{"id":4146,"date":"2019-06-28T20:59:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T20:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/updates.xephalon.net\/?p=4146"},"modified":"2019-07-29T07:24:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T07:24:40","slug":"club-vit-in-the-balkans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2019\/06\/28\/club-vit-in-the-balkans\/","title":{"rendered":"Club Vit in the Balkans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>After\"\"<\/a> presenting on day one of the\u00a0conference<\/a>\u00a0while Melody got a facial and massage, we saved room for dinner by sharing\u00a0pizza<\/a> nearby, then\u00a0took a bus to Dubrovnik’s Old Town<\/a> where our dinner at Michelin-starred 360<\/a> 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.\u00a0 We arrived in Mostar to visit mosques<\/a>, Turkish homes<\/a>, and the iconic Stari Most<\/a>, then lunched on kofte and manti-like klepe at Sadrvan<\/a> before souvenir shopping on Coppersmith street<\/a>.\u00a0Back in Dubronik, we dropped off our rental car by tossing the keys through an open office window<\/a>, then dined seaside at Nautika<\/a> over fantastic but pricey seafood. We strolled the city walls Monday morning with our Dubrovnik Card<\/a>, then visited\u00a0the Rector\u2019s Palace<\/a>, Dubrovnik Cathedral<\/a>, a\u00a0Serbian Orthodox Church<\/a> with its many cats, and Franciscan Monastery<\/a> with its longest-running active pharmacy.\u00a0Our 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<\/a> and afternoon nap before the conference dinner at the Hotel Excelsior<\/a>, 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<\/a> host over pasta and stuffed squid at Che Nova<\/a>, then enjoyed the gorgeous bay view from our apartment despite interruptions from cruise ships.\u00a0We waited out the heat by doing laundry before exploring Old Town<\/a>, where we skipped the imposing climb up the city walls for more souvenir shopping and fresh seafood at Cesarica<\/a>, 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 caf\u00e9, 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 Knja\u017eeva ba\u0161ta<\/a>, squatted in an\u00a0air-conditioned office building at the Marina<\/a>\u00a0for a couple of hours, then hopped around several grocery stores before camping out at the Voli Hipermarket<\/a> cafe, where we withstood cigarette smoke for Wi-Fi and air conditioning over palacinka and cafe affogatto. Our overnight train<\/a> to Belgrade took us into the Dinaric Alps<\/a>, through dramatic canyons, across stilted bridges<\/a>, along river gorges, and even over an ancient tectonic lake<\/a>. 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<\/a> to gawk at the guilded crypt, walked past\u00a0Slavija<\/a> and Flower Squares<\/a> to\u00a0St. Mark’s Church<\/a>, then strolled past\u00a0Knez Mihailova<\/a> for \u0107evapi and phone charging at\u00a0Manufaktura<\/a>. We skipped Belgrade Fortress<\/a> to make our flight out, but a delayed departure and an overzealous security agent left us stranded overnight in Frankfurt with a sad\u00a0hotel<\/a>\u00a0dinner before a less eventful layover in SFO with chowder and crab rolls<\/a> the next day.\u00a0Despite\u00a0the summer heat, border crossings, and currency exchanges, and despite missing Friday clinic and having to file a Lufthansa claim<\/a> for our flight delays, we\u00a0enjoyed our time off in the Balkans and were happy to be back with Westley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After presenting on day one of the\u00a0conference\u00a0while Melody got a facial and massage, we saved room for dinner by sharing\u00a0pizza nearby, then\u00a0took a bus to Dubrovnik’s Old Town where our dinner at Michelin-starred 360 atop the city walls was hot … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4146"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4186,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146\/revisions\/4186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}