Tuesday, 26 June, 2019
We had a really good night’s rest in our luxurious bedroom in the old town of Zadar. It’s a good thing we had visited this port town a couple of years back as we had no time to go sight seeing due to today’s busy schedule!
By 9 am we were on the road again after Gerry had his morning coffee and smoke on the little patio leading down the stairs to the pedestrian street below. Luckily our car was parked close by at no extra charges.
For some time we drove over the motorway after leaving Zadar and we were quite alone travelling on this well maintained motorway. However once we exited the motorway to drive to Mostar in Bosnia Herzegovina, the motorway changed to a two lane road winding through the mountainous countryside.
Green agricultural valleys surrounded by ragged mountains
We finally reached the boarded between Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina and it took us quite a while as passports and car documents were being checked thoroughly – of course we needed something back from the officers – passport to be stamped! The Bosnian customs officer was full of humour and said he would stamp our passports but it would cost us five euros each……… hahaha…….
The flag of Bosnia Herzegovina
It took us nearly 2 hours to reach Mostar – a medieval town on the Neretva River and which was heavily shelled and destroyed during the ethnic cleansing wars of the 1990’s. This town was built in the 15 & 16th centuries as an Ottoman frontier city and later developed further by the Austria-Hungarian period in the 19and 20th centuries.
Most of the facades as well as the iconic bridge have been rebuilt through funds donated by UNESCO and now the reconstruction of both the Old Bridge – Stari Most – and the Old City of Mostar are a symbol of reconciliation, international cooperation, and of the coexistence of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious communities.
I then wonder, why was there a war fought?
Driving into Mostar 
Our first view of the iconic bridge 
A better view 
The Old Bridge – Stari Most – one of the main attractions is when young men jump off the bridge x as a sport!
As we had not had any breakfast, we had some lunch along the river and shaded by the trees – now we had to have the Cevapcici (beef and lamb mincemeat rolls) with salad. After our lunch we made our way back to the car to continue our drive to Dubrovnik.
Once on the road, we noticed that at most times, we were the only travelers – high and ragged mountains with hardly a living soulmaround – yes we did see lots of cemeteries – Christian oas well as Moslem cemeteries. Anyway we were really glad when we could see the coastline again and not too long, we crossed the border again into Croatia – we now had some 1.5hours drive to Dubrovnic!
We are staying in a one bedroom apartment just outside the city walls of Dubrovnik – our hosts are really lovely people and made us feel at home straight away – we have a side view of the coastline and apparently from the upper floors, one can see the walled city of Dubrovnik – alas for us (and for our hosts) there is a monstrous big hotel built on the side blocking most of the view. Such a shame as these beautiful villas must have had a fantastic uninterrupted view of the coastline!
Once we were settled and Rudi, our host, showed us the sights on the tourist map, we walked to the old town of Dubrovnik. According to Rudi, it should take us some 25 minutes, but i guess he must be a brisk walker as it took us well over a half hour to reach Fort Lovrijenac where we could admire the view!
Luckily the heat of the day was gradually getting lesser as we entered the city walls through Pile Gate and it was as though we were transported into the film set of Game of Thrones – only I had to imagine all those tourists disintegrating into nothing! We were late to climb up the City Walls – we will leave that for tomorrow- but our walk around and getting to know Dubrovnik was such a wonderful experience!
By the time we had walked around and also heard some lovely singing in the Cathedral, we went down to the Old Port which was truly magnificent. Here we decided to stop and have a drink with a snack and just relax for a while.
Knocking on the brass knob of the Rector’s Palace – now a museum
Well we were ready to go back to our apartment by 10 pm however we did not p,an to walk up the hill as we were dead tired – as we had bought our it’s Card at the tourist office earlier this evening, we also had a bus card so we put it to good use and caught a bus that took us up the hill – from there we walked a small bit to our apartment. When we arrived our next door neighbors from Munich were having a drink on the terrace and we just exchanged our evening’s stories while enjoying a liqueur which Rudi’s wife had left us as a complimentary drink in the apartment.
Tomorrow we will have a bit of a relaxing day as Gerry has been doing all the driving while I have been navigating and getting g things sorted out on the trip.
Time to sleep!
