Bosnia 1 a new country and a bit of a letdown

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Another day and another dollar or so they say. Suzy was ready for her Bosnian adventure. She was looking foward to adding another country to the list that she had been to. England and Wales if you count our home two, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia so far and today Bosnia would be added.

We had heavy rain last night and it sounded like cats and dogs on her roof. Not a good day for travelling.

After a quick breakfast and shower we went to pay our hosts for our nights stay. Unfortunately as it was out of season the receptionist had gone home for 15 mins and no-one could take our money until she returned.

We struck up another conversation with our Dutch neighbours discussing life in Britain and Holland at the moment and how they compared. They had visited England and Scotland and had enjoyed their visits and our hospitality. We talked about the abdication of the Queen in Holland and how our Queen Elizabeth would never abdicate in favour of Charles and Camilla. And the topic of conversation turned to the popularity of William and Harry. Of course we discussed motorhoming in general and the joys of moving from location to location. . Our faith in human nature went up a hundredfold listening to their stories about where they had come from and where they planned to go to next.

.However, being deep in conversation we didn’t notice that the receptionist had returned in her BMW car nor did we notice after a further 15 mins she had locked up and driven off again. In desperation we managed to find the young lad who had seen us the day before and we gave him our money and bade him farewell and drove off along the road towards the Neum Corridor and Bosnia.

We had little idea how this would pan out as many Brits travel the Neum corridor without insurance. We had read stories on Motorhome Facts that the road was straight and most people travel it without a worry. Others had said it was foolish to drive in a country without insurance. We are the latter type of person and did everything by the book and paid up our insurance.

The roads were awful and that is no exaggeration . We had heard about the roadworks all along the roads and it took us what seemed like hours to negotiate them. Roadworkers were taking up the road surfaces and leaving nothing more than dirt tracks. And this went on for mile after mile after mile. Again we saw little in the way of road safety. Barriers were non existent and care was needed to negotiate the potholes, the ruts in the road and the large number of traffic lights along the way. It felt a journey fraught with delays.

Signs changed for wolves and bear country to porky pig country – wild boars. The landscape was still pretty to the seaward side and still wild to the landward one. Wide rivers cut a swathe through the countryside and irrigation canals split up the land.

Bosnia and Herzogovina was a let down. We approached the border and joined the queue to leave Croatia. We were held up behind a car with its boot open and a policeman delving inside. Something was obviously wrong as he was going nowhere until the police checked his engine compartment, the interior of his car and underneath it . However we Brits were waved through to No Mans Land. Without a look at any documentation.

Bosnia arrived at the end of No mans Land and we hoped to get a stamp in our passport but sadly we were waved through. And there we were back on Croatian soil again and still no stamps in our passports. We found out that Croatia would not join the EU properly for another 5 years so could not understand why they didn’t stamp the passports this time. Perhaps we will have more luck on our way back. Bosnia tackled.

The landscape was the same, the same sea, lakes and rivers to the right of us. Mountains of the same grey pink colour to our left . The same awful roads and the same old roadworks. We saw signs for Mostar and Sarajavo and wished we had the time to visit. But not this time.

Our destination was Dubrovnik the furthest point of this trip and our camp ground for the night Camping Solitudo. We had heard mixed reactions about this site but were keeping an open mind. We approached via the new bridge a beautiful winged structure over the sea inlet. Cruise ships docked in the shallow waters bringing people in to the heart of the city. We had been warned about the swarms who descended on the city and the need to get in early if we wanted any decent photographs.

Our sat nav took us along the harbour until we eventually reached the campsite. Reception was good and we were offered a pitch on one of the areas for camping. It was a long walk to the showers and the shops on site were closed. We did find a supermarket in the town below but there was little in the shelves. Food shopping has not been good in Croatia and I long for Italy and France again.

Our first night was spent at the Bistro on site where we enjoyed a three course set meal at 60kuna each. Vegetable soup to start which was very tasty,kebabs, chips with a BBQ sauce and some kind of vegetables finely chopped and cooked in olive oil. Two large glasses of wine and an espresso to finish all for 268 kuna with a tip on top. The service was excellent and we thought that we would go again tomorrow night. Food prices are cheap and it is just as easy to eat out as eat in.

We watched the cruise liners leave hooting on their way out. We saw the hills above the city where the Bosnians fired upon Dubrovnik in the Homeland Wars and we moved on another Brit who barged in between us and the Germans next door. With him there we could not put out Suzys awning. He wasn’t very happy with us but as there was plenty of room on site we felt vindicated moving him on. And then to top it off our electric went off as some Australians first of all blew one electric box, then moved on to our box and blew it and if that wasn’t enough moved back to the first box and blew it again. What a day. Tomorrow Dubrovnik town. Dubrovnik day pass purchased at 130 kuna each which will cover us the bus in which runs from the end of the road, a walk along the walls, and visits to a number of the museums in town.

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Photos

Bosnia
Bunker from the 1991 - 1995 War on the way between Croatia and Bosnia

Bosnia
Would love to go to Mostar