Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/201279
e ! e: a Up the cobblestone road, I hear another soulful voice – this one coming from the Museum of Broken Relationships, a small art space in what the clerk describes as a former palace, but is more akin to a maisonette or row house. "I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me," Muddy Waters sings as I enter. Two former lovers created the museum four years ago, displaying relics of their relationship. Soon friends and strangers began donating objects. One display case holds a national identity card from France, donated by a woman from Ljubljana, Slovenia (a city we will soon visit). "The only thing of great love," she wrote, "was citizenship." Farther along the road, an old man plays Dalmatian folk songs on an acoustic guitar. We make our way to the centre of town, weaving through a farmer's market full of woven baskets, flowers and strawberries. We have two days in Zagreb – ample time to explore by foot before we hop back on the bus and leave the north for the coast. Travelling overland hundreds of kilometres, a place reveals itself gradually. We pass the long stretches on the bus listening to historical primers from our guide, Beata, napping or chatting with our fellow travellers. At the outset, I worried that I'd get cabin fever holed up on a bus for hours at a time, but I find I appreciate the balance between activity and reflection. The long hours travelling give me the chance to learn more about the region. The other passengers chat about children and grandchildren back home, or places they've travelled. Several are bustour veterans. Some form new friendships and break into small groups to explore during free time (which we have plenty of, even though there are organized activities most days). On the drive to Split, a seaside city about 400 kilometres from Zagreb, the landscape becomes hillier. Tiny farms occupy the valley and terraced vineyards dot the coast. In small lakes and bays I notice the bobbing floats of oyster and mussel farms. We arrive in Split in the afternoon. Our stay will be short, so we start our sightseeing with a quick tour of Diocletian's Palace, a fortress-like structure built in the late third (clockwise from top) Moored boats in the seaside Croatian city of Split; emerald pools and waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia; a sidewalk café on Dubrovnik's main street. century as a retirement home for the Roman emperor. Today it is part museum and part housing, and it anchors the old part of the city. After a jaunt up the boardwalk, we freshen up at the Atrium, our sleek, modern hotel, which wouldn't be out of place in New York or Winnipeg. We're soon thrust back into the country, with a short drive to a konoba (tavern) on a small bay, where a trio of musicians in striped T-shirts serenades us between courses of fish, soup and potatoes (roughly half of our suppers are included in the tour package). There is another busload of travellers at dinner, mostly Australian, and they quickly get into the spirit. As the pitch rises – lubricated by shots of herb brandy, a local specialty – someone starts a conga line. The musicians play to the mood and shout, "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie," and everyone else shouts back, on cue, "Oi! Oi! Oi!" By now we are on day seven and have eased into the rhythm of bus travel. Having made our way along the coast, we're headed for one night to tiny Korčula, an island that claims – but can't substantiate – Marco Polo as a native son, before we tour a winery in the Pelješac Peninsula. Then it's on to (harbour) Craille Maguire Gillies, (café) Ian Dagnall/All Canada Photos, (Plitvice Lakes National Park) Dattatreya/All Canada Photos p38-43_Adriatic.indd 41 Dubrovnik, where we'll spend two days. The landscape becomes subtly more Mediterranean the farther southeast we go, and after several hours we arrive in Dubrovnik, Pearl of the Adriatic. We emerge from the bus at 3 p.m., blinking in the brilliant sun. In the Middle Ages, this city matched Venice as an eastern European seaport. One afternoon, when the heat of the day lifts, I make the two-km trek along the thick medieval wall that separates the old city from the new. The fortifications, flush GOING PL ACES >> w i n t e r 2 0 1 3 41 13-10-16 9:31 AM