Exhausted and dehydrated (from both sun and alcohol!) after a week sailing the islands with friends, we returned to the island of Hvar with nothing left in the tank! Possibly not our smartest move to return to party town, but without our late night dancing posse we took the chance to catch up on sleep and sample the many, many excellent restaurants and bars on offer in this gorgeous town.
Regularly referred to as the Ibiza or St Tropez of Croatia with the superyachts to prove it, the prices and quality of venues in town are high: still being August and peak tourist season we were paying Sydney prices for seafood, gourmet hamburgers, coffee, cocktails and green smoothies (getting the healthy stuff in where we can!). There is no question that some of our best meals after 5 weeks in Croatia were on this island. We also barely touched the sides which will of course mean a return trip one day….
We didn’t just eat though. There are so many day trip options to other islands in the area and we were keen to see the Blue Cave on the island of Bisevo, very close to Vis that we had visited the week earlier. With only 10 people on our boat we had a day of cruising around secret beaches, swimming in the Green Cave and we saw the protected Blue Cave which you enter on timber fishing boats having to get your head between your knees as you enter. The cave is illuminated by the sun for a few hours in the middle of the day and the colours are spectacular.
With our Croatian adventure almost drawing to a close with a few more days ahead in Dubrovnik, we said farewell to island life and rented a car on the mainland to continue our trip south along the last stretch of the Croatian coast. Of course it wouldn’t be an Andrew-designed roadtrip without a diversion to somewhere, and so we found ourselves in our 76th country – Bosnia & Herzegovina, for a quick stop in Mostar.
The UNESCO protected old town of Mostar is approx. 2.5 hours from Split and worth a night or two to wander the quaint streets and the mini-Grand Bazaar. The famed Stari Most (Old Bridge) of Mostar was built in the 16th century and tragically destroyed in 1993 during the Balkan wars. Rebuilt in the late 90’s it is an engineering feat and incredibly steep to walk up and over.
During our stay we watched a few brave (insane) locals take the 24m plunge from the top, after first procuring money from the tourists who waited along the edge of the fast flowing river to watch! Doing some research we came across a statistic that suggested 5% of tourists who have attempted the jump in recent decades have died, including a young Aussie just a few years ago. Suffice to say we watched from the sidelines only!
Whilst brief it was a nice intro to B&H and our guesthouse hosts could not have given us a warmer welcome or been more helpful (they drove us to a laundry then collected it on our behalf so we could go exploring!). You can get to Mostar on a day trip from Split or Dubrovnik but having had the opportunity to eat, drink and explore it was worth the effort of getting here alone. A great little gem!
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