an oyster farm and a wine tasting, free WIFI, and all port fees are paid. It’s worth it!  

Much more details to follow! We leave soon, follow along

 MV INFINITY

TO LANCASTER AND BEYOND

THE LAKE DISTRICT OF ENGLAND 

Travels to England are about the family. Spending time with the grandchildren as they grow is extremely precious, so when Janet travels to England alone her time there is largely centered around changing nappies and cleaning up projectile vomit. Although, I must enviously report here that once Janet had the great opportunity to attend the World Worm Charming Championship when she once traveled to England without me. Lucky her to go from dirty diapers to dirty worms! 

WORM CHARMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Whenever we travel to England together though, we try to plan a little side trip, sometimes just the two us, sometimes with the kids. Of course, while in England most of our time is spent with the kids and in-laws, so our side trips are quick and brief, sometimes in one or two days. 

Llandudno, Wales

One trip we traveled to Edinburgh for single malts. One trip was to Belgium to drink beer. Another trip we drove across England with the kids to visit York, a walled city founded by the Romans and now a popular tourist town. We once traveled to Chester, another beautiful walled city that has the largest zoo in England. We went to the shore in Llandudno, Wales to walk the impressive pier there that dates from the late 1870's and gaze out onto the Irish Sea. Each of these two latter trips were close enough to Nantwich to explore in a day. 

SERENDIPITY AND CHANCE

This past trip Janet and I traveled to Lancaster, Lancashire. It was here while studying abroad at Lancaster University that Janet’s daughter met her future English husband. Janet had been there before and was so impressed with the city that she has often talked about returning. So, for our little two-day side trip during this most recent visit to England we decided to explore Lancaster, but then we got side-tracked. When the in-laws spoke glowingly about the beautiful Lake District, a large 900+ square mile park of mountains and lakes, we altered our two-day trip with another side trip into this beautiful slice of the world.

THE LAKE DISTRICT AND AMBLESIDE 

Lancaster

It's a three-hour plus train ride from Crewe to Lancaster. There's a certain charmless, dated feel to the Crewe station, kind of mirroring the town itself, but the trains are clean and quiet. Our scheduled train was late in arriving (we reserved tickets for a particular time). We were told that in case of a delay that we were to keep track of the time and to put in for a refund through a program called Delay Repay. We got Janet's son-in-law involved and he got us a £15 refund.

THAT would never happen on NJ Transit.

THE SUN HOTEL LANCASTER

Lancaster was hilly and sadly the downtown market area had its share of indigent types, but we stayed at the Sun Hotel, a very lovely inn that had the Lancaster Castle looming just up the street. Janet had been aglow over this old place since she stayed there last; she had visited her daughter during her semester here; and spoke often about wanting to show me this place, so we booked two nights here. Breakfast was included. The room was small, but clean and to reach it we had to climb stairs and walk down a few meandering hallways. All stone and weathered wood, I can understand why Janet wanted to return to this charming place.

THE SUN HOTEL, LANCASTER

Ashton Memorial,
Lancaster, UK

Exploring Lancaster is not easy because of the hills and we really had just the afternoon because we were traveling to Lake Windermere in the Lake District the next day. Despite the heat of the day, believe it or not in England it was unseasonably hot and sunny, we decided to climb up to Williamson Park. We were sweating a bit when we reached the pastoral 54-acre park after a mile and half climb to the highest elevation point in Lancaster, but it was worth the visit. Entrance to the cool leafy, woodland park dotted with ponds and fountains was free although there is a small fee for entry to the Butterfly House and Mini-Zoo, but our reason to make the climb was to reach the Ashton Memorial.

The Taj Mahal of the North

The Ashton Memorial is known as a “folly”, the official term for an ornamental building that has no practical purpose. It was commissioned by a Lancaster Industrialist in the early 1900’s to the memory of his wife. By the time the memorial was completed in 1909 the industrialist had remarried. Known by many derisive names, the Taj Mahal of the North fits the memorial the best.

WILLIAMSON PARK, LANCASTER UK

the view from the Ashton Memorial

Standing 150 feet at the acme of Williamson Park the Ashton Memorial, our destination on this hot day, is a brilliant example of Edwardian Baroque architecture and it dominates the Lancaster skyline. From its parapet, where telescopes are conveniently located, one can see phenomenal views of the city and surrounding countryside. Families lolled about on the grass enjoying the sun. It was a good destination and after catching our breath we decided to reward ourselves with a stop for a pint. 

