We spent the morning on board on our way to Croatia.

We then went to the town of Osijek where we had a concert in an old church and visited a fort. The young woman who entertained us had an incredible voice.

Next, in the town center, was the fort which is now used to house many municipal buildings and high schools.

Our last stop, for the day was at a home of a Croatian woman. We were served homemade cake, walnut brandy (my favorite) and cherry juice. Most people in this area have significant vegetable gardens, and are pretty much self sufficient for much of their food. Our host actually held a number of different jobs including opening her home to tourists. Croatians are incredibly hard-working people. We were able to ask her quite a number of questions. She was quite open about what happened to her family during the Yugoslav war. She and her children were able to go to Austria but her husband who was a policeman had to serve in the war. Her home was completely destroyed. She actually had some pictures to show us. It took about five years to get the house rebuilt. They were given no warning when Serbia invaded. We talked to a number of people on the cruise who were hosted by different Croatians, and they all had pretty much the same story to tell. One woman does not talk to her children about what happened because she doesn’t want them to grow up hating Serbs. However, there is a great deal of anger and sorrow among older Croatian people. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of this visit. I was to engrossed in what we were talking about.