The best thought all day was to get to Old Town early, as this allowed us to beat two major impediments to having a memorable walk on the walls- 30 plus temperature and a horde of other tourists. Whilst the temperature alone (which has ranged between 30 and 40 degrees during the midday hours) may be managable, the sheer number of steps around the fort makes for a tiring experience. It certainly tested Cinthia's creaky knees.
I think the aspects that set this fort apart from others are that it is set on the Adriatic Sea, which is a beautifully coloured water, the sheer height of the walls (which range between 15 and 25 metres) and the way in which the wall design hugs and integrates itself into the coastline. A sea of beautiful orange tiled houses exist within the fort, many of the new tiles represent the houses that suffered damage during the war.
The paroramic views change slightly depending upon elevation and which corner of the fort you are standing, and this alone means that the 2 hour walk never becomes boring. All in all, it is a shopstoper, which no single photo will do justice.
Post the walk and check out another beach visit is the most logical option, and this time the beach is almost empty. The peaceful tranquility is lessened slightly by the fact that the waves are angrier than the day before, making swimming more of a challenge, however still not unpleasant. It is very refreshing and leaves a nice final impression of this tourist Mecca.
Our time is Dubrovnik is finished, and now another bus ride, and then another city, and country. The next location is Mostar, which is the biggest town (only 80,000) in the Herzigovinain part of the country, Bosnia and Herzigovinia. Its major claim to fame is Stary Most (a 450 year old bridge) which is the most famous bridge in Eastern Europe.
This bus ride is complicated by the previous bus being cancelled (I think to save $), 6 border crossings, and also a broken bus. The prior bus cancellation created ticket confusion as 2 medium busloads tried to all fit on a single bus, leading to some people missing out their seats, and some missing out altogether. Luckily, we were on, with seats.
When the split of Yuguslavia occurred Bosnia and Herzigovina wanted a coastline, and somewhat crazily this slither of land does not include the main turnoff to Mostar, hence there is 3 double check points, where police/ immigration officials enter the bus to check passports. They would see a lot of Australian Passports, and hence don't seem to take much notice of the blue books.
As for the broken bus, I'm not sure whether it was the brake pads that had burned out, or the engine was running on as much oil as diesel, however it resulted in that burning smell where you should no longer keep driving. given I think they had radioed ahead, a replacement bus turned up within 10 minutes, luggage was transferred, and off we went again, finally to make it to Mostar.
On the first night we saw a little of the old town, and the famous bridge, however perhaps most impressive was the "Cevapicici" Cinthia had, which luckily she allowed me to have some too. Also pleasing was that Bosnia and Herzegovina appeared significantly cheaper than recent countries we had visited, including Croatia.
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