Overland to Bosnia Herzegovina 2014 (Hopefully)

[XCovlov70]

Stage 13A “Our time at Uvala Borova”

As the weather forecast especially from Apple via their ‘App’ seemed to be going into deterioration mode over the next few days we decided in spite of having a day of 36C (97F) we would head off and go to Mostar in Bosnia….

While it was a very interesting day I have had to make it into 2 parts due to a rather large number of pictures that very nearly killed the camera batteries as we had two cameras going during the day out!

As we set off ‘TomTom’ the GPS system took us on a road that I did not expect to be using so we ended up initially on the wrong side of the river, with the following results…..















Then we got to the town of Metkovic and turned right over this bridge to a set of traffic lights that had been turned off which was ‘fun’ to turn left and head for the Border, while the ravages of the war were still very evident….







Interesting to see the ‘Welcome’ sign before you actually go through the Border crossing…



As we pulled up at the ‘Border Hut’ and presented our passports we were asked for our ‘Green Card’ (Vehicle Insurance) for ‘Flamenco Red’ which the UK insurance companies for some reason will not provide but our EU neighbours are provided with!
At that point I was asked to park up and go to the office to buy my ‘Green Card’ which I promptly did which cost me €20 for a maximum stay of 7 Days.

Then took the paper to the Border Control Officer who smiled said ‘Thank you’ and off we went again…..



As we passed this place (Počitelj) it was full of Coaches with tourists crawling all over the place, so we called in on the way back but more of that in Part 2 of today, later…..



Next village….



Then we come to…..



We head into the ‘Old Town’ calling into a fuel station on the way and find a car park called ‘City Parking’ and have a good short conversation with the young man who is looking after the place before we head off into the ‘Old Town’ and find this place, but the lights were out, there was no furniture insode and the place was locked up, so keep walking…..



With another example just on the other side of the road of the after effects of the recent war, but the owner was still able to use the ground floor, which if that had been in the UK then no doubt the Council would have insisted that it be pulled down….



Before we went any further I thought that to give you some idea of what Mostar was like directly after the war then this next picture says it all……



As we then head down the street directly to the world famous ‘Old Town Bridge’….



















As we start to cross over I noticed a door & small room up in one of the Towers with this sign just outside….



The sign was for the ‘Club’ of the people who dive off the bridge into the river below, and you might be able to see one of them in the next picture below….

While the raised sections in the floor of bridge do stop you slipping on a very well worn surface….



Now sit back and enjoy the rest of the views as we make our way around….



















While on the other side of the archway was this fresh water outlet, just right for getting on your hands and rubbing on your face and neck to try and cool down a bit!.....







We then found the small fruit and vegetables market, but the majority of traders had sold out and packed up….





So we sat on a seat at the side of the market and enjoyed our ‘Picnic Lunch’ as we spotted this man going around the upper part of the Mosque Minaret! (I wonder if he had a nice view over the town?)



Then it was back to a small café for a coffee.
While here is the drinks list….



Can you establish which one it was in the picture below, that I had from the list in the picture above?



It was ‘Bosanska kahva’. It was very nice but with a slightly strange taste….

While we also had to wait for the rain shower to pass over, then it was back on the walking trip around the town….



On one side of the road was this Mosque….



On the other side of the road was this very ornate entrance to the graveyard…



Unique plaque on this building…







Sadly a very badly damaged building with some intricate decorations on all the wall panels…..



As we looked across the road between the buildings we see a very large cross up on the hill overlooking the town….



Fresh water font….



Wrecked building alongside new shopping arcade….













As I looked across the road and also across another cemetery I was struck by the difference in the two houses alongside each other…..



While a bit further along was the view of these roofs with the thin slabs of ROCKS instead of the normal roof tiles…..



Pockmarked building with holes in the wall from the war….



While as we get back to the ‘Old Town Bridge’ we spot a perfect way to cool down as the temperature is still around 36C (97F)!....





Yes I did join in after I took the next picture, and it was wonderful thanks….



If you go back to the picture of the guy in the swimming costume by the Bridge you will see a very large stone on the left, and in the centre of the top face was this plaque. The large stone was in the old bridge before it was destroyed in 1993 and the old bridge was originally the Croatia – Bosnia Border Crossing point which has now been moved to where we came over….



Then after cooling down a bit, we were off to another smaller bridge….















Part II will follow soon as we were now on our way to that very large Castle at Počitelj…..

[XCovlov70]

Stage 13B “Our time at Uvala Borova”

On the way back from Mostar to the Castle at Počitelj we park up and the place has no coaches and only a couple of cars in the parking area, then we make our way to the entrance…..



The entrance doorway…..



With a ‘Plan’ and we are at the ‘Town Gates’…..





