We were both up around 06:00.  Crystal did her yoga again, and Justin walked up to the Yellow Fortress with Joyce and Peter.  They had a nice chat about second leases on life, coming to the realization - whenever it is - that living your life is better than working until it’s too late, and related subjects.  The view was impeccable once again.  Crystal started packing once her yoga session was over, and Justin packed quickly once he got back from his walk.  Downstairs, everyone was discussing Wordle whilst waiting for the van.  Peter introduced us to Worldle as well, where you guess a country based on its shape.

We headed out of town, via Sniper Alley again, at 08:30.  After getting through downtown, we were on a nice highway for a bit.  Once we got to around Konjic, the views were incredible, with green hills and valleys, rivers, and even some snow near the top of the tallest mountains.  We stopped around 10:20 at an observation deck and restaurant, somewhere around Donja Jablanica, but we’re not 100% positive (our best guess is Restoran Zdrava).  There was a nice horseshoe in river, and everyone got photos, even us for once.  Incredibly, the views got even better from there, as we proceeded south on Highway M17.  With all of the green mountains and steep valleys, with the river running through the middle of the flat part of the valley, it vaguely resembled Yosemite, but greener, albeit with less impressive rock formations. 

We got to Mostar just after 11:00, and met Dino, who would be our local guide today.  He told us we were now in the Herzegovina portion of Bosnia & Herzegovina.  [We had heard prior to the trip that most people just say Bosnia, and no one seems particularly offended at leaving off Herzegovina, so in the trip log we’ve just been writing Bosnia.]  He said that in comparison to Sarajevo, it is way warmer in Herzegovina, especially in summer, to the point that visiting Mostar in in July or August just isn’t worth it.  Dino told us that there are 2 rivers that meet in Mostar – the Neretva (which we’d been following since Donja Jablanica) and the Radobolja (coming in from the west).

Dino was the first of many of our local guides to bring up the Illyrians.  The Illyrians lived along the eastern Adriatic Coast, and also a bit inland, so basically a large chunk of the Balkans.  There were various unrelated Illyrian tribes that were related but not really organized, vaguely like the Vikings.  Illyrian civilization dates back to the 6th Century BC, and dates as far forward as the 7th Century AD.  They frequently battled with the Greeks and the Macedonians, and were pushed back quite a bit after a large loss to Philip II (Alexander the Great’s father) in the 4th Century BC. 

The Illyrians were pirates, and a constant thorn in the side of Rome until Rome decided to finally send troops across the Adriatic to subdue them around 200 BC.  Thereafter, the Illyrian society was integrated into the Roman Empire, but very gradually as opposed to one giant event.  Because of this, it’s tough to say who’s actually Illyrian any more, as so many centuries have gone by, but several areas claim to be Illyrian (Albania most notably), and often in order to make historical claims to property – the language and the culture are basically entirely gone at this point.

Dino informed us that Herzegovina was a part of Illyria, and was a Christian are until the arrival of the Slavs, and after the Ottomans invaded it became Muslim.  Mostar itself is roughly 50-50 between Christians (largely ethnic Croatians) and Muslims (largely ethnic Bosniaks).  On another subject, Dino told us that the blue flag with the triangle and all the stars came from Europe, and was proposed by Europe so as to be more “neutral” to interested parties, notably Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia itself.

Mostar is famous for its Old Bridge, a single arch over the Neretva.  Dino showed us a smaller bridge, with a strikingly similar form, over the Radobolja.  Apparently this was a test run for the bigger bridge over the bigger river.  The Ottoman King gave the bridge builder only 5 years to build the bridge, and although he ended up taking 8, he somehow survived.  It was very crowded in town, and Dino told us that this is par for the course during much of the year.  It was very slippery when going across the bridge, as the old river rocks have been polished by millions of footsteps.  Going across the bridge we could see the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque, which we'd read had the best views of the bridge, and seeing its vantage point whilst on the bridge, we understood.

