There was heavy rain overnight, and this morning there was a definite chill in the air, despite some breaks in the clouds. We packed up Oscar, and drove through the heart of Croatia, first skimming the borders of the National Park, and then heading across the mountains, back towards the coast. The scenery was gorgeous – green verdant pastures with a backdrop of mountains, many still with remnants of snow. As we got nearer the coast again, it started to warm up, and the sun re-appeared.

We crossed a huge bridge over to the island of Krk, and then made our way to the ferry terminal. By now, we are getting used to the Croatian ferries. They are a bit like the Caledonian McBrae ferries in Scotland, servicing the coastal islands. They seem incredibly efficient – you just rock up, buy a ticket, and you’re away. The crossing over to the island of Cres only took about forty minutes, and we sat on deck looking out over the islands.

Cres is allegedly the place where Jason and the Argonauts fled with the Golden Fleece. It is famed for it’s unique breed of Tramuntana sheep, which are particularly adapted to karst pastures. But this sheep farming is now in danger as their numbers have plummeted due to the introduction of Wild Boar by Croatian’s hunting lobby. The wild boar feast on the sheep and lambs, and wait for this – have even been spotted on the island’s campsites! The island is also home to the protected Griffon Vulture, which is also suffering due to the decline in sheep numbers. On queue as we drove off the ferry, we spotted our first Tramuntana sheep!

We had booked our campsite on Cres just for one night, expecting to move on to the island of Losinj tomorrow. However, we were instantly taken with this place. Driving off the ferry, we climbed a steep road over he mountains to Cres town on the other side of the island. Our campsite sits just outside the town, on it’s own fine shingle beach, looking out across the water. Being early in the season, we had a choice of pitches, and opted for one that was about a pound more expensive, but right by the water. It is enclosed on three sides by small shrubs and olive trees, and unusually, the pitch is on grass rather than gravel. We immediately got a good feeling about this place. It was blissfully quiet, with just the sound of birdsong and lapping waves. Within minutes of setting up our pitch, a little male chaffinch and a blackbird were sat next to me chirping to be fed. Well those of you who know me, know that I am a glutton for feeding birds, and within no time at all, I had two new friends at my side. Howard was a little puzzled when he returned from reception to find his groundsheet scattered in biscuit crumbs – but the poor things looked so hungry!

After a cuppa, we headed the twenty minutes or so round the coastal path into the town of Cres. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. A really charming little town, set around a working harbour, fringed with multi-coloured old Venetian buildings. It seemed rather like a Croatian version of Tobermory. There were attractive cafes and restaurants around the harbour, but filled with locals enjoying a late Friday afternoon drink, and not another tourist in site. It was quite gorgeous. We sat at a bar and enjoyed a glass of the local Grasevina wine, looking out as the fishing boats came and went – most enjoyable. We then headed back towards the campsite, stopping off at a pizzeria for tea. By now, we had decided that we would change our plans, and stay at least another day here. Back at the campsite, as we sat watching the sunset by the lighthouse, the lady in the bar told Howard that most days they see the resident pod of dolphins come in on the incoming tide to feed. So that clinched it – we will stay another day. There also seem to be plenty of walks and cycle paths in the vicinity, and Howard has already planned his morning run. So quite unexpectedly, we have stumbled across this glorious place, that initially was just a stop-over point for our real destination. Isn’t it strange how when travelling, it’s the journey that is often the best thing, rather than the end goal? Such is the case here. Frankly, I could put down roots in this place, but as Howard points out, give me another day of heaven, and I’ll start getting itchy feet again. Who knows?!

I leave you with a few photos of the day. You may notice a strange man in a cork hat! Perhaps the fashion’s catching on?

Today we spent the whole day exploring the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It is somewhere that less than a fortnight ago, to my shame, I had never heard of. It was our guide, Filip, from our trips to Bosnia and Montenegro who had raved about the place, and urged us to visit. I am so pleased we took his advice.

Unfortunately today, the weather was against us a little, being overcast and drizzly for most of the day. But despite this, we were able to appreciate the amazing beauty of this National Park.

The park sits fairly close to the border with Bosnia, and is in stark contrast to the warm Croatian islands we had left the day before. There was a definite chill in the air last night, and from our campsite we could see snow on the distant mountains. Indeed, as we drove into the park this morning, we were able to spy patches of snow sitting still on the woodland floor.