 

THE WHITE CROSS PUB,
LANCASTER

Down the hill, along the canal we stopped at the White Cross Pub. It’s in a renovated 130-year old building that was once a cotton mill. Brilliant sunlight cascaded in from the wall of windows that overlooked the canal. 

They offer a very wide assortment of beers here, from cask conditioned to craft beers. We took our beer outside to the water’s edge and sat at one of the picnic tables. It was a pleasant great stop.

THE WHITE CROSS PUB, LANCASTER

MERCHANTS 1688

Merchants 1688

That first night in Lancaster we had a meal at Merchants 1688. Set in a former wine cellar, it’s kind of difficult to find because it’s underground just down the hill from the Lancaster Castle. Google directions had us directly over the place, but the entrance was further down. It was a bit confusing at first. We actually had to descend a few steps and then literally enter the hill. Great service, enchanting atmosphere, with curved stone ceilings for the dining rooms, we were able to take advantage of their Monday and Tuesday night special, where with the purchase of two entrees they give you a bottle of wine. We shared a wild mushroom and pecan risotto strudel. Janet had a Lancashire Hotpot and I had a Steak and Ale Pot Pie. 

MERCHANTS 1688 

THE LAKE DISTRICT

Despite our many trips to England in recent years we have yet to see all of its beauty. That’s why these little side trips are good for us. Our original intent was to only visit Lancaster, but when the in-laws spoke glowingly about the Lake District and its natural beauty, it was an easy choice to alter our plans to explore Lake Windermere.  Besides, Windermere was just a 45-minute train ride from Lancaster.

This 900+ square mile mountainous region in Cumbria is England’s largest park and is protected by law from over-development. There’s a lot to do here. With ten mountains at least 2,900 in elevation within the park, the Lake District is popular with serious hikers, but there are ample trails for easier walking. The official Lake District website has a list of trails and walks.

I'M WALKING HERE... IN WINDERMERE

Off-roading adventures in rented Range Rover Defenders are available through Kankku (a bucket list item for me, though very expensive).

KANKKU OFF ROADING TOURS 

Beatrix Potter, the woman who wrote Peter Rabbit had her house in this area that is now maintained by the National Trust and open to the public, as well as a nearby “theme” park called the World of Beatrix Potter.

BEATRIX POTTER'S HOME

BEATRIX POTTER THEME PARK 

All were viable pursuits, but we were drawn to the area because of Lake Windermere and we only had the day!

Lake Windermere

The train ended in the town of Windermere a mile and a half from the lake. There was a whimsical enchanting feel to this little town, like it was the end of the world and beyond her yellow brick road gateway to the Lake District was an enchanting adventure patiently awaiting our arrival. There was a rustic feel when we first left the small train station, and when we descended into the town all the storefronts and cafes blossomed with flowers. Everything was gaily decorated and festive, not surprisingly because the entire area is geared toward tourism. Even the tourist office was bedecked with Peter Rabbit decorations and we were aided with such aplomb in getting our tickets for our eventual cruise that we knew all was right in the world. Cafes, pubs, stores were so inviting that if we weren’t drawn by the allure of the lake we may have been sidetracked.

The town of Windermere definitely felt different than anything we had previously experienced in our English travels.

 

A CAFE IN WINDERMERE

The mile plus walk to the lake was a gradual downhill slope and easy. The sun was brilliant and the day warm, but with a breeze so we were never too hot. There is a bus service from the train to the lake for a nominal fee and early on we decided to take it back up the hill.

As charming as the town of Windermere was, the town right on the lake, Bowness-on-Windermere seemed especially crammed and busy. With the lake imploring us to hurry we scooted along the busy streets and sidewalks brimming with people as quickly as possible to make the lakeside dock to take a cruise. Lake Windermere is England’s longest lake at 10.5 miles, and there are several ways to enjoy the open expanse of idyllic nature. One can hire a paddleboard or rowboat, canoe or kayak, and private hires of motor boats are available. Windermere is great for sailing and fishing too, but we decided to take a cruise with the aptly named Windermere Lake Cruises and just enjoy the brilliant mid-May sunshine and the countryside.

