The last few days have been quite busy so today is a day without driving or city sightseeing. We walk along the Split seafront to the enormous Marjan Forest Park, stopping for an al fresco breakfast on a picnic bench on the prom. It’s almost like being back in Bournemouth, except it’s a sunny 28 degrees. We visit the former home of Ivan Mestrovic where plenty of his sculptures are on display. A game the old man likes to play with sculptures: to stand next to it mimicking the pose. Either Mestrovic had some very flexible friends or else a vivid imagination. He also appears to have had an aversion for wearing clothes. We wander round the villa admiring his work, stop for a drink in the little café overlooking the sea, then continue to the ... read more

We get up and go for breakfast. Hotel Lula is a unique place. I can’t quite decide if the décor is shabby chic or just shabby. The stains on the carpet have almost sold me on shabby, when we descend into the basement dining area. Along one wall is the breakfast buffet. The other 3 walls consist of a fake cottage, a fake woodpile and a fake forest. Running right through the middle; a fake tree. After breakfast we set off to explore Sarajevo. We start at the Yellow Bastion which offers a great view of the city (ie involves a long uphill walk). It’s next to a huge war grave, one of many you can spot from the top of the hill. Next we visit the beautifully restored City Hall with its ornate interior and ... read more

This morning getting up is not easy. My legs are stiff from all the steps they climbed yesterday. After a breakfast of cherry and sour cream croissants we head back down the steps (247 to be precise) to the car park. Today we are crossing into Bosnia to visit Mostar. I know 3 things about Mostar; (1) it has a famous Old Bridge (2) the front line in the civil war ran through Mostar and (3) the Old Bridge was destroyed during the war so isn’t old at all. The border crossing is in the hills on the outskirts of Dubrovnik. Once through, we are in a remote mountainous area. If we’d realised quite how remote it was, we’d have filled up with petrol beforehand. We start to get a bit worried. Then suddenly, like a ... read more

Today we leave Albania with its crazy drivers and intermittent roads and head for Montenegro. After a cheesefest of a breakfast we drive to the border which takes ages to cross. Not because it’s particularly busy but because it’s particularly slow. Queuing is arbitrary, Albanians keep pushing to the front and the border guard drops what she’s doing to deal with them instead. Finally we’re through and in the rural south of Montenegro. After about a mile, a red light appears on the dashboard, the car starts beeping and displaying a ‘check engine’ sign. Not the best start to the day. After a few miles of driving our sick car along tiny gravel roads, we reach the highway which runs along a ledge between the mountains and the bright blue Adriatic Sea. We stop briefly at ... read more

We get up and have breakfast. The food’s not great but at least the chef has gone to the effort of writing the hotel’s name in HP sauce on my plate. The old man is usually the master of the all-you-can-eat buffet, but today he meets his match. An elderly lady at our table manages 6 plates to his 3. He says this an unfair comparison as she poured the entire first plateful into her handbag. I am keen to stay and see if she can manage a 7th but beat a hasty retreat when she starts stirring Nutella into her tea. We depart for a day sightseeing in Tirana. Most points of interest are on Blvd Deshmoret e Kombit; a wide, tree lined boulevard which runs between two squares, Mother Teresa and Skanderbeg. Our first ... read more