Plitvice Lakes are an amazing natural phenomenon. They are a series of sixteen waterfalls and lakes, which have evolved slowly over time due to deposits of calcium carbonate in the river water. The calcium carbonate precipitates out on the vegetation, forming layers of tufa or travertine. This forms barriers to the flow of water in the rivers, this forming a series of interlinking waterfalls over these limestone deposits. Since the travertine is constantly being deposited this means that the landscape is constantly changing. Apparently in the sunlight, the water in the lakes is a vibrant turquoise green colour due to mineral deposits. Certainly looking at the postcards, the colours look iridescent. Sadly today we did not see the vibrant colours promised due to the overcast weather, but the park was still stunningly beautiful.

Having been awarded UNESCO World Heritage site status in 1979, the Croatians have clearly worked hard to make this place accessible to as many visitors as possible without turning it into a theme park. Today it is the most visited attraction in Croatia, but because it covers such a huge area, it does not seem crowded. There are many series of footpaths linking the lake and waterfall systems, some along boardwalks almost the falls, and an electric boat transports visitors from one end of the longest lake to the other. There are also shuttle buses around the outside the perimeter to transport people back to the entrances. But it all been done very sympathetically, and once you have paid your entrance fee, everything else is free.

It is hard to think that in the early 1990s, this National Park sat centre stage in the Balkan conflict. In fact, it was the first place in the Croatian War of Independence that was invaded by the Serbian Army. The first Croatian to be shot dead in the war was one of the Park Rangers, and the Serbian Army used some of the park hotels for their barracks.

Today, it seemed such an utterly peaceful place – with pleasant woods carpeted with wild flowers, and resonating bird-song. It was really hard to believe that less than 25 years ago, this was a war zone.

I had a wonderful day wandering around, taking lots of photographs, and enjoying the scenery. At one point, whilst I was engrossed in taking photos, I looked up to see a young Asian women further along the boardwalk jumping up and down, shrieking and with her arms in the air. Then I saw the reason. Howard was up to his old tricks again. ‘David Bailey’ was there on the path – directing various poses and compositions! Why is it that people always ask Howard to take their photographs?!! This girl though, unlike the last poor souls who requested he took their photos, had the sense to look at his efforts on her iPhone. She then re-directed him to take different compositions and angles! When I caught up with him, he looked rather sheepish when I asked him what had he been doing! Just obliging with a few photos, he replied.

Totally worn out from all our walking, we opted to take the boat back across the lake, especially since by then, the rain had really set in. I was struck by how like some parts of Scotland and the UK this landscape looked at times. The woodland flora was full of primroses, wild violets, celandines, wood anemones and water buttercups. We even saw some wild heather in flower. On the hillsides, the colours could have been those of Loch Tay, with it’s muted browns, and odd flashes of spring green where the trees where just coming into bud.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 We saw none of the wildlife promised in our guide – no bears, wolves or water snakes.

This morning, however, as we sat having our breakfast, a red squirrel popped out from behind a tree trunk by Oscar, and momentarily sat and looked at us. It was quite a bit darker than the Scottish reds, but with that same cheeky look and adorable tufted ears.

I think Plltvice Lakes is a destination that would look wonderful in all seasons, and I feel really lucky that we stumbled across it on our European tour.

Tomorrow we head back towards the coast for a final bit of seaside, before heading back up through Europe. Maybe David Bailey can find a few more poor souls to assist with their holiday photographs!

Today we were sad to leave Hvar. It had been a lovely relaxing few days, made extra special by our lovely host. At breakfast this morning, we were her only guests, and she served us home made Wild Orange preserve and Rosemary Honey, as well as her smoked and goat’s cheeses, which she also makes herself. Often places are made by the people you encounter, and certainly this is somewhere we would happily return to. She also told us that in ten days time, she will be fully booked for the rest of the season – so we definitely came across this place at the right time. As we paid and left, our hotelier gave us a gift of a jar of her home made orange marmalade, and two sachets of lavender, Hvar being renowned for it’s fields of lavender. I did wonder, though, if perhaps when Howard gave her a lift in Oscar to his parking spot, she had thought that the van was getting a bit whiffy. I plan to put the lavender next to Howard’s running kit – it is starting to remind me of a boy’s changing room! 

