After presenting on day one of the conference while Melody got a facial and massage, we saved room for dinner by sharing pizza nearby, then took a bus to Dubrovnik’s Old Town where our dinner at Michelin-starred 360 atop the city walls was hot and unimpressive. Next morning, we drove through Bosnia and was thankful for our international driving permit after two traffic stops that almost landed us a speeding fine.  We arrived in Mostar to visit mosques, Turkish homes, and the iconic Stari Most, then lunched on kofte and manti-like klepe at Sadrvan before souvenir shopping on Coppersmith street. Back in Dubronik, we dropped off our rental car by tossing the keys through an open office window, then dined seaside at Nautika over fantastic but pricey seafood. We strolled the city walls Monday morning with our Dubrovnik Card, then visited the Rector’s Palace, Dubrovnik Cathedral, a Serbian Orthodox Church with its many cats, and Franciscan Monastery with its longest-running active pharmacy. Our tour was dotted with remnants of the city’s siege in the 90s, reminding us of the devastation of the Serbian conflicts we heard about in middle school. The afternoon heat drove us back to the hotel for lunch and afternoon nap before the conference dinner at the Hotel Excelsior, where we hung out with some Brazilian ophthalmologists and spouses. After the meeting, we took a bus to Kotor that was delayed by the tedious border crossing into Montenegro. We waited for our AirBnb host over pasta and stuffed squid at Che Nova, then enjoyed the gorgeous bay view from our apartment despite interruptions from cruise ships. We waited out the heat by doing laundry before exploring Old Town, where we skipped the imposing climb up the city walls for more souvenir shopping and fresh seafood at Cesarica, including fish soup, stuffed squid, and grilled sea bream. On Wednesday, we grabbed baked goods for a bus ride to Bar, where we were accosted upon arrival by an old woman who mimed her way to “help” us secure train tickets to Belgrade, store our luggage at a local café, and cab us to lunch downtown. With little to do and unrelenting sun, we took our time with our black risotto and seafood pasta at Knjaževa bašta, squatted in an air-conditioned office building at the Marina for a couple of hours, then hopped around several grocery stores before camping out at the Voli Hipermarket cafe, where we withstood cigarette smoke for Wi-Fi and air conditioning over palacinka and cafe affogatto. Our overnight train to Belgrade took us into the Dinaric Alps, through dramatic canyons, across stilted bridges, along river gorges, and even over an ancient tectonic lake. Our 2nd class double-berth had no air-conditioning, but the evening breeze kept us comfortable despite rowdy neighboring teenagers and two passport checkpoints by armed police. On arrival, we cabbed to the unfinished Church of St Sava to gawk at the guilded crypt, walked past Slavija and Flower Squares to St. Mark’s Church, then strolled past Knez Mihailova for ćevapi and phone charging at Manufaktura. We skipped Belgrade Fortress to make our flight out, but a delayed departure and an overzealous security agent left us stranded overnight in Frankfurt with a sad hotel dinner before a less eventful layover in SFO with chowder and crab rolls the next day. Despite the summer heat, border crossings, and currency exchanges, and despite missing Friday clinic and having to file a Lufthansa claim for our flight delays, we enjoyed our time off in the Balkans and were happy to be back with Westley.

When we learned that Club Vit would take place in Dubrovnik this year, we decided to make it a vacation sans Westley, with a road trip through Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Serbia. After layovers in SFO and Munich, we arrived in Zagreb where we dined al fresco at Agave over foie gras and baked octopus despite the sizzling heat. We lingered over the heartbreaking Museum of Broken Relationships, then headed for Lubjlana, which charmed us with dragon statues, bridges, and Cacao’s single-origin gelato. We enjoyed deer carpaccio and frog legs at Spajza before driving to our AirBnB in Lake Bled. In the morning, we beat the crowds to beautiful Vintgar Gorge then returned for a bumpy electric bike ride around the lake. We attempted to summit Mala Osojnica for the view, but abandoned our climb due to heat and lack of fitness. We recouped with octopus salad and seafood tagliatelle on Ostarija Peglez’n’s patio, picked up a slice of the famous Bled cream cake and scoop of Sladogled (an international winner, but the raisins killed it), then enjoyed siesta followed by dinner at Finefood which featured a massive beef tartare prepared tableside. We drove to Tolmin Gorge Monday, which unlike Vintgar’s waterfalls featured icy rapids, forbidden caves, and a brutal climb to Devil’s Bridge. Filling on leftover krof and airplane sandwiches, we reached Predjama Castle for a brief visit which Melody sat out, then raced to Postojna Caves for a thrilling train ride and tour of limestone formations and blind olm salamanders. We snacked on gibanica before arriving in Plitvice for dinner at Degenija over brook trout and tender veal cooked under an iron lid. On Tuesday, an erroneous GPS entry led us through unpaved dirt tracks before we found our way to Plitvice Lakes. Our 4-hour hike through the beautiful falls reminded us of Uncharted, especially when it started to rain. We dried off over grilled meats at Licka Kuca, then got lost again finding free parking at the Lozovac entrance to Krka National Park. Compared to Plitvice, Krka was more swampy and less impressive, so we decided to skip swimming at the falls to head to Split. Despite the sketchy exterior to our AirBnb apartment, we felt safe walking to the Riva, where the energy and people reminded us of Las Ramblas. After impressive scallops, black risotto, and sea bass en papillote at Konoba Matejuska, we savored Luka ice-cream as we admired how the town incorporated the roman ruins. Exhausted by Thursday, we replaced our original plan for Korcula island with a local culinary tour. Our sarcastic guide talked about food and life in Split while helping us buy scorpion fish, red prawns, squid, warty Venus clams and big clams at the local fish market, followed by veggies from Green Market, which were prepared for us while we shopped for souvenirs and watched a Diocletian reenactment. Dinner with my friend Christina was a little disappointing, but we perked up with more Luka ice cream before bed. On Friday, we explored Diocletian Palace more thoroughly, avoiding the Game of Thrones-themed tourist traps, before driving through a strip of Bosnia to Dubrovnik. We stopped by Mali Ston along the way for a private oyster farm tour and shucking, then lunched at Bota Sare while watching the McLaren Adriatic 2019 tour come in with elderly drivers who needed help exiting their cars. Undetered by a parking ticket, we arrived at our conference hotel, sneaked out of the welcome dinner to watch the sunset from Mount Srd, then returned to the dinner without anyone noticing.