Healing from Wars in Vukovar, Croatia (#23) (C#6)

We learned about school segregation between ethnic Serbs and Croations living in Croatia before we started our day on the boat. When we arrived in Croatia, we were escorted around the town and to our Home Host lunches by our local guide Ivor.

His humor was exceptional, and his tour was enlightening on the thoughts of Croations.

Ivor took us our a tour of beautiful downtown Vukovar. The buildings look like they are 300 years old but pristine. Turns out the buildings are only 27 years old. The entire town was flattened in 1991 during the Croatian War of Indepence with Serbia. In the late 1990's aid from around the world supported the reconstruction of Vukovar.

 We visited the the Vukovar Water Tower which still stands as a symbol of Croatian resistance. The bullet holes were from the Serbian Army. Each hole symbolized a mortar that wasn't directed at a home in Croatia.

Grand Central Cruise Line has a program Home House Visits where tour guests lunch with local families in their home. We felt more prepared when we joined our Home Hosts for a meal at a local Croatian home. We were welcomed by Rada, her husband, cousin and their two children to a wonderful meal. Her son has Gluten allergies, so she was easily able to make the vegetarian and gluten-free dishes for our group.

Fun fact, when we got off the boat in the morning to start the day's tour, the MS River Aria took off up river.

Later in the day we meet the Aria up river at Aljamas, Croatia We joked all day about whether we would see the Aria again.

We successfully boarded at our next stop and headed towards Budapest for an overnight trip.

July 30

Pros: Fantastic in depth tour about Croatia, Open conversations about life in Croatia under Communism and after Communism

Cons: Not enough time

Rating; 5 Stars