On his morning run, Howard also discovered the mystery of ‘Hvar, the party town’. This morning, he ran around the peninsular, and came across a load of hotels and beach bars, as well as ‘Hula-Hula beach, which is obviously where all the youngsters hang out, well away from the gorgeous Old Town. On the peninsular path there was also a large sign, clearly addressed to the young party goers, warning of 500 euro fines in the event of walking past the sign wearing beachwear, drinking in public on the street, or falling down drunk! Clearly in the past, the drunken behaviour of these youngsters has been a problem, so Hvar has dealt with it in a forthright fashion. Good for them.

Before leaving Hvar, we paid one final trip to the supermarket to pick up essential supplies such as fresh bread and milk, since we will be out in the sticks for a few nights. As we stood in the queue to pay, what should come over the sound system but ‘The Proclaimers – 500 miles’. Unfortunately for the locals, Howard and I couldn’t resist joining in with the chorus and doing a bit of on the spot marching. For some reason, the Croatians don’t seem to know bit in the chorus that comes after ‘But I would walk 500 miles, And I would walk 500 more, Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles, To fall down at your door’. All you Scots know what I am talking about – ‘Da na na na! Da na na na! Da na na na na na na na na na na!’ Well that really seemed to puzzle the locals stood with us in the queue! At this point, we didn’t really have any option but to leave Hvar.

En route to the ferry, we stopped briefly in Hvar’s second town, Stari Grad, only really because we had missed the sign to the ferry. It looked very pleasant, with attractive houses built around a picturesque harbour. I went into the Tourist Information office to ask where we caught the ferry from, and she pointed out to sea at the large ferry passing the harbour entrance. ‘2km along the road – and that’s it’. So our stay in Star Grad was understandably brief!

The ferry trip to Split was lovely. We sat on deck in the sun, and took in the views. We passed by the island of Brac, and in the distance spotted the quarry where they extracted the white limestone used to build ‘The White House’ in Washington DC. Driving off the ferry into Split was a bit of a culture shock, after our lazy quiet island. We suddenly had to negotiate lots of traffic and find our way to the motorway. We are currently headed north towards Zagreb. We have just passed a road sign warning of wolves and bears – ooh er! In the distance are a huge range of snow capped mountains.

Before reaching Zagreb, we are heading off piste towards the Plitvice Lakes National Park, which our guide from Dubrovnik had recommended. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979, and is famous for it’s series of lakes and waterfalls. According to my guide book, it is also renowned for water snakes, bears, wolves and some interesting bird life. So we shall see.

Oscar has just passed his 10,000 mile milestone, so maybe tonight we should celebrate. Perhaps I will make use of the limes we discovered in the supermanket yesterday. The only real decision to make is Hendricks or Caorunn?!!!

 

Today has been a very relaxing day, and I have totally fallen for Hvar. It exudes a feeling of calm relaxation, in complete contrast to the wild party resort we had read about. I think we have been very fortunate to be here just at the start of the season. Enough of the cafes and bars are open around the picturesque harbour, but the town is still clearly just gearing up for the tourist season. Many of the shops are still closed (much to Howard’s delight!), but it still feels like a place that is just waking up.

Last night we ate at a restaurant a stone’s throw from our room in the Villa. It had been recommended by the owner as serving good local food. From, the outside it looked lovely, and perusing the menu on the board outside, we agreed that this was the place. As we entered, there was no-one in the lower segment, but we followed a sign up a flight of stairs to the roof terrace, enthusiastically followed by the chef! The roof terrace was indeed lovely, but completely deserted. No worries, we thought – it looks nice enough, and the decor was very pleasing. As we sat at our table, situated between two gas burners for warmth, there was some jolly Croatian music playing. Howard and I ordered our food from the cheery man, who seemed very pleased with Howard’s choice of the local fish stew, and sat back to enjoy the music. The waiter then returned, and clearly felt that his music choice was not appropriate. He shuffled around some CDs and picked out the most ghastly romantic slop he could find, and put it on. Howard and I felt like something out of ‘The Lady and the Tramp’ – you know, the scene where they sit staring at each other gooey eyed, sharing the spaghetti! We laughed at his choice, and I think eventually he cottoned on that we didn’t want to sit for the entire evening listening to soppy love songs, and put the jolly Croatian music back on for us. Luckily, Howard desisted from doing his Dad dancing, but it was a close shave! The meal was indeed splendid, and quite a change from our usual ‘van food’.

