Croatian Coastlines

6fartsinacart
May 1, 2017
3 min read

22 April 2017, Saturday: We wake up to find 4 fishing rods set up next to Merzy, their bait dangling in the Neretva River. As we prepare to get ready to leave, the local old-timer reels in 3 fish of which one is a starfish. Before getting back onto the main road we take a beautiful small road that winds in between the local off-the-beaten-track villages. Not long after leaving we go through the border crossing into Bosnia-and-Herzegovina and 20 minutes later out again into Croatia with divine intervention only having to show our passports. Croatia is divided by a 20 km stretch of Bosnia so that Bosnia can also boast of having a coastline. Normally you would have to produce all your car papers and insurance documents and and and… hence our gratefulness that only our passports were needed. So no extra dosh to fork out towards a green card. Approximately 30 km further, we come across an idyllic bay. We are so mesmerized by this beauty, sun, bay and fresh water (tap!) that we unanimously decide to stay for the rest of the day. The old fart and the freshest fart go for a swim. During the afternoon Dad does research into Montenegro and Albania for camper-stops as we won’t have internet access in these 2 countries. This evening we make good use of the opportunity (fresh water) and we all have a good scrub. Mum’s day ends of on a high with a foot treatment from Emile. 23 April 2017, Sunday: This morning we find ourselves again dragging our heels, reluctant to leave this lovely sight, but once Dad has filled up with water again we are on our way to the old city centre of Dubrovnik. As Merzy cannot be classified as a normal vehicle, parking is always a challenge. Dad swerves into a potential parking bay in a narrow street and, sitting next to the window, I see a stationary car coming straight toward me. By grace (even Dad admits) we missed this car by approximately 2 cm. We have to move on as buses won’t be able to pass. 100 metres further we pull into a perfect parking spot which we don’t even have to pay for. Our parking is located above the old city and a good kilometre away. So we descent 500 stairs (well that’s what it felt like on our way back) and explore Dubrovnik for the next hour and a half. After leaving Dubrovnik we do a "lit'l" shop at Lidl before stopping at a park4night parking near Kupari. This interesting spot tragically has 4 humongous big hotels which were bombed during the 1990’s war in Croatia. Unbelievable! Emile, Genève and Dad explore in search of a less eerie spot to stop. After finishing our Tortelloni (pasta with a bit of meat inside) we move to our new spot a little bit further situated above the little bay of Srebreno. Best view in town! Even according to a local. P.S. to our very special friends – Dave and Joyce – we congratulate you on your ruby wedding anniversary! May God bless you with 40 more! (''blief" Joyce, keep me a piece of cake 😉) Sunset at Neretva