Now if you thought there were a lot of steps in the Tower in Omis, then you are in for a surprise as this place has a lot more, so I hope you had a good lunch and have got a head for heights!.....

Here we go…….



The Mosque entrance…..



With the roof domes of an adjacent building……



Higher up……



While there are more steps……



And a few more just to keep you going……



While you have to keep an eye out for Mother Nature’s little creatures who work sometimes 24/7/365.…



While higher up…..



Then higher again….after a few more steps!....



Not far now Mum, honest!….



Then we get to the building surrounding the Tower…..







With this view over into the town buildings……





With a panoramic along the river front….



Anyone suffering with vertigo look away NOW!...





As we finally get to the Tower Entrance…..



Turn right and you find yet more stairs, well really what did you expect an Escalator!.....









As we get to the top with a very strong roof structure….



With windows in every direction….











Remember those Flat pieces of stone on the roofs in Mostar? Well you have exactly the same here and this next picture is from the inside….



Visit over, we make our way down and back to ‘Flamenco Red’ and head for the Border Crossing where there was a lot less traffic than we saw this morning, and after a check of our passport and registration number to see if we had committed any traffic offenses while we were in Bosnia we were then on our way back to the campsite in Croatia….

Border Crossing up ahead with NO Photographs allowed…..



Sentry box on the road we took coming in….



While the railway line alongside produces this goods train as we travel along….



Heading to the coast and around a town called Ploce….



With some inland lakes that look rather appealing for a visit…..





Then as we get back to the coast road we see this small cargo ship off the coast….









As we get to the campsite we see this little ferry boat making its way back to its home port for the day.….



A very interesting time and a long day…..
Tomorrow will be ‘R&R’…..trust me!

[ssicarman]

Once again some nice shots. I especially liked the ones of the river areas in Mostar.

[XCovlov70]

Once again some nice shots. I especially liked the ones of the river areas in Mostar.

There's more a commin!

[XCovlov70]

Duplicate insertion!

Sorry it must be the heat!

[XCovlov70]

Stage 13C “Our time at Uvala Borova”

Nice lazy day but while having breakfast outside I noticed this little fella on a brick by the wheel of the ‘Tin Tent’…..



As I got it onto a stick I noticed that the two ‘feelers’ that were in front had then been tucked underneath....



With breakfast over we went for a bike ride along a lower section of the coast to the next village along and found you could go Para-Sailing as this person was setting off…..





Then this man goes across the view on a high powered jet ski with the Croatian Flag wrapped around his shoulders we think it was in celebration of the fact that Croatia were playing Brazil in the opening match of the World Cup!.....



With the rest of the day spent doing small bits and pieces around the ‘TinTent’ when evening came we were treated to a rather nice sunset, while later we watched a lightning storm up somewhere near Split pass through but thankfully it did not reach us so we stayed dry…..













Tomorrow is supposed to be Thunder & Lightning for us, so we will have to wait and see….

[XCovlov70]

Stage 13D “Our time at Uvala Borova”

Another relatively lazy day but as we needed some shopping we set off after breakfast to go to Ploče which is an industrial town and has more of a selection of stores than those in the local villages…..

After finding a place to park which was supposed to be for ‘Tourists’ with a sign saying such, we fitted into a slot between all the locals who used the car park as well, then walked into the town….



Tug boats moored up at the quay which is right on the waterfront but no sign of any large vessels in the port….



Anyone fancy a waterfront high rise apartment, while all the café/bar/restaurants are below on the ground floor?....



While this was the view across the small inner harbour…..



In the outer part of the harbour was the Aluminij works of Mostar....



Having got our shopping, that was it for Ploče as there was not much else there only more tenement blocks (High rise flats) so we then started to make our way back but turned right to a place called Bacina with the inland lakes around it that we passed going to and coming back from Mostar.

After a very short drive we ended up at a dead end with what looked like it was once a café/bar by the side of the lake but was now deserted….



With the view out over one of the lakes….





While keeping ‘Flamenco Red’ in the shade as the temperature was around 35C with no wind, and we had visions of having to dump the Yogurt we had just bought thanks to the heat!....



With nowhere else to go, we set off back down the narrow lane to the road…







While at the end of the day I tried a small experiment with the Sunset using the lens of my sunglasses over the camera lens….

This one was without using the lens….



While the next two pictures were using the sunglasses lens….





The Thunder & Lightning that was supposed to hit us at 13:00 didn’t arrive, while the forecast for tomorrow has been downgraded from T&L to just rain, but to be honest looking at the sky tonight as well as the barometer I am not convinced, and neither are the local residents, so we will have to wait and see what happens, and were we end up….

Having just uploaded this part I am not sure what is happening as I am getting distortion on nearly all of the pictures, so will have to do some investigation to try and find the cause, so my apologies about this, as they did not look like that when I took them!