This morning, we were yet again woken to the sound of bells – they really like their bell ringing here in Croatia. I actually really like it too – we used to live behind the Norman Church in a little village called Langford Budville in Somerset, and my favourite days were Thursday night’s bell ringing practice, and the bells ringing on a Sunday to call people to church.

Breakfast this morning was also sublime (apologies if I am making you jealous). Our lovely lady produced a spread that has set us up for the day – with home made cheeses and preserves, delicious muesli and fresh fruit and even my favourite peppermint tea. I am already grieving our departure tomorrow. Howard tucked in, having done his morning run up to the fort at the top of the hill and back five times!

After breakfast we ambled round the Old Town, checked up on the boy, bought a few essentials from the local supermarket, including some limes (!), and then de-camped to a cafe by the harbour for a coffee. We spread out our Europe map on the table, and attempted to do a bit of planning. I suspect as we move into tourist season, our rather hap-hazard method of planning where we are going to go the day before will catch us out, since it is increasingly likely that we will need to book up our campsites in advance. In a way, this takes away some of the fun, since not knowing where we might end up in a day or twos time has been quite liberating. However, we need to be up in Denmark for the first part of May, so it makes sense to have some idea of how we will get there.

As I type, I am sitting by the harbour in dappled shade watching the world go by. I love watching the boats come and go, and Howard and I took great delight in observing two ‘learners’ in a sailing school yacht bring a gorgeous Beneteau alongside the quay just where we are sitting. I am already planning skiff excursions to Croatia – I think it will be the perfect combination of wonderful coastal scenery and coffee shop stops – just my sort of rowing. Whether or not I can persuade any of the other Wormit rowers to join in is another matter. But for now, I can dream!

You may recall that Howard set a three month limit on using everything that came with us in the van, or else it goes! Well today being day 90, there was one thing that needed a reprieve – a 60th birthday present to Howard from our friends – a stunt kite! So off we set around the headland, firstly to find a bit of wind, but more importantly to put ourselves out of sight of any other tourists or locals. Spot chosen, we set about putting the kite together. It took Howard two You-Tube videos, and three quarters of an hour unravelling the string (don’t ask!), before were ready to have a go. Initially our attempts were fairly feeble, but eventually the wind picked up, and we developed a masterly technique of me standing on a bench and throwing the kite as high as I could – while Howard ran backwards along the coastal path pulling backwards with his arms. I’m quite sure that anyone witnessing this farce would have been wondering what these two idiots were up to – but for what it’s worth – we enjoyed ourselves, and the result is that they kite stays. So thank you Evelyn and Ralph for a great birthday gift – it was inspired!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to the coast for a while, and head inland.

Today was a day of bells. We awoke to the sound of bells from the local church in Gradac on the Dalmation coast, just behind our campsite. We had arrived at Gradac late in the day, just as the sun was starting to set. The position of the campsite was wonderful – right by the beach looking out across the Adriatic. By the time we arrived, the reception was closed, so we picked the last remaining spot by the water, quickly put up the roof, and then scuttled off down to he water to take some photos. Just along from the campsite was a small harbour, surrounded by a few bars. Being Sunday evening, many of the locals were sitting outside, enjoying the last of the sun. Many of the local fisherman were just leaving the harbour in their small boats to go fishing – there must have been ten or twelve small boats out on the water, and a couple left to join them as we stood and watched. The light was superb, and much to my embarrassment Howard managed to shoot some better photos on his iPhone than I did on my camera – I will post them for you to see! Walking back to the campsite, we stopped at one of the waterside bars and had a bite to eat and a drink – very pleasant.

We went to bed listening to the sound of gentle waves lapping on the shore, and set our alarm, since we planned to leave the site early to catch the ferry to Hvar Island. Although both our alarms rang, it was only the sound of the bells that eventually got us up!

