Our first stop was Vukovar Croatia, where we had a brief tour of the town, and then a moving visit to the countryside to learn about the Yugoslav civil war and the impact on the local people.
The old and new as the town tries to rebuild and recover after a devastating war.
You can see the bullet holes in the buildings. We heard the same story in several places along our tour, that the war not only killed thousands of people, it wrecked the economies, from which these countries still have not recovered. The economic base has been devastated, and young people with promising futures leave as soon as they can.
This house was damaged as most in the city were. Its owners have decided not to restore it as a reminder.
We made our way to a cafe along the river for traditional coffees. We watched calmly as our ship weighed anchor and sailed away.
Near the cafe was a park with what appeared to be tombstones leaning against each other.
Each one had a different design, some aspect of local life and custom.
We drove through the city as our local guide described the three month siege of the city by Serbs, and the loss of life and atrocities, of which there many on both sides.
After the war, mass graves were found, one of them now a cemetery.
The soldiers who lost their lives above, the graves of those found in the mass grave below.
A perpetual flame enclosed in a cross.
Our bus took us to a farm area outside the city where civilians had been taken from the hospital and held in a barn for days before they were massacred.
The barn is now a memorial.
The bullets from the site are incorporated into the cement floor.
The names of the murdered swirl into a perpetual flame.
Around the sides of the room, impossible to see here, are photographs and brief descriptions of the victims.
Outside a small shrine has been made, with the personal objects of the victims.
We rejoined the ship for lunch as we sailed to our next stop, Novi Sad, Serbia.
We walked through a park to the central square, learning abut Serbia and its history before the war from our most excellent Serbian guide, Nemanja.
Nemanja explained that Serbia uses two alphabets for the same spoken language.
After our tour, Tom and I went inside a Serbian Orthodox church; each country has its own orthodox church.
Then we walked back through the park to the ship, tempted though we were to take a pony ride.
That evening we could see the monuments lit up from the ship.
Tom took a night tour of the fortress across the river while Susan stayed on board for a classical music performance by local musicians.
There could have been swimming, but not for us.
Near midnight the ship set sail for Belgrade Serbia.
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