We Do Adventure

Despite the pretty picture you see here we, like much of Europe, is waiting for summer to really start. This was two weeks ago, at a Novi Most team retreat in Gradac, on the Croatian coast. It was warm enough to swim, so we did as we don't get so many chances to get to the coast now we live in Jajce. Back at home we have begun preparation for winter - yes, already! Five metres of chopped wood arrived yesterday. It's now neatly stacked in the area our our front door. When summer does arrive it'll dry it all out nicely so it's ready to burn. The church building where we run our Novi Most courses has new double glazing which should both keep out the cold and hold the heat for longer. We can look forward to warmer teaching this winter. But, having said all that, we want to enjoy a long, hot summer first!

We were in Zagreb, Croatia, on Thursday and Friday, celebrating our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Wandering through Trg bana Jelačića – the city's central square in a similar way to what Trafalgar Square is to London – when we spied a seasonal sign. Perched above a mobile phone ad encouraging us to “Embrace life” and a white goods' ad claiming its products are “The smart choice for 280 million users worldwide” was a digital billboard of Jesus*. “Happy Easter” it said. “The Lord Jesus Christ, Victor over death and Satan”. It was the contrast between style of the artwork, admittedly not to my taste, and the uncompromising statement that made me snap this photo. I thought for all its reputation as a edgy cultural capital I couldn't see this message playing well in London. But then I checked online and discovered Trafalgar Square hosted a full-scale Passion play this year. Somehow that discovery was more reassuring than finding any number of unnecessary chocolate eggs! ...

Five hours and twenty minutes sat on a bus between Zagreb, Croatia, and Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, yesterday morning gave me more than enough time to ponder some of the idiosyncrasies this mode of transport offers in this part of the world. I suppose I should confess I'm no expert; the town I grew up in was not big on buses and, baring one memorable overnight coach journey from London to Edinburgh, most of my bus experience involves the top deck of old London Routemasters. That and school trips. The distinction between a bus and a coach that the English language provides is not one that holds up in translation. Everything is a bus here. There are local buses and there are buses that make international journeys. From the bus station in Jajce we could travel to a number of nearby or neighbouring countries but the only trip I've made thus far is the one to and from Zagreb. This latest journey was the first time we've travelled the route through Bihać and Karlovac; ...

This time last year I uploaded a video showing me chickening out of a first swim for summer 2011 . We were in Gradac, Croatia, for a Novi Most team retreat and trying to make the most of a few days by the coast. This weekend we were back in the same place for the same reason. However the outcome of the 'will I, won't I?' swimming question was not the same. In an relatively uncharacteristic act of bravery in the face of less-than-warm water I took the plunge...remembering, of course, to take the camera with me so the pain was not in vain. That much was to be expected!

We're back from our holiday and back to work. While our work is based in Bosnia and this blog is for the most part dedicated to given an alternative glimpse into life in Bosnia and Herzegovina we're going to allow this post to talk about the neighbours: in this case, Croatia. After a week on the beautiful Zlatni rat beach near Bol, on the island of Brac, it seems a good time to promote a bit of regional tourism. Remembering that we once posted a video from the BiH Tourist Board I went searching on YouTube to see if I could turn up something similar for Croatia. I found this. There are too reasons to love this fancy little 30-second clip: the American voice-over and the fact that it opens with a superb we-were-there shot - enjoy!

Last weekend the Pope was in Zagreb. We were there the couple of days before he arrived. The to events had no connection, except that we were as aware of his impending arrival as he was unaware of our impending departure. However, the point of this post is to put Zagreb on the map if you haven't heard of it before. We would hope the capital of Croatia has crossed your consciousness before now but should it have evaded your radar that's about to be corrected. We've only started to explore Zagreb since our move to Jajce; it's now about a four hour drive away, which is makes it a reasonable proposition for a weekend break. Where as every city we've visited in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a east meets west feel to its architecture, Zagreb is definitely a western city. It has charm and, though we can't claim to have visited any of them yet, it also seems to have a healthy collection of museums and art galleries. It also has recently landed a regular Easyjet service fro...

This weekend saw Rowan and some friends taking a first swim for 2011. I know that three months from now the waters of the Adriatic will be beautifully warm, which does little to tempt me to plunge into the cold. I did, however, get as far as getting my feet wet. We were in Gradac, Croatia, for the Novi Most team retreat. I should, of course, be showing video of all the thought-proking sessions but I was too busy leading them to get the camera out so instead you're left with a glimpse of how we spent our spare time, although what this video does fail to show is how good the ice cream was!

This isn't the first time we've had reason to write nice things about EasyJet on this blog. We hope it won't be the last. But least pessimism get the last word let's celebrate the bizarre experience that was collecting my brother and his family from Zagreb airport yesterday. We knew they were flying EasyJet, in fact we'd noticed tickets for the new route become available and recommend they book a cheap trip months ago. We'd since forgotten they'd booked on the inaugural flight. Without this context we did wonder why we were seeing the aircraft ceremonially doused by the hoses of two fire tenders as is taxied towards the terminal. The presence of a media scrum in the arrivals hall had us wondering if a Croatian celebrity had shared the flight with them. When a lone piper struck his first drone note in baggage reclaim we were lost for an explanation. Thankfully the British Ambassador to Croatia was on hand to provide the missing pieces of the puzzle. As we say...

The Union Jack you see here is hanging from the front of the building that houses the British Consulate in Split, Croatia. It was a stop-and-stare moment when we spotted it on Sunday. At once it seemed to capture something of the romance of an Imperial golden-age - not that this part of the world was ever part of a British Empire - but also highlight what so often seems to be the archaic nature of bureaucracy. Faded glory seems inappropriate in such glorious sunshine but this was definitely old-school establishment. Still I doubt the pen-pushers employed here are complaining. Situated on the waterfront in the historic part of the city, their offices look down on a promenade packed with caffe bars and look out over the beautiful Adriatic. Location, location, location! There are worse places to be serving Her Majesty's Government.

I think this post presents my recent ponderings on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) – although I may have got that wrong! However, don’t be put off by the economic terminology; I’m going to talking about eating and shopping. Last night we were in Split to pick up some friends. It was the first time we’d driven there from Mostar so we left extra time for the journey. We didn’t get lost some we did get to visit the Joker Centar – not a bad comedy club but a smart new shopping centre, with a McDonald’s. At this point I should come clean and say I don’t even like McDonald’s. In the UK, if it had to be fast food like that then I would pick Burger King or, preferably, KFC. Then, of course, there was also the, arguably, healthier option of Subway. But not having had any of the above in none months we thought we should take the opportunity to remind ourselves what we are ‘missing’. As we sat munching some distinctly unimpressive fries I suddenly remembered we used to use the price of a McDonalds ...

While not want to play down the delights of Mostar, or indeed the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, permit me to indulge in a little piece of promotion for the delights of the Croatian Coast...although naturally one tempered with a warning!

This is no Ansel Adams but to the naked eye this was a fantastic view. The town across the water is Gradac, on the Makarska Riviera in Croatia. I had to upload this one as a tribute to our trusty Canon Ixus 70, who got a wet bottom as I was taking it! Once the day began to cool down the light was just amazing. I love sunsets at the best of times. Today we were treated to the sun slipping down behind the mountains as we strolled along the sea shore. Beautiful stuff!