Departure imminent

Today--in a few minutes, actually--after months of planning, is the day we head out to the former Yugoslavia. And already there are changes to the plan: sadly, Sarajevo and Mostar will have to wait for our next trip. We were faced with the problem, do we see everything by driving around in a frenzy or, do we see fewer things but in a more relaxed way? Distances in Serbia are not large but the state of the roads off the major highways, well, that may be another matter entirely. Furthermore, the terrain in south central Serbiia is hilly to mountainous. In light of a sober reassessment, the original plan of seeing three sites a day is scrapped. 

Skipping Sarajevo and Mostar means another day to explore Serbia and another night in Split--no hardship there. It also means we had to have another way of getting to Split. We've opted to fly from Belgrade. A simple choice, really, a 55 minute flight vs a 10 hour private car and driver vs a 12 hour bus ride. 

There is much I haven't done, but the biggest thing is that I've learnt so little Serbo-Croatian no more than a dozen or so words. Even those few words escape me when Zak tests me with simple questions. An affinity for languages is not in my skill set. That S-C is not at all like Latin languages makes it all the harder. 

All these problems are, of course, First World problems. Serbia is one of the frontline states in the refugee migrant crisis. There we'll be, heading south on the E75 sightseeing Roman ruins and Serbian monasteries, while heading north on the same route are the people heading for Hungary. I don't know how, or is it even possible, to reconcile these two things.