BORDERS

Another day,  another country.  We leave Croatia today and head to Serbia.  As if to highlight that fact on the way we visit Vukovar  the most heavily damaged town in the most recent war, enduring a 90 day booming blitz before it fell.

We visited a hospital museum,  a hospital from which 261 wounded were taken, tortured, killed and buried in a mass grave on the day the city fell. We stopped at a local market for a coffee and borek or similar to recover a bit before going on.

This is the top of the Vukovar water tower that was damaged during the blitz.  It is left unrepaired as a reminder of the war.  A stark reminder.  Our final visit in Vukovar I'd to the mass grave memorial  where the wounded taken from the hospital were tortured and shot in a hangar which formerly housed farming equipment.  

This is what greeted us on arrival, but we soon made our way inside to hear what had happened there and how it is commemorated.  The floor is made up of concrete and shell casings, there are artefacts and portraits of those who died but most poignant of all is the never-ending spiral of names around an eternal candle flame.

Then over the border, which has two checkpoints - one for Croatia, one for Serbia.  Once across the border it is surprising that, unlike its Croatian counterpart, the houses in the border village appear untouched.  There was no retaliation during the blitz as the Croatians were given no government support - no weapons.

As a contrast to the morning we spent the rest of the day sampling wines, first in an old winery in Croatia then after the border crossing and checking into our hotel at a bee museum near Novi Sad. Fascinating to hear the history of the hives and the winery, and to taste the various wines including the herbal medicinal dessert wines.

2000 reisling bottles just waiting for us 

Good sleep in order after all that.