Once on the east side of the river, where the better lookouts are, we went right by them to go some Turkish House, which was a head-scratcher.  We saw some turtles, and got a description of what life was like during the Ottoman period, but it seemed a bit odd, and didn’t quite fit, with the locale.  We would have much preferred 30-45 minutes of free time to explore the town, crowded as it was.  When Martin informed us that Drago was coming over towards us, we implored him to give us 15 minutes or so to visit the mosque.  Martin obliged without a fuss, so we immediately took off.

At the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque, there were two available tickets, one for the mosque and the viewing deck, and a more expensive one that also included climbing the minaret.  We decided for that, and in the process used 30 of our 42 remaining Bosnian marks.  We then hurried up the minaret, and got a great view of the river from there.  We then came down and went out on the terrace, which was amazing in its own right, but lacked a little bit of the mountains in the background.  We then met up with the group (surprisingly no one else had come with us), and we headed off to lunch in Blagaj.

We originally were supposed to have lunch in Mostar, but Martin told us he preferred Blagaj because it was far less crowded.  So this morning we’d downloaded an offline map for Blagaj as well, and looked at a couple restaurant choices whilst we still had internet at the hotel.  The drive to Blagaj from Mostar was fairly short, but Dino gave us some fascinating stories.  Given that Yugoslavia was communist for decades, a lot of religion disappeared.  So when, just a few years later, Orthodox Serbs and Christian Croats and Muslim Bosniaks were all fighting with one another, a lot of people weren’t sure where they “belonged.”  Dino was one such person – he told us he literally didn’t know that he was Muslim until the war started and his Mom told him.  He told us his twin brother, Nino, also was unaware he was Muslim.

Lunch was a bit odd, in the sense we wondered if we’d mis-interpreted “independent” in all the references to independent lunches and independent dinners at various points along our itinerary.  We read that as meaning we were 100% on our own, and that we’d just meet up with the group after the meal at a specified place at a specified time.  But now, after seeing the same thing transpire for about the fourth time, we wondered if the only thing “independent” about the independent meals was the payment.  Everyone just followed Martin, and when we gave off a vibe or look or whatever, Martin asked if we were thinking of eating elsewhere.  Thankfully this gave us a good out, and we headed over to a different restaurant on the other side of the stream.

We’d found the restaurant (Mlinica) this morning at the Sarajevo hotel, and the pictures looked amazing.  And we grabbed the very table that had the amazing views, in the far corner of the restaurant, right next to a small rapids/waterfall.  Blagaj has a large natural spring at the bottom of a cliff, so basically a pond or small lake comes out of a cave at the bottom of a cliff, and then there are some rocks at the edge of the lake that form a small waterfall from which a small river flows through town.  We can only assume this restaurant was more empty because it was furthest from the parking lot and everyone stopped at one of the half-dozen restaurants that came before – all of which are along the river, but not right next to the falls.  Because we were right next to the waterfall, it was (literally) a much cooler location.  We’d read that they took cards, but asked to make sure before we ordered, and they said they preferred cash.  We asked if we could use Euros, and they said yes, so that took care of that.

Crystal ordered a lentil soup, and Justin ordered Cevapi.  Justin’s dish came with a big helping of naan, and we shared that.  We also shared some ajvar, which is sort of a bell pepper aioli.  Crystal had the brilliant idea to use the naan as a wrapper for the Cevapi, the onions, and the ajvar.  Everything was excellent, it was an unbeatable location, and we had the place to ourselves.  We paid in Euros, and got change in Euros.  We walked back across the stream to the rest of the group, who were still finishing their meals, so we got two beers to finish our last 12 marks.  There were a bunch of well-fed ducks in the water, and Cheryl was helping them stay that way.

After finishing lunch we went to the Dervish house.  We missed a good deal of the explanation, however, as the rooms were small, so it was tough for everyone to fit in the same room, especially with plenty of other guests there.  The Dervish house was built in the early 15th century.  The complex includes tombs, prayer rooms, a guest room, a kitchen, a bathroom, washroom, and courtyard.  This part of the tour seemed a bit rushed – it’s too bad that we couldn’t have borrowed time from the Turkish house in Mostar.  We were right by the cliff in the Dervish house, and there were nesting birds plainly visible in openings on the side of the cliff.  Once we finished our abbreviated (or at least rapid) tour, we got back in the vehicle around 15:45. 

