Dubrovnik to Mostar

Yesterday I got to Dubrovnik in time to take a look at the old city and take a good walk around there. Maybe it's because it's not high tourist season there, but there didn't seem to be a lot of life in the old city.  Split seemed a lot busier, more like a city where people live.  I may have the wrong impression but the old part of Dubrovnik seems more like a museum than a city.

Lots of citrus orange and lemon trees.

A sculpture in the old city that shows the waves in the sea.

Dubrovnik old city

Old city

Dogs playing in the old city

Old city

Old city

Inside the above church

View from the bus station in Dubrovnik this morning, while  waiting to board the bus to Mostar.

Yesterday was a little rainy in Dubrovnik but mostly, it was windy.  I could hear the wind howling all night.

I had to get an early start this morning to get the bus to Mostar.  It's only a little three hours but we had to go through three border checkpoints.  Heading up the coast from Dubrovnik, we went through a small area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there is a town called Neum and is Bosnia's only outlet to the sea.  After Neum we went back into Croatia, then not long after we headed inland we entered Bosnia again.  Actually, we went through the first two checkpoints on the bus from Split to Dubrovnik yesterday.  That part of Bosnia seems almost the same as Croatia, with lots of hotels and vacation houses along the coast.  Heading into the inland part of Bosnia, it seems very different than Croatia.  It's obviously less prosperous and there are buildings with bullet holes in them from the war.  In Bosnia, the first town that the bus stopped was Čapljina.  Even though it is in Bosnia, it is easy to tell that there is a lot of Croatian nationalist sentiment.  There is even a bridge named after former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman (Dubrovnik also has a bridge named for Tudjman, but Dubrovnik is in Croatia).  Heading further towards Mostar there are more and more minarets.

On arriving in Mostar I went to an ATM and got some Bosnian money and found a taxi, as opposed to walking, because it had started to rain.  The taxi driver first tried to take me to his friend's hotel, and then was unable to find the address that I gave him.  So he dumped me near the old bridge.  At the station, before getting the taxi, I had gone to the cafe there and gotten coffee, with the ulterior motive of getting their free WiFi so that I could get my iPhone to cache a map of Mostar.  Using the cached map and GPS (a useful trick to know when you don't have cellular data service) I was able to lug my things through the rain until I was on the right street.  Then people who live in the neighborhood were able to help me find the place when I told them who I was staying with.

My host, Emir, showed me to my room and then invited me downstairs to his family room, where he served me Bosnian coffee.  It was delicious.  Emir and his family have been very welcoming, and they let me sit in their family room, where WiFi reception is better, to use my computer.  Emir also told me about some places to eat and to sample the local wine which he says is very good.

Although it was still raining steadily, I wanted to go out and have a look and find some lunch.  I did a lot of walking around.  I don't know if it's just because it is Sunday, but outside of the touristy area around the old bridge almost nothing seemed to be open.  I eventually found a place near the old bridge and had some Ćevapi for lunch.  By this time I was soaking wet.  I have no clean clothes left but I know that anything I wash today will still be wet tomorrow, because it is still pouring with rain and will be until at least tomorrow (there is no dryer here).  I am looking forward to washing clothes when I get to Sarajevo tomorrow.

Rainy Mostar

Near the old bridge

Near the old bridge

The old town

Still lots of obvious signs of the war

Grim indeed

I hope they save this building

Lunch - Cevapi

The old bridge

The old bridge