Something Wrong

I’m not ignoring the comments on the blog, it’s just that it won’t let me respond anymore....keeps asking me some questions in some language that I can’t answer. So, keep the comments coming....we enjoy reading them!

Wrong Idea

In case you get the impression that we spend all our time in unique bars, we did visit the castle this morning. Plus we did some serious stair climbing while looking for the cable car. Closed due to weather! It was sunny and hot but a bit windy so that may have caused the closure.

The castle seems to be where some scenes from the Game of Thrones were filmed. I always thought that Dubrovnik was the major filming location but all the write ups say that Northern Ireland was the used the most.

We could feel the burn after the morning of climbing the back way to the castle and then climbing some more! Hence, the need for the cave bar!!

Cave Bars

People have been encouraging us to visit the cave bar and today we finally did just that. It was a fun place, but very busy. People don’t usually stay too long as beer and pop are very expensive, but that isn’t the biggest reason....the main reason is the lack of bathrooms! Plus the beer is warm!

The view more than makes up for any deficiencies the bar may have!

Only One Day

And it’s back....clear skies and heat! 

We walked the wall surrounding Dubrovnik this morning.....we spent lots of time trying to figure out where we camped last time we were here...many, many years ago. Fred thinks he has it figured out, me, not so much!

Being the stair counter that I am, I tried keeping track of how many stairs it took to get to the top....I lost track at around 450 so I would presume that it is between 400 and 500. Where is Alice when I need her?

We were surprised how many people complained about the cost of walking the wall and were rather vocal about it....many refused to enter, saying it was ridiculous. 

The views on top were pretty nice and we tried to capture it, but couldn’t always get the scene we wanted.

We will spend Monday and much of Tuesday here and then we are finished with this leg of the trip and move on to ten days in Italy.

Rain

We left Mostar bus station around 10:30 and after four passport checks we finally arrived in Dubrovnik at 2:30. The passport checks are a really slow process on the bus and because we pass from Bosnia to Croatia, Croatia back to Bosnia and then into Croatia one final time it takes forever. There is one narrow strip of land that was granted to Bosnia so they have access to the Adriatic and this is causing backups at the border.

It was raining pretty hard by then so we were glad that we only had to exit the bus once...the rest of the times they just took our passports on route. 

We pretty well always use the local bus system and our feet to get to our hotel, but today we broke down and used a taxi to avoid getting any wetter. It didn’t work!

Warm rain never hurts anyone so we started walking....we were gone about ten minutes before we had to seek cover. An absolute downpour chased everyone into bars and restaurants...we were kicked out of the first one because we only wanted a beer!

Not complaining about the rain....after the heat we have had, it was fun to do some scrambling. 

Hotel

We walked to see a hotel that has been been rated one of the best ten in the world....not sure where they get these ratings but here are a few pictures of the place. We were not allowed in to see the rooms but the rest of the hotel has a definite Turkish influence! Sort of like a mini museum.

Slowing Down

For a few days anyway! We arrived in Mostar yesterday around 3:00 o’clock after our three and a half hour bus trip took six hours....no problem, just very slow.

Our apartment is huge and so comfortable....the owner has been treating us like royalty.  Alice, not quite as royal as Cambodia but getting up there!

We had Adelle book a suite expecting a small kitchen and a kitchen we got....but, no cooking is allowed. Keeps our water and beer cold, at least.

We are staying on the Muslim side of the river with the other side being called the Croat Bank. As normal tourists, we can’t tell the difference. The markets on both sides of the river look a lot like the markets in Istanbul with many of the same items for sale.

Bright and cheery apartments or hotels are sitting next to the  remnants of bombed out buildings that are off limits to everyone. Much rebuilding has been completed but it will take years to finish....the war was in the early nineties so not much time has passed. One of our drivers told us that to tourists everything looks normal but underneath there is still tension between the Serbs, Croatia and Bosnia.

During the civil war this bridge was destroyed by Croat forces but it has since been rebuilt to its exact original specifications. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.