Rave Review

After Dubrovnik, we took the bus to Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovnia) for just one night. But my recommendation is
1) Go to Mostar
2) Stay at Majda's Hostel
3) For more than 1 night if possible.

We were welcomed with such hospitality and generosity at Majda's, it was unbelievable. When we arrived, a guy at the bus station phoned the hostel for us and a lady came to pick us up. When we got to the hostel, they fed us juice and cake. The next morning, Majda cooked french toast for breakfast with tea or coffee. Plus the rooms were comfortable, clean and there were all the amenities that you could ever want in a hostel. All this for less that 12E per night.

Mostar was very very different from Dubrovnik. The old town is gorgeous, with a very Turkish feel (understandable since Mostar was under Turkish rule for about 500 years). There are old churches and mosques and the famous Stari Most, the elegant old bridge that spans the Neretva river. But there are also many many buildings bearing the scars of the war, only about 15 years ago now. We saw pictures of the town after the war and almost every building was destroyed. It was quite sobering. But so beautiful and all the people were very friendly and hospitable. I wish we could have spent more time there.

The next day, we took the bus to Split which was kind of awful, insofar as it was 5 hours in the blazing heat with minimal to no air conditioning. That was fun...

Split is quite different again, much wealthier and with a lot of people. There are these Croatian boat cruises that are a week long and do a round trip to Dubrovnik and back so all of Split is full of Australians getting ready for their cruises. Our hostel (the Old Town hostel) is another great one, with very friendly people. It's pretty new so everything is clean and unbroken. We've been taken it pretty easy, going to a beach and wandering around the city. The old city here is the remains of Diocletian's palace, the emperor's summer palace. It's seems a bit more western European than Dubrovnik and Mostar. Emily thought of Barcelona and I thought of Venice so that's the best I can do for comparison.

Tomorrow we fly to Istanbul which will be a whole new world! Exciting!