We packed up the van, but still no-one had appeared in the campsite office. Not wanting to miss our ferry, we left, but sent an email to say that we had stayed the night, and could they please invoice us. Later in the morning, I received a reply – ‘Have the night’s stay as a gift – maybe you will return one day’. We were touched.

The ferry to Hvar was wonderful. The sun was shining, and the coastal scenery just spectacular. However, just as we arrived on the island, the clouds welled up and it started to rain. We landed at Sucuraj on the far eastern end of the island, and drove the full length of the island, a surprising 70km. For the whole length of the drive, we only passed two other cars. It was like a ghost island. Strange – as we had read on the ferry that this was a bustling party island – but no signs of this today. Much of the island was covered in small olive groves, the plots separated by piles of stones that had been cleared from the land to enable cultivation. We stopped briefly at a town called Jelsa on the northern coast for coffee. It had a pleasant harbour, surrounded by a polished limestone walkway. We sat under the awning looking out across to the far side, the only ones outside in the rain.

We arrived at Hvar Town, at the far western end of the island, and were met by the lady who ran the ‘Villa’ where we were staying. She directed Oscar to his parking spot, and we followed her on foot into the Old Town. We have been surprised to find the many of the campsites in Croatia are not yet open – apparently party season doesn’t start until May. Our host explained that the town was still very quiet, but that in a week or two it would be transformed. We heaved a sigh of relief – just as we like it. Our room is gorgeous (and very cheap), so we instantly decided to stay an extra night.

Later in the afternoon, we took a walk up to the 16th century fort that looks out over the town. The views were wonderful, and thankfully by then, the rain had stopped and the sun come out. We then wandered back to the main square, St. Stephens Square, which was originally the river estuary, but filled in to form a huge polished limestone plaza from the cathedral down to the waterfront. As the sun started to set, we sat and had a drink and did a significant bit of ‘people watching’. Many of the locals were out for their early evening promenade, and three small children had this enormous square almost to themselves for their football game. A very relaxing way to pass half an hour. As we sat there, loud bells started ringing out over the town. A good end to the day.

I really like Hvar. It has a lovely feel about the place. I’m not sure I would like it in the middle of the summer when it is full of crowds – but for now, it is perfect. I can see why the Croatians are so proud of their Dalmation Islands – they are certainly some very special locations.

Today was an emotionally difficultly day for me. Firstly, we had to drive to Dubrovnik Airport and wave goodbye to Edward. Secondly, it was my eldest son Thomas’ 30th birthday – quite a significant milestone, and it felt strangely sad not to be with him to celebrate. All the more difficult because by the time we return from our trip, he will be off away working in Australia for a year. I must admit to shedding a few tears as I hugged Edward goodbye, but my sadness was quickly overtaken by irritation as he texted to say that he had heard his name being announced over he tannoy at Dubrovnik Airport. Turns out he had left his credit card at the Duty Free shop after buying a giant tube of M & Ms! So typical of my dearest youngest son! Once I had spoken with Thomas, I started feeling a little more optimistic about the day.
Our guide yesterday evening was very concerned about us when he asked us what were our plans for today. Unsure, we said we would take a look at the guidebook later that evening. He could not believe that we were so disorganised. Little did he know. Such was the deficiency in our planning for this trip, that we had failed to realise when we sailed into Dubrovnik from Italy, that Croatia is bisected by a 7km stretch of Bosnia on it’s Adriatic Coast. This is apparently a long standing arrangement, dating from the Ottoman times, when Bosnia was granted a small stretch of access to the sea. Unfortunately for us, this created a problem. Since Bosnia is not a member of the EU, our insurance company will not cover us to drive Oscar in Bosnia. The same applies to Montenegro, which is why we travelled there yesterday with a guide. So, the only way of getting across this stretch of Bosnia into catch a car ferry from the Peljesac Peninsular across to Ploce, which sits on the mainland above this odd piece of Bosnian coast.
So as I type, we are sitting in the queue for the car ferry. We have also just received notification from a campsite just outside of Ploce that they’re open – so all is good.
The drive along the peninsular this morning was sublime. The sun was shining, and the colour of the sea was a deep turquoise blue – almost too azure to look real. The water is so clear here, that you can see all the pebbles on the bottom of the sea from high up on the cliff roads. We stopped for coffee at Ston once more, the fortified walled town we had stopped at on our way to Orebic, then headed north eastwards towards the ferry. En route, we stopped at a winery, and Howard purchased some of the famous Plajec red wine. I managed to misread the ferry timetable (it is Sunday), so having a couple of hours to spare, we parked up overlooking Trpanj Bay and had a picnic in the van, looking out over the sea – just beautiful. As we sat there, a school of dolphins swam into the bay, much to our delight.