LAKE WINDERMERE RENTALS

Windermere Lake Cruises offers several excursions that are extremely popular and relatively inexpensive. We took their Red Cruise from Bowness-on-Windermere centrally located on Lake Windermere to Ambleside, the north end of the lake, for a round trip that was an easy, pleasant 75 minutes. Tickets were just £ 11.80. There was a slight discount when purchased beforehand at the tourist office located near the Windermere train station. Like us, many passengers decided to break up the trip into separate legs and got off in Waterside to explore the nearby town of Ambleside. There too was a bus into the town, but we walked. It was an easy level stroll and we got ice cream at a street vendor before we returned.  

WINDERMERE LAKE CRUISES 

MV TEAL

Many of the boats of Windermere Lake Cruises are listed on England’s National Historic Fleet. Traveling to Ambleside we were aboard the steamer Teal, built in 1936 and braved the blistering sun on her forward deck as we listened to the Captain point out different views from the lake. On our return leg we sat in the bow of the Tern, a mostly wooden steam powered yacht built in 1891 that was converted to diesel in 1956. Both beautiful vessels. There were a lot of English tourists aboard both legs enjoying the trip and surprisingly a large number of stern-faced Japanese tourists, many wearing protective medical masks for some odd reason.

MV TERN

Unwind by the water

Well, we had no such angst. The day spent on Lake Windermere deserved a return visit. The air was clear, the sky azure and the water placid and inviting. The whole day was relaxed but before our return trip we lingered over drinks at the Waterside Inn admiring our sense of adventure and reveling in our pursuit of happiness.

COCKTAILS AT THE WATEREDGE INN

WATEREDGE INN

THE PUB AND THE PEOPLE

NANTWICH PUB CRAWL…AGAIN

I have to admit I enjoy the pub culture in England. It’s relaxed and friendly and often the pubs are old and picturesque. Many feature outdoor gardens, some with playgrounds, some with animals. Going to a pub in England doesn’t have to be a drunken soiree. It’s usually a gathering of friends and family.

The pub culture is a major thread of life in England. Going to a favorite pub is more than getting a pint. It’s a community center. It’s a place for games like dominoes and darts are played. It’s a place to watch a televised football match. It’s a place where dogs sit patiently as their humans banter about everything. Pubs are where new parents go to “wet their baby’s head” to introduce them to the world. It’s a culture that dates 2,000 years ago when tabernae, basically wine bars, were quickly set up along roads catering to the invading Roman armies and which eventually evolved into the pubs of today. And, every time Team VFH heads to England to visit, it is to the pubs where we meet up with the in-laws and catch up on things.

 

The Black Lion Nantwich

Stools are rarities at the pubs. No one comes in to hunch over their pint with their back turned to the room. It’s a convivial atmosphere and people mill about with pints in hand or sit at tables. Oh, there’s a lot to like about going to the pubs of England, except for this humble imbiber, their beer, but only because it is consumed in vast quantities.

POOFTA

Yes, the English like their beer and they like to drink a lot of it. I’ve been told going out on a typical night is to drink 6 to 8 pints. Catering to this lifestyle the beer is weaker, typically around 3.5% alcohol content whether it’s a bitter or a colder lager. I’ve been told that you don’t want a stronger beer if you’re out with friends because you’ll not be able to drink that much. For the English the purpose of going to the pubs is not to get drunk, but to live.

Personally, I can’t keep up with our hosts, so I don’t even try. Sheer volume, despite the lower alcohol content has me bloated quickly. Of course, I could sneak in half-pint pours; a woman’s drink; but being labeled a poofta is a serious consequence. I try to pass on rounds as much as possible, that’s why I like buying the first one, for I enjoy the camaraderie of going out to the pubs when visiting England, I just can’t drink that much.

MY GOODNESS MY GUINNESS

This past trip I started drinking Guinness Stout. Having slurped my way through a myriad of bitters and lagers, some with less than enjoyable results I took Janet’s advice and went with this famous stout. It’s served in every pub.

It is said that Guinness doesn’t travel well. I once had it while on a brewery tour at St. James Gate in Dublin and then a week later in New York I had a Guinness that was unpalatable. England is close enough to Dublin and it has become my beer of choice. I’ll toss in an occasional bitter and my hosts are none the wiser.

Now, there is a thriving craft beer culture in England. IPAs and stronger brews are being concocted, but in Nantwich they are only available in specialty shops, like the Beer Dock.This micro pub, sells mainly craft beers for on and off premises consumption, sells pints and fills growlers from 10 rotating taps and has roughly 600 beers offered for sale. There's lots of foreign beers on their shelves. This is very unique though and far different than most of the other pubs in town.  The place is tiny with picnic tables filling the center and taps on the far end. The only other place I know that has "other" beers is the Crown Hotel bar. They offer a Leffe Blonde and a couple of German beers along with the typical cask conditioned beers found in the pubs. 

