Bosnia: Mostar

After a full day in Dubrovnik, we rented a car and headed across the border and into the mountains to Mostar, Bosnia.  Our good friend Rick Steves had sung its praises so we decided to check it out and take another walking tour since we'd really enjoyed the two we'd taken in Split and Dubrovnik.  Mostar was a picturesque, if overly touristy, little town and our tour guide was again extremely knowledgeable.  Score.  The town sits astride a small river and there's a beautiful 16th century stone bridge in the center of town that connects the two banks.  The town was razed and the bridge destroyed during an 18 month siege of the city in '92 and '93, but most everything has since been reconstructed.  We also had a tour of a mosque in the town, and got to climb the minaret for a great view.  DJ was going to do the call to prayer but he'd lost his voice.  Just kidding.  The best part was we had absolutely no problems at the border in either direction.  Score.

Croatia: Dubrovnik

After our day in Hvar, we got on a ferry back to Split.  Then we got on a bus and drove through half of Croatia.  Then we drove through some of Bosnia.  Then we got back to Croatia and finally made it to Dubrovnik.  Again, well worth the trip...
Dubrovnik seems like a city frozen in time.  The limestone streets are impeccably clean and the stone buildings are incredibly well preserved.  Huge walls protect the town from everything but tourists (who invade every day from 8 am until 8 pm), and all the shopkeepers and restauranteurs are polite and friendly (apparently they're clued in to the fact that tourism is their bread and butter).  The walk around the city walls is a must do, and the views of the city and the sea are jaw droppers.  We also took a very informative walking tour and learned a lot about the history of the town, including that many of the buildings were destroyed during the war in the early nineties, which was very surprising because it was impossible to tell by looking at them.  There are two bars outside the walls perched on the rocks above the sea, and we spent a few nights out there enjoying a cocktail and marveling at the moon shining off the black water. 

Hrvatska! (Croatia!)

• Continuing on...

  After tearing May off the ol' desk calendar we turned our attention to June and a bit more travel. We had plans to be in Brussels for exactly 11 days in June, and plans for some friends to come to town to share in the fun. First to arrive were our good buddies DJ and Justin (who were actually making their second trips to visit us in Brussels). A few days and a short Ryanair flight later and we were in Croatia!
  We flew into Zadar, which is roughly a 2 hour drive on brand new, billiard smooth highways from Split which was our destination for the night. The only hiccup we found was when we got into the old town of Split in our little rental car. The map load on our GPS hadn't worked, so we were navigating via actual maps and road signs (the horror!), which works great to get you from town to town, but is a bit more problematic once you're actually in the city. Especially when you're trying to use the free maps from the rental car company. I ended up taking a wrong turn in downtown Split and we found ourselves needing to back up and pull a U-turn in the middle of the street. But I couldn't find reverse. For whatever reason it really seemed like the car had been manufactured without the ability to go backwards. Strange. It didn't seem possible, but rather than dig out the user's manual or really take the time to ponder the problem it was easier, and more expedient, to use gravity to roll us backwards in neutral, or to continue forward in a huge arc until we were pointed back in the right direction. Luckily for all of us, after 3 or 4 of these completely non-graceful direction changes, I figured out that you have to depress the gear shift to get it to go into reverse. That made more sense.
  Split has a beautiful and compact old town, dominated by Diocletian's palace, which forms the majority of the old town itself. We spend a day and a half wandering the limestone streets, kicking back on the esplanade while DJ and Justin had a geography lesson with a Croatian man, hiking to the top of the outlook on a nearby hill for a great view of the city, and most of all, eating gelato. Justin and I had gelato 4 times one day.
  
 

After 2 great days in Split we boarded a ferry for the town of Hvar. Hvar is a very characteristic Croatian fishing village built on a small port with a centuries old stone fort on a hill dominating the town below.  The hike up in the hot sun took a while, but it was definitely worth it.  The view was awesome: green islands popping up out of the crystal blue waters and old stone buildings with red terra cotta roofs combine for one of the nicest vistas I've ever witnessed.  Later we caught a taxi boat out to a nearby island where we hiked our way to a secluded beach.  The waters were a gorgeous blue, but instead of a nice sandy beach there were sharp, craggy racks.  We weren't about to let that stand in our way, though, so after a few minutes of assessing the situation and trying to find the place we could enter with the lowest chance of serious injury, we hopped in.  I don't remember exactly why, but that night there was a huge fireworks show on the island.  It was the perfect end to an awesome day.  Hvar was a bit out of the way, but it was definitely worth visiting.