Our ferry has just arrived, so hopefully within a few hours, we will be a little further north on our journey up through Croatia. So far, we are loving this country. It has a spectacular coastline, it is clean, and the people are very friendly. We have eventually mastered ‘good morning’ and ‘thank you’, and Howard, who is usually at least one language behind where we are travelling, has at last stopped talking Italian!

We have spent our last day with Edward in Montenegro. Wow! What an amazing country. The small part that we have seen has been exceptionally beautiful, and left us wanting to see more.
We set off early with our guide, Filip, stopping to look back over Dubrovnik Old Town before heading for the border. Like Bosnia yesterday, Montenegro is not part of the EU, unlike Croatia, so we first had to endure the painfully slow Border Police first check our passports on the Croatian side, and then on the Montenegrin side of the border. I must say, the Montenegrin guards won hands down in time and efficiency.
Once in Montenegro, we drove south towards the Bay of Kotor, which is in effect three huge interlinking bays surrounded by mountains which lead eventually to Kotor Old Town.
First, however, we wound our way along the spectacular coastline to a little town called Perast. The two main attractions in Perast are actually out in the bay – both islands. One is man-made, and called ‘Our Lady of the Rock’. The story goes that in 1452, the locals saw an image of the Madonna on a rock in the bay. Sailors, wanting to thank the Virgin Mary for their safe passage, started depositing more rocks on this site, slowly forming an island. In 1630, a church was erected on the rock, containing many Venetian paintings, since at that time Montenegro was ruled by the Venetians, who controlled all the coast of Croatia and Montenegro. Even today, every year on 22nd July, locals take boats over to the island and deposit more rocks in respect of the virgin Mary.
The other island is called St. George’s Island, and contains a Benedictine Monastery flanked by cypress trees.
We took a small boat trip out to the ‘Lady of the Rock’ to admire the beautiful church with it’s sky blue roof. It made me think of all my rowing chums, who today were taking part in the Perth to Wormit row. However, our boat ride involved considerably less exertion!
Once back on shore, we decanted to a local cafe looking out over the bay for a coffee, and to sample the local ‘Perast Cake’, made from almonds. Our guide tried to persuade us that it was very healthy, but personally, I have my doubts – it seemed pretty calorific to me.
We then headed on around the Bay, eventually arriving at Kotor. The settings for this spectacular medieval town is right at the far end of the bay, with towering mountains on three sides, and the azure blue water on the other. I must say, I was rather alarmed as we approached to see a huge great cruise ship docked right in front of the old town, completely towering over it’s surroundings. It was so out of place and out of scale, and my heart sank. But fortunately, not long after arriving, there were several loud toots on the horn, and the thousands of visitors flocked back onto their floating hotel, and were away. Since I have several friends who love cruising, I shall keep my opinions to myself, save to say, I was very relieved when the hoards left!
We met up with a charming local guide, who showed us round her town. I must say, Kotor, in my opinion, is easily en par with Dubrovnik. It has the medieval architecture, charm and beauty, without the commercialism of Dubrovnik – although as it becomes more popular on the cruise ship circuit, I’m not sure for how much longer that will be the case. The town dates back to the Middle Ages, and is fortified by zig-zagging defence walls up the hillside. Much of it’s architecture though is influenced by the period of Venetian rule. The entrance to the town is through the Sea Gate, from the time when water came all the way up to the Old Town’s boundary, and displays the winged lion of St. Mark, symbolising the Venetian influence. The town is a maze of winding streets, churches, museums, Venetian palaces and beautiful little squares dotted with cafes. Looking up in the narrow passageways, many of the buildings have intricate wrought iron balconies, and the whole experience is like you are walking back in time. In the main square sits St.Tryphan’s cathedral, with it’s characteristic two bells towers. Much of the wealth of this town came from sea-faring, since many of the most prosperous families were connected with sea-captains or ship building.
After our tour, we were left to our own devices, and we climbed the steep path up alongside the city walls to reveal a spectacular vista over the Old Town, and to watch the huge cruise ship disappear out of the bay.
We then started to re-trace our steps back along the Bay of Kotor, passing many mussel and oyster farms en route. Our stop for a late lunch was at a beautiful old water mill beside the water. Howard, of course, tried the local mussels, which he reports were splendid. By the time we arrived back in Dubrovnik, the sun was low in the sky, sending a gorgeous mellow glow on the limestone buildings of the city.
It had been a brilliant day. Montenegro is a stunningly beautiful country, and we all agreed that it is somewhere we would like to return to. For now though, it is Edward’s last night in Croatia, and tomorrow it will be back to just the two of us. What will we do will all this space?!!!

