holidays 2012 - day 12: three countries in one day

so it's goodbye to žabljak and durmitor - in the rain. grey curtains drawn before the stunning panorama. jelena is the only one home, and she doesn't charge us for breakfast nor the countless teas and coffees! i'm really sorry to have to leave - what a nice time we've had here, and what a beautiful area it is! of course we stock up on some more pastry in town ...

durmitor in the rain


so we drive towards rastovac in quite heavy rain, stop for a hot drink in an umbrella-friendly place ...

the parasol protectorate? (for alexia tarabotti fans)


... and then look for the road towards the bosnian border near krstac. we drive back and forth a few times and cannot find the turnoff. that should tell us something. or it might have been better to just give up and take a different road. but - just then we find the turnoff. the rain lets up eventually. beautiful scenery: hills, mountains, red and yellow and green foliage, burnt trees, barely any settlements, entertaining traffic signs ...

zorro was here!



cow with square udder



greased lightning


... relaxed cattle ...

your road? my arse!


... and the occasional garbage dump:

another road, another sofa


and so we leave montenegro. drive down the street to the bosnian border post. hand over our passports. the guard disappears in the house. comes back. says "there's a problem for you." that isn't quite what we want to hear. "this crossing is only for local people, people who live here." argh. why on earth? not a chance? no, sorry. we are not experienced in bribery, so ... we turn around and enter montenegro once again. the border guard doesn't even stop us, he just raises the barrier. sigh. we lose about two hours driving to krstac and back, the only good thing is that i get to spend more time in montenegro! :)

we take the road to trebinje, and this time they let us leave montenegro AND enter bosnia and hercegovina. doviđenja!

not a hint of rain here, instead blue sky and a few fluffy clouds. the scenery is gorgeous - mountains, a lovely river, rusty bridges, and then, when we come around a bend - a view of the sea, dark blue and dazzling in the sunlight!

the sea! the sea!


another border crossing, this time into croatia. we stop for a drink and some fresh mandarins in opuzen at the beginning of the neretva delta, where the fruit vendor immediately cries out "falco!" when he sees our austrian number plate.

we make our way to the highway and on to split and šibenik. our destination is tisno on the island of murter, where we spent a few days last year. we know we'll be arriving late, therefore it will be nice to be in a familiar place. it's 7:30 and nearly dark by the time we get there. we set up the tent one last time and head into the little town's centre for some delicious dinner. yummy calamari! the night is actually quite cool - what a difference to last year, when we barely needed a blanket in the tent! still, we don't quite feel this way:

grim face


photos of day 12

holidays 2012 - day 02: dubrovnik-bound

excellent sleep on the mattress, and we're up early (holidays, after all, are not for slackers!) to drive down to dubrovnik. there's still the highway till some place below split. i fall asleep very quickly and wake up somewhere in the middle of nowhere (and just in case you are wondering, no, it is heinz driving at the time, not me). off the highway, it's winding roads across the hinterland, at first dry and rocky, then a fertile plain opens up before us: the neretva delta, a paradise of orchards, fields, canals.

fertile lands


we stop at a fruit stand and sample just about everything there is, including honey-coated almonds and delicious peaches. a feast for our taste buds! with the shopping done, we move on to the magistrala, the coastal road - infinitely more beautiful than what you get to see along the highway. we enter bosnia & hercegovina around 01:30 pm. we stop in neum for petrol and a couple of pictures, leave BiH about 15 km down the road, and are back in croatia. very scenic road along the coast: cliffs, little villages built into rock, and always the deep blue sea. we drive past dubrovnik, stop for a few photos of the old town just south of the city.

first glimpses of the gorgeous city by the sea: dubrovnik


we find a campground ("laguna") in a small place called plat. with the tent set up and after a bite to eat, we are off down many stone steps to the beach in a small bay. nice swim! we decide to go into dubrovnik for dinner, where it's a walk down many steps to stari grad (the old town), pizza, and then a stroll along stradun in the heart of stari grad. strange to think i've been here before, many years ago, when things were very different in this part of the world. also intriguing to think how many pairs of feet / shoes have worn the cobbles so smooth.

stradun, looking liquid


it's a gorgeous, warm evening, i take photos of the old town, and on the way back to the campsite, also of dubrovnik, all lit up, from a distance.

the lights of stari grad, dubrovnik

photos of day 02