We were at the Croatian border at 16:30, and we’d both slept most of the way from Blagaj to Croatia.  Drago, who is Croatian and who lives in Dubrovnik, had called ahead to some of his other driver buddies, and we ended up at a vacant border crossing instead of one full of tour buses returning on day trips to Mostar.  We breezed right through, and we each turned off Airplane mode on our phones for the first time in several days.  We didn’t really use them, though, as the view outside was maintaining our attention.  It resembled Camp Pendleton and other more rural parts of North San Diego County, but with more water and thus more greenery.  Martin told us that we were in for a treat, as we’d get to cross over the Pelješac Bridge, a quite new bridge that was built to make getting to the Dalmatia area of Croatia easier – avoiding a border crossing into and then right out Bosnia.

We took a short rest break prior to crossing the bridge.  Crystal stayed in the parking lot and chatted with the other guests.  They were checking out a couple classic cars that were in the parking lot, seemingly on some sort of driving adventure.  Justin meanwhile walked down a dirt path towards the base of the bridge, hoping to get some cool angles in his photos.  He had just enough time to get down to the base and back before all left.  Perhaps because the bridge was relatively new and people weren’t used to coming this way, the road was completely empty with almost no traffic.

We arrived in Dubrovnik around 18:30.  Our hotel, the Hilton Imperial, was just outside the famed city walls, on the west of the Old Town.  We were in the Annex Building, on the 0th Floor, which was notable.  Our group dinner wasn’t until 19:30, so we decided to take advantage of our one hour to go up to Fort Lovrijenac, which was right nearby.  We went up the stairs to the entrance, but then found out that the doors close at 19:00.  The view was nice up there, but we made a mental note that a little earlier would be even better if/when we returned tomorrow.  Since we still had a bit of time, we briefly went into the Old Town, and then came back to the hotel for dinner there just before 19:30. 

Once again, the chosen locale was a place we had on our own list, the Imperial Terrace (we hadn’t realized it was affiliated with the hotel we’d be staying at).  The restaurant had truly excellent bread, some of the best we’ve had.  We were also served Caesar salad - Justin gave Crystal his anchovies.  Then we got some lamb chops that was pretty good.  Finally we got some cheesecake and berry compote.  For not having a choice on any of the dishes, we probably got many of the dishes we would have ordered had we been on our own.  Speaking of on our own, we did order a glass of red wine each, which we charged to our room.

We wrapped up dinner around 21:00 or a bit thereafter.  From there we went to The BAR (it’s spelled that way) inside the walled city, and got one round - Long Island Iced Tea for Justin, French 75 for Crystal.  They messed her drink up, however, putting Vodka in there.  She thought it tasted fine, though.  It was also a little flat because they put the champagne in before they stirred, rather than as a float.  The crowd was a bit younger than us, and the drink menu kind of reflected that, so we weren’t in much of a mood for a second round.  On the flipside, there was very good music, even though we knew none of the songs, and Shazam was able to figure out only one of them (some song by Gramatik).

Crystal was tired, so she went back to the hotel.  Justin walked around town for a bit, going up and down the quieter small roads.  Along the way he saw dozens and dozens and dozens of stray cats.  There were birds everywhere, so maybe that’s what they ate.  Or maybe there was a ton of vermin as well.  He saw a restaurant that looked interesting, and made a mental note of it for tomorrow night.  He also walked past another bar we’d found online, called Primo.  The bar looked good, but literally everyone inside was smoking, so he decided to pass. 

The restaurants, bars, and shops all seemed to have the same sort of signage, as if it had been standardized by the city to dissuade big gaudy signs.  From all of the ups and downs in Dubrovnik (the city isn’t flat at all except for the main drag, which everything slopes down towards), not to mention the minaret in Mostar, his quads were a little sore, so he figured a little extra sleep might be good.  He got back a little before midnight, transferred pictures onto the computer, avoided waking Crystal, and then went to sleep himself.