THE BEER DOCK

THE BEER DOCK NANTWICH

The Beer Dock doesn't have the atmosphere of the pub. It's all industrial and it's like sitting in the middle of a store. You can spend a lot of time ogling all the beers available. Quite different from the regular pubs, which are often "tied-houses", meaning they are owned by a particular brewery and serve mainly their beer. For example at the Red Cow it's Robinson's. Hydes is at the Vine and Marstons at the Talbot. 

PUB ETIQUETTE

Another part of the pub culture is buying rounds. Because of my lack of ability to keep up, I use this to my advantage and try to buy the first round. Later, when asked I can skip a pint and pace myself. 

 

THE RIFLEMAN NANTWICH

THIS WILL DRIVE YOU TO DRINK

If may seem to the casual reader that this whole pub business is a chore, but I have come to really enjoy the times spent in the pubs with family. We’ve been here so many times I recognize people and say hello and look forward to familiar pubs and new pubs. In Nantwich there are quite a number of choices, and we usually get dragged off to the pubs that are currently favored by our in-laws. An early destination in our travels to Nantwich was the Rifleman, affectionately known as “the Gun.” When we first started coming to Nantwich the Rifleman, also a “tied-hiouse” meaning it was owned by Robinson’s Brewery, was run by family members of the in-laws and so was the place to go. Since then though someone else runs the place and it’s fallen off our radar.

  

When the father-in-law and I go out we often go to the Nantwich Club, a private club right near the medieval era St. Mary’s Church. Beers are very cheap here and he’ll mention it more than once that it’s the cheapest in town (in-between winning hands at the dominoes table). Though it was as much charm as going to the local VFW Hall, we've spent a few New Year's celebrations here.  Although the average age is dead (an old Borscht-belt quip), we actually have had a great time and no one ever broke a hip on the cha cha line. At midnight everyone piles out into the square of St. Mary’s to listen to the bell ringers greet the new year. On a side note the bell ringers practice Thursday evenings from 7 to 9.

 BELL RINGERS PRACTICE IN NANTWICH 

On our recent trip we ended up on a pub crawl with the in-laws that had us going to some standard destinations and a couple of new ones.

 

ODDFELLOWS NANTWICH

THE ODDFELLOWS ARMS

On Welsh Road the place evidently boasts a lovely garden, but we sat at a massive table with a number of other couples. They offer live music here, but we were out too early. It was our first time here. The place first opened in 1767 as the White Lion, but since 1844 it has been called Oddfellows. I had a Guinness.

ODDFELLOWS NANTWICH

THE BLACK LION

THE BLACK LION

Also on Welsh Road, (evidently the border with Wales was once just over there). We had been here before and this especially charming place has a warren of nooks and fireplaces and tables scattered throughout. One of the oldest pubs in Nantwich, the building dates back to 1644.The father of one of our in-laws would sing here on occasion. I had a very nice bitter.

THE BLACK LION NANTWICH 

THE CROWN HOTEL

We try to have a pint at the Crown every time we visit Nantwich. The night of our pub crawl I drank a couple of half pints of a strong Belgian Leffe Blonde (the only way they serve it). No Poofta alert needed.

THE CROWN HOTEL BAR

The earliest records found about the Crown Hotel date from 1572. 

THE VINE

Another regular stop for us is in Nantwich is the Vine on Hospital Street. We’ve been here on New Year’s Eve, before heading to the Nantwich Club. A tied-house to Hydes, I’ve seen this place packed to the gills. There’s an outdoor area in the back beyond the WC but this night was filled with kids. I scurried back to the geriatric table to fetch my Guinness.

 THE VINE NANTWICH

THE VINE

THE BOOT AND SHOE

Our last stop on this pub crawl was also on Hospital Street. More austere than the rest on this particular crawl, the interior of the place was empty although there was a large bunch of kids in the smoking area out back. Although the building was built in 1572, survived the great Nantwich fire of 1583, it was somewhat an anti-climactic end to our 2019 Nantwich pub crawl. I'm glad I stopped in, but it was just okay. 

THE BOOT AND SHOE

We sipped our beers quietly in the threadbare seating area (Guinness for me) before walking through the paths and alleys that brought us home. Everyone walks here. I actually led the way; I know Nantwich that well.