Heading Back to Croatia

There was a brief thought about getting up early again to walk up the hill, but that soon passed. 😂 I was awake at 4:30am for a short time listening to the mosque across the road calling for dawn prayer. Shockingly, I slept in until almost 7am!

We’re heading back to Croatia today, so it’s time to pack up our bags again. That’s getting easier with repetition—not because there’s more room (that will never happen), but because we’re getting used to the routine.

We requested a slightly later check-out of 11am, which means we have an hour to fill before heading to the bus station. There’s a café only two doors down from the apartment, which is the perfect place to hang out with a coffee. In a stroke of good luck, the bus station is visible from the café—less than 100 meters away. 👍 That’s great because it’s 34 degrees! 🥵

An added bonus is the bakery between the café and the bus station, so we grab a large slice of pizza 🍕 to take on the bus for lunch. The bus is running 8 minutes late, and the FlixBus app we booked through lets us know—pretty helpful. Turns out the bus we’re getting on started in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. By the time it arrives and we board with several others, it leaves about 20 minutes late. Perhaps that’s really only 10 minutes late if the timetable assumed a 10-minute stop in Mostar—which seems likely. We left Mostar at 12:50pm.

Anyway, it’s a pretty nice, modern-looking bus. The seats are higher than the driver’s, giving a great view. The air-conditioning fans sound like they’re blasting, but they’re mostly making noise and pushing out only a breath of cold air. Still, the temperature is reasonably comfortable. The seats are a bit narrow—or else we’re a bit fat. Take your pick! No—don’t say anything! 😮

The scenery is nice again. We're on a slightly different route than the one we came in on, but we’re heading back toward the Croatian coast. Dubrovnik is the destination today—one of Croatia’s more expensive cities, so we’re giving it only a fleeting three-night visit.

The bus stops after about two hours at a roadside pizza and coffee place. I’m guessing the drivers get a free lunch here, as their food was already waiting on a table when they stepped off the bus. We had already eaten our bakery pizza on the bus. I get off to stretch my legs, but Sarah stays onboard. It’s hotter outside than inside—even when the air-con isn’t running during the stop.

Another hour of driving and we stop again for the border crossing. We’ve learned from last time to jump off as soon as the bus stops so we can be near the front of the passport line. That way we get stamped quickly and can wait in the coolest, shadiest spot available. While waiting for the other 50 passengers to pass through, we chat to a semi-local guy—who seems to have done this route a lot—and also a guy from Washington, D.C. The local man is a bit hard to understand but manageable. We think he’s Croatian, though he could be Bosnian.

Earlier at the pizza stop, I heard a man talking who was sitting near the front of the bus. I guessed he might be a Kiwi or Aussie based on his accent and appearance. I only heard him say a few words, so I wasn’t 100% sure. But now he’s in the queue near us, and as he passes, I ask if he’s a Kiwi by any chance. He replies saying he thought he recognized my accent too. He and his wife are from Cambridge and are nearing the end of a four-week Europe holiday. They started in Amsterdam, then went to Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, Sarajevo, and now Dubrovnik. Sorry—that was a long-winded border stop story, but it’s always nice to chat with people who speak both English and Kiwi! 😉

The bus takes another hour to reach Dubrovnik and arrives just before 5pm—about an hour later than expected. We spent 45 minutes at the border crossing!

It’s 31 degrees according to my phone when we get off the bus, but Sarah thinks it was actually 37 according to a sign at the station. Let’s just say—it’s a tad warm! The accommodation is 1.2 km away. We could take a taxi… or figure out the local bus… or just start walking and we’ll be there before we know it. Or maybe we won’t—because Sarah is very hot. 🔥🔥🔥

It takes a bit longer than you’d expect, and it’s not exactly flat. Sarah would call it a hill. Compared to the hill I walked up yesterday morning, it’s more of a slight incline. About 150 meters from the apartment, she starts asking how much further it is. This might be the warning sign that I’m in trouble! “Not far now!” More concerning is that the house on my map is surrounded by others—I have no idea where the entrance is.😮 If I’m on the wrong road, the entrance could be up another hill, and it looks steep. Oh shit.

Fortunately, we’re in a shady spot and there’s a bus stop seat. So we sit, and I message the apartment host to ask where the entrance is. A reply comes back quickly—we’re a stone’s throw away. Phew! I might yet survive this one! 🤞

The apartment is the ground-floor basement area of someone’s house. It looks nice and it’s massive—you could play squash in the lounge. It has 3.5 air-conditioning units. We crank two of them up and wait for our core temperatures to return to normal.

Once that’s achieved, we walk another 220m to a supermarket (more like a large dairy) to get breakfast and dinner supplies: chicken, capsicum, gnocchi, passata sauce, muesli, yoghurt, milk, lemonade, margarine, and cider. The total is 25 Euros, which seems expensive compared to other places, but still cheaper than eating out.

Cooking dinner is mildly entertaining. The stovetop is a combo gas and electric, but there’s no gas. Also, no pots—only frying pans. Weird. And no hot water! Under the sink, we find a small water heater that’s unplugged. Hmm… shall we plug it in? Okay. Bad idea! All the lights, stove, and air-con go off! Shit. Ring the host! She comes down and resets the fuse. Turns out there’s no hot water in the kitchen. Good to know!

Oh—and another weird thing. They’ve installed a new vanity unit in the bathroom/toilet, but it’s bigger than the old one. Now you can’t close the door because it hits the vanity! It’s starting to remind me of an episode of Fawlty Towers. At least the washing machine works and we have no issues opening the door! 

We remind ourselves that we’re only here for three nights, and we’re paying less than we would for a studio unit at the Cromwell Motel. Only a dollar or two less though!

Right—time for sleep. We have a super early morning planned for tomorrow.