We spent four days in total staying in Orebic on the Peljesic Peninsular. It is the longest we have spent on one campsite since our trip began, and both Howard and I have appreciated the break from constant travelling. We were fortunate to have a few days of good weather, and made the most of the sunshine. Howard and Edward spent one day cycling along the Peninsular, whilst I took the opportunity to get my hair done. I think Edward now has designs on my bike. The following day we took another trip to Korcula, and had a pleasant walk from the town back to the car ferry terminal. One of our Austrian neighbours on the campsite had obviously been observing our seating arrangements at mealtimes. We only had two chairs, so Howard made an impromptu seat out of some plastic storage boxes and a piece of carpet. The Austrians, spying this from their huge ‘big white’, eventually came over with a chair for us to borrow. I think in total, however, Howard only sat in it for less than twenty minutes – we have decided we could never adopt the ‘campsite routine’ of many of our fellow campers, which seems to involve sitting in their reclining chairs for hours on end, seemingly doing nothing at all. Howard, Edward and I started taking bets as to which of our neighbours would have moved from their spots after we had left them for the best part of a day. By and large, none of them had budged an inch – most odd.
We then wound our way back to Dubrovnik, and are staying in an apartment here for three nights, within walking distance of the Old Town. Yesterday we took the opportunity to walk the city walls, and also visited the Fort overlooking the walled city.
Today, we have spent the day on a trip to Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the town that became famous in the war in the 90s for the destruction of its medieval arched bridge, that spanned the Neretva River, connecting the two sides of the city. By and large, on one side of the bridge lived the Muslim community, and on the other side, the Christians. The city, which had originally been attacked by the Yugoslav People’s Army, then saw rising tension between the Croats and the Bosniacs within the city, which divided largely along ethnic lines. When the bridge was bombed, it meant that the community was divided, and in some cases, families split up. After the conflict, the ancient bridge was re-built, and has become a powerful symbol of the war. Today, the Bosnian economy has still not recovered, and apart from agriculture and some tourism, investment has yet to return to the country. As a result, the unemployment level is as high as 40% in some areas, and wages remain low. Today Mostar was busy with visiting tourists. Our guide for this part of the trip was a charming lady, born and bred in Mostar, but who had spent nearly a decade in New Jersey, USA. It turned out she was actually a Professor of English Literature, but was earning a living by leading tours of her city. We walked through the Muslim part of the city, which retains it’s architecture from the time of the Ottoman Empire, and walked across the new bridge. The cobbled streets leading to the bridge were filled with stalls and shops selling their wares, many of which wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Turkish Souk. The city is famed for it’s copper and silverware, and Howard took the opportunity to purchase a coffee pot for making that strong Eastern coffee – we will see how it works out on the stove in Oscar.
Our guide had recommended a traditional restaurant for lunch by the river. By the time we arrived, there was a small queue for a table. To keep us amused for the few minutes we had to wait, we were brought traditional Bosnian liqueur drinks. The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur, save to say that the lunch was excellent, and the liqueurs very strong.
Later, driving back to Dubrovnik, our guide commented that he could not even bear to sniff this liqueur because of it’s strength. He was quite astounded, therefore, when we told him that we had downed one before lunch, in addition to a rather good litre of the local Bosnian wine. Needless to say, the journey home was very quiet! But a thoroughly good day. Tomorrow we are off to explore Montenegro.

