Split to Hvar to Dubrovnik plus Mostar ⛴️

Aug 19, 2024

The laundry situation had become dire and I was wearing a pair of Benji’s undies and an old race t shirt for our arrival on glamorous Hvar. The first thing we did on ‘Croatia’s party island’ was five loads of washing.

‘I do beach’

Hvar gave us a much-needed rest. We were staying under the ramparts of the old part, right in Hvar Town. But it was cicadas we could hear and not beach raves. The Konzum supermarket had a one-to-one ratio of food to booze though, so there was fun happening somewhere.

Hvar Town streets

We took a water taxi to Mlini Beach for the day and had fun yacht spotting. Hvar attracts the Very Rich as well as discerning beach party types.

Mlini Beach

I enjoyed people watching here as much as the kids loved snorkelling and poking around for sea creatures.

There were the crisply-pleated chino shorts and short-sleeved linen shirts of families hopping off their yachts for a 7€ Coca Cola. There were cute older American couples saying things like, ‘Oh my. Lavender soap. That sounds fun!’. There were groups of young twenty-somethings already on it at 10am: ‘Strawberry Daqs. You’re talking my language. Rude not to.’

We loved it.

View from the Spanish Fortress

Island ‘hopping’ sounds very glamorous, but here, like with every other connection, we were waiting around at a grubby port and then fighting our way onboard because something about ferry connections makes people panic and forget how to queue.

Dubrovnik

I had done my best to manage expectations with Dubrovnik: ‘it will be packed with 10,000 cruise passengers and will be horrendously hot and overpriced’. And while these things were partly true, our whole experience was still magical.

It helped that we had six nights here as we were able to pace ourselves and go in at 5pm, enjoying quieter moments and respite from the heat.

This was also somewhere where doing lots of research really paid off. We knew it would cost 100€ for all four of us to walk the city walls and when you know what to expect everything is easier. I had a good giggle reading the one star reviews on Google: ‘Daylight robbery. Too hot. Too many stairs.’

We arrived on 15 August, a Croatian national holiday for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Wandering through the old streets, we heard a choir and stumbled upon the incredible sight of an outdoor mass with locals queuing up to take Communion.

We had a day on Lokrum island, a nature reserve with peacocks just a 15-minute boat ride away.

This was our most adventurous swimming yet. Everyone went in the ‘Dead Sea’, a saltwater lake complete with cave, as well as down ladders off the rocky shore with a jump directly into the ocean. The kids saw loads of fish and sea urchins and loved it.

We visited the excellent Red History Museum with its reconstructions of life in Yugoslavia.

Lots to open and touch

Enjoying the kiosk

Benji and I had been rewatching the excellent 1995 BBC documentary, ‘The Death of Yugoslavia’ and it was fascinating to see the complex history in a really tangible way. This was all the more poignant on our day trip to Mostar in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Mostar

This was our only organized tour of the trip and it was well worth it. Crossing the border out of the EU can be a real hassle and our bus left Dubrovnik at 6.45am to try and avoid the inevitable long delays.

We got stamps in our passports and drove through the quiet, rolling hills of Hercegovina. Our guide explained the cash economy where Euros are widely accepted and cards are not. Things are kept off the books as far as possible to avoid tax. The local currency is the KM (Convertible Marks) which is roughly double the Euro amount and things are cheap: ice creams are 2KM or 1€.

Bosnia is a very poor country. Our local guide in Mostar told us about the significant unemployment and lack of opportunities. The local average salary is around 600€ net per month. In France the minimum wage is just under 1400€ net. Young people leave Bosnia-Hercegovina and who can blame them.

As we drove through the suburbs, evidence of the 1990s conflict was everywhere. The country does not have the money to repair bombed-out ruins and so many have just been left for the last thirty years.

Mostar’s narrow cobbled streets and the famous Ottoman bridge have been completely restored, but surrounding the tiny historic quarter are still the pockmarks of shelling on public buildings and the stained concrete on what looks like dilapidated low-rise 1970s social housing.

We were surprised by the mix of different cultures and styles. The imposing Catholic Church, rebuilt after the destruction in 1992 stunned us when we peeked inside.

Bell tower

The whole interior was this glitzy

We loved shopping in the markets along the cobbled streets and admiring the Ottoman architecture.

The young bridge divers were in training, but sadly we didn’t get to see one actually jump.

Tasting Bosnian Čevapi

The local food was incredible, and we were very happy to have visited Mostar, despite its claim to be Europe’s hottest city. It was 38C.

Our next stop was the Kravica Waterfalls, a popular swimming spot on the way back towards the Croatian border.

The water was freezing, but it was a unique experience and the refreshing dip did us good.

We all trooped off the bus for the border crossing and we were let back into Croatia without any mishaps.

We have a couple of days left now before our return and there is time for a few more gentle adventures, but we have no big plans.

It feels a bit of a shame to break our streak of no planes, no taxis. But as romantic as it sounds to hop on a ferry to Bari and interrail back home via Italy, we are all pretty convinced by the idea of a taxi and a flight to end this epic 28 day adventure.

We all have different favourite parts: Emi loved Slovenia and Lokrum island, Benji loved Hvar. We all loved Budapest, Mostar, and all of Croatia. Munich, Prague and Vienna were great, but they seem a long while ago now. We want to go back and see more of Hungary. We want to visit Sarajevo and Belgrade and Montenegro and Albania. Overland travel is exhausting, but we don’t think it can be beaten for the sense of adventure and the feeling that we have really explored the places we’ve been to.