Mostar

Perfect blue skies accompanied us today as we left Omis and headed south again down the Dalmatian coast and then climbed inland into the hills of Bosnia Herzogovena.

There were great views, autumn colours and even some fresh snow on the tops of the highest mountains. We arrived in Mostar in time for a wander around and lunch. An iconic place and as a result very busy and touristy but well worth the visit. The dichotomy of the tourist stalls was the evidence of the war less than 20 years ago that destroyed the bridge and more. En route we had a fascinating insight into the recent history of the area and the war in the 1990's ( known as the Homeland war) from our guide. I feel I have a greater understanding of it than I ever had at the time. Bosnia is quite a poor country and is perhaps taking longer than some to recover, so perhaps you can forgive them for the touristy stalls and making the most of their opportunities.

We ate lunch with this view on a terrace on the lower side of the River Neretva. We had a typical Bosnian dish called cevapcici. A pitta with lamb sausage inside (a bit like kofta but not spicy) with onions on the side. On this side the culture is principally Herzogovenian/Croat and therefore ethically more Catholic whereas across the bridge it is predominantly Bosnian and Muslim, hence the mosques. So if you eat across the bridge it is unlikely that you will get alcohol with your meal so we ate on the Catholic side!

We returned to Croatia and the Dalmatian coast glistening in the sun all the way. Now in our Dubrovnik hotel we were told to look out for the sunset from the hotel terraces. A cruise ship belonging to Saga holidays sailed by as we were watching and we are pretty sure that near neighbours of ours are on it. We bumped into them in the airport on Sunday at the luggage carousel. We didn't know they were coming here and they told us they were having a few days independently before joining a Saga cruise of the islands on Wednesday. Can't be sure it was the right one but they could well have been sailing into the sunset!

A great day with four cups of tea, not so easy to get here!