Hey there!
Following on from my previous post on my Croatian adventures (if you haven't read it you need to do that right now by following this link), this one is called Adriatic Adventures because it features not only Croatia but TWO more countries on the Adriatic coast! Yep, I travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro whilst staying in Dubrovnik, take a look at what we got up to.
Day Four was really chilled, we wandered around the streets of Dubrovnik Old Town in the morning, admiring the cathedral before we hopped on a 10 minute boat ride to Lokrum island in the afternoon. The island was so pretty, and it was calm and relaxed unlike the rest of Dubrovnik! You can see why we were recommended to go there by so many locals who say that this is where they go to escape the hustle and bustle of the cruise ships. And they actually have wild peacocks on the island too! Then we found one of the only actual bars in Dubrovnik (most places are restaurants - you can go there to just drink but we prefer proper bars). This was a Croatian run Irish Bar called the Gaffe, which was such a cool mash up between Croatian and Irish culture. This place became a favourite of ours!
Day Five was a little more exciting as we headed over to Bosnia and Herzegovina for the day!
First stop was a Croatian town called Ston for coffee, this place is famous for it's oyster farms but it actually has the third longest wall in the world! Whaaaat?
Next stop was Medugorje in Bosnia, not much too see here if I'm honest. It was the place of a religious sighting back in the 80s and it's now been capitalised by a huge church and 1000 souvenir shops.
Third stop was Mostar. This is the place that was hit the hardest by the Yugoslavian war. We loved this city, it had an old town charm but still the feel of a place which was hit hard by the war. We had a 1 hour long walking tour in the 42 degree heat before chilling out with some traditional Bosnian food. Then we went to a cute little pub called the Black Dog for some traditional beer too (of course).
We hit up Bosnia's oldest village on the way back to take a look at the magnificent fort before being back in Dubrovnik on time to see the guards marching.
Day Six was probably the most boring but still enjoyable day of the whole trip. We wanted to put aside a day to just relax on the beach and we were intending on going to Banje beach. But when we saw it while passing, it looked overcrowded and overpriced. Instead, we were told about Copacabana beach which was at a much slower pace. It was by no means empty, but it was absolutely beautiful and so perfect for a chilled day.
Then we headed to cultural capital Kotor where we met a MASSIVE Thomson cruise ship so it was really busy. Nevertheless, it was still one of our favourite places that we've visited so far. We had a cultural tour of the city, walked town Europe's narrowest street and trekked up a mountain for the most amazing views.
On the way home we stopped in Perast where the main attraction is the artificial island with the Church of Our Lady on the Rocks, however, we found the village itself much more pleasant and charming than the island. There was also a really cool bar on the beach called Pirates with a live band playing.
When we got back to Dubrovnik, we had to take one last photo of the Stradun (main street) before we left in the morning!
We really loved Dubrovnik and all it had to offer, as well as falling in love with former Yugoslavia. We're hoping to head back to this region in the near future to explore some more!
I hope you enjoyed reading these posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. You won't have too long to wait until the next travel post (hint hint) but until then, check out my previous posts:
Discovering Dubrovnik
Paris: Day One, Day Two, Day Three
Prague
London
Talk to you soon!
CJ x