[XCovlov70]

Stage 13E “Our time at Uvala Borova”

Well while it looked good from a weather point of view this morning we set off to have a look at the place where you can catch the ferry to Hvar with a view to going over to the island.

The ferry actually goes from the village of Drvenik where the waste bins are made of concrete and the village name is etched in then painted, which I guess stops them being stolen!….



While down in the small harbour is this concrete fish….



With a panoramic view of the place from the small harbour as the ferry quay is on the far side of the bay....



Small boat harbour…..



Ferry quay is just off to the right of centre….



Beach front road….



While up one of the side roads was this nice little piece on a restaurant…



With some of the houses behind some of which are available as holiday apartments….



We then pass the WWII Memorial which has the names of the men who were killed etched around the memorial and then picked out in red and the nice little garden it is set in....





Making our way back to the beach road for a coffee we spot this old sea anchor outside one of the cafes, as we then heard the Thunder!....





As we found a café/bar we had just sat down when the ‘Overhead Watering Can’ was turned on and everyone headed off the beach, so we finished our coffee and headed back to ‘Flamenco Red’ which by the time we got there we were soaked through!
However we did manage to make it back to the campsite before the rain and thunder caught up with us, so we were able to take in the washing and put things that were outside away before they got soaked as the rain came hammering down ….

With the coffee prompting a ‘Comfort break’ I remembered the way the trees on the campsite had grown as the translation of ‘Uvala Borova’ is ‘Pine Forest’ and the next three pictures show how the facilities block was built taking into account the shape and angle of the trees….











5 hours later and the rain is still coming down, while the forecast for the next 4 days is not looking good either!….

[XCovlov70]

Stage 13F “Our time at Uvala Borova”

Saturday…late afternoon…..

WOW! The rain actually stopped so off we went down to the seafront to try a bit of fishing, although the sea was running a bit ‘rough’!



Having managed to collect a few small mussels for bait, my good lady got her little hand line going and before I had sorted myself out she had a wriggling fish on the hook, while I was surprised you should have seen the look on the face of the guy alongside who had been there for like 3 hours with not a tickle on his line!….



The first fish was followed a few minutes later by a second smaller one of the same species while after a bit longer a third was hauled in of a different type....



While at the end of our couple of hours on the seafront the score was 3 for my good lady and a big fat ‘0’ for me…..

Sunday…..

As we set off for Makarska I saw that our next door neighbours were giving themselves a DIY Pedicure and were laughing nicely when I asked if they would mind if I took a picture they agreed and here it is….



Got into Makarska and parked up, then set off for the seafront and passed the sports stadium on the way with a nice running track and football field.….



While a bit further down the road is this…..



This is the church of the Monastery.…



With the view through the entrance to the Monastery & church….



While this was inside the church.....



Then a bit further on and we are on the waterfront….











While next up is the pedestrian area on the other side of the one way road along the waterfront….







As we then make our way back to the waterfront to look for somewhere for lunch we spot this statue….





No comment on the next picture of the statue….



Next up was the small ferry which goes over to the island of Brač….





With a view across the harbour…..



With this intriguing Ships Anchor in the corner of the harbour…..





Then just around the corner is the outdoor market that consists of Tourist Kiosks and small Cafes/Bars and Fast Food Outlets….







With a nice garden over to one side….





While if anyone fancies investing in a partly built Hotel, well here is your chance, but the ground floor is a Pizza Restaurant….



Next up was Makarska’s Casino….



While out at the point was this small lighthouse….



Lunch over we started to make our way back across the pedestrian section and found next to the church this….





With a couple of the smaller streets that went off from the square with the city fountain in…





We then found the Ice Cream outlet and I could not resist a Fig flavoured cornet! Which was very nice….



Get back to ‘Flamenco Red’ and started to make our way back to the campsite when I saw a road going off into the mountains with quite a few hairpin bends on it as it climbed up towards a church, hmmm methinks looks interesting, so off we went….





While quite soon we came to the church as the rain started to come down again!...



While continuing up the road as it was too narrow to park….





We came to a fresh water outlet and this WWII monument at the side of the road….



Finally found a place to park but as the church was closed we came back down as the road that the ‘TomTom’ wanted us to go on as an alternative was closed, but we got a decent view of the town on the coast as we did…..



While back in the mountainside we could see a lot of property that was unoccupied and in poor condition presumably a result of the war that took place here….



As we got back to the campsite we noticed a new arrival which is a ‘Popup Caravan’ which we have not seen for a very long time as it virtually folds to half its height when opened up!...



"That’s it for today" he says as the Sun makes a breakthrough!....

[ssicarman]

I like how your campground has worked with the trees to keep them. The area looks like the scenery is quite varied.

That last fish is one ugly looking thing.
Looking at the tourist statue makes me think that you have a bunch of one armed perverts in the area.