So we met Edward at Dubrovnik Airport, and set off to the Peljesac Peninsular. En route, we stopped at a town called Ston, a medieval town renowned for it’s salt production. It’s other claim to fame is it’s 5.5km wall, one of the longest fortifications in Europe, which was constructed in 1333. As the wall stretched up the mountainside, it looked a little like a mini Great Wall of China.
The drive to the Peljesic Peninsular north of Dubrovnik took a couple of hours. We are staying at a wonderful campsite 1km away from Orebic. It sits looking out over the Adriatic Sea, looking towards Korcula Island.
It has been lovely spending some time with Edward, and I’m sure Howard has appreciated the male company. This morning, they both went off for a morning run, although I think Howard is considerably fitter at present, and he was definitely looking the better on their return. Today was the first day of warm sunshine for weeks, and so we had a lovely breakfast outside, then walked into Orebic. After coffee, we caught the ferry over to Korcula Town and took a look around. It is a picture perfect walled city, a bit like a miniature Dubrovnik, famed for being the home of Marco Polo. We found a magnificent restaurant, and had a very leisurely lunch, before taking the ferry back to Korcula.
This whole peninsular is covered in vineyards, and is renowned for it’s excellent wine, grown on the steeply sloping southern facing hillsides. The sea along this part of the coast is the most vibrant turquoise colour, and the light on the water as the sun descends is quite stunning.
I leave you with some images of this coastline, and of Edward’s trip so far.

Today, Howard and I have been like ‘Busy-Bees’ in preparation for our house guest tomorrow. After buying in supplies from the supermarket, we set about getting the van ship-shape. Whilst I emptied and cleaned the fridge, Howard washed the outside of Oscar. It’s just like getting your house cleaned and tidied up before visitors arrive, but with a space the size of a small dining room table. The problem is – we have so much stuff! Slowly accumulated over the three previous countries – we have the olive oil made by our lovely campsite in Sierra da Estrela in Portugal, we still have packets of odd biscuits left from Spain, we have Limoncello from Positano and we have beautiful ceramic oil holders from Taormina in Sicily. None of this stuff takes up much room per se, but when it all adds up, it has basically meant that the van, which was full when we left the UK, is now overflowing.
So we have been puzzling where to put poor Edward! We implored him not to bring a hard suitcase, and I suspect he will end up having to sleep in the pop up tent we brought with us – so hopefully it will all work out.
Yesterday we spent a few hours in Dubrovnik Old City. It is a changed place from when I was last here nearly ten years ago. It is very much up and running again after the terrible conflict in the early nineties. More shops and restaurants are open, and the place was humming. As with everything, commercialisation has crept in – you now have to pay to walk round the old city walls, and can only walk in a clockwise direction. We will save that treat for Edward later in the week. It was Good Friday, and the entire side street housing the Synagogue in the Jewish portion of the city was filled with Jews lining up to celebrate the Passover. I took Howard to see the exhibition of the defenders, mostly young men, from Dubrovnik who were killed in the awful siege of the city from October 1991. The city survived without water and electricity for over a year, being under constant bombardment from the hills above by the joint Serbian and Montenegrin forces. The damage to the city was immense, with barely a building left standing without shell damage. It is a real testament to the people of Dubrovnik, not only that they survived this horrendous ordeal, as the world sat on their hands and watched, but also had the strength and determination to re-build their beautiful city from the rubble. Everywhere we walked yesterday, you could see evidence of where the shell damage and bullet holes had been filled in on the mellow golden stonework. Today, Dubrovnik is the jewel in the crown of Croatia, and rightly so.
We plan to spend more time there once our ‘cuckoo’ arrives. Hopefully he will love it as much as I do.
Today marks the 80th day of our trip. In that time Jules Verne travelled around the world, so in comparative terms, we have not gone that far. But we are starting to feel a little travel weary, being constantly on the move. So we are going to use this coming week as a bit of a rest, and slow the pace down a little – partly because we feel it would be good to relax a bit more, and partially due to practical reasons. Edward would never have the stamina for the schedule we have been undertaking! He only wakes up at midday for starters. So with that in view, I am going to park the blog for a view days whilst we are entertaining, and will resume once we are on the move again.
Howard and myself would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter – hope you all have fun.

P.S. Apologies for the huge photo of Howard – I don’t know what happened there. Scary!