Strange Borders

 

Good morning

I am sure that there are stranger borders in the world between countries but this has to have been one of the strangest in order that Bosnia & Hertsogavina get a piece of the Adriatic coastline. I mean come on -- the B&H folk pack their buckets and spades and drive down to the coast -- All 26 Kilometers of it -- for a family day out -- really?, and they are only able to look across the water at a land that also belongs to the country that owns both sides of you as well--- its a peninsula you see.

So Lynda and I did not really know what to expect from the border guards-- you read stuff on google from other travellers that tell of troubles , delays , unreasonable delays so as all good risk managers will understand that in any plan , there needs to be a plan B and Lynda spotted that if your coming from southern Croatia, there was a ferry from the peninsula at Trpanj to a place called Ploce in the north of Croatia , therefore bypassing the B&H land completely.

So above is one of the checkpoints and as it turned out , -- probably because it was early and on a Thursday , it was as easy as you'd like it to be.

So when we got on to Northern Croatian soil I did venture that in this day and age , wehy the hell didn't they build a bridge and low and behold there is a bridge under construction some 20 kilometres up the coast.

 Before we left Dubrovnik completely , we did see more legacy of Game of Thrones with this galleon moored to the port to the north of the city and we saw another sailing under motor some kilometres further up the coast so there are clearly perks from this filming lark.

 

One thing is for sure that the Dalmatian coastline has a bay line this around every bend and it is taken advantage of

Talking of which , we took advantage of this place on the side of the road where in an extremely fertile area we were able to buy the most freshest of oranges , garlic and honey -- as there were so many of these local market stalls there appears to be a set specification of how and what size and with what material you use for the structure --bit like building a MacDonald's really.

For non residents of this country we are I guess entitled to wonder at the amount of what appeared to be villages that only had parts of roofs and some just walls remaining as to whether this was what remained after the Balkan conflicts and if it is then it should stay as a reminder of how tragic war can be -- and even more so when it is neighbour against neighbour.

But , thankfully they are building something quite special out of these ruins in both industry and in Tourism

A lot of recent development in Industry around a place called Split that I only remember from the days when Yugoslavia had Hadjuk Split as a top team that English teams would occasionally have to play in europe

 There is also a reminder of just how rugged parts of this country are --

 But if nothing else, the infrastructure is incredibly good now and the A1 motorway is as good as anything we have plus a clear demonstration with the civil engineering that has gone into its construction of the commitment to enable people and materials to get around the country that much easier -- a great job

Oh and the Coatian folk have at least resisted the Greek idea that if it doesn't move then you graffiti it.

 You also most of the driving along the coast get a scale of the huge number of islands that Croatia has -- someone said around 1000

I don't know what design or style or if it is just a hotch potch of a number , but I ask for its picture as I thought it quite beautiful and I would buy it -- We saw this when we were up in the mountain having been diverted from the coast road due to structural problems with a bridge apparently and I would like to take time out to thanks a very nice blonde lady, in a big silver Mercedes saw our uncertainty and got out of the car and told us to follow here till the road got back down from the mountain diversion and back on track -- they are really the most helpful, friendly people.

 She was trying to get a view of what was through the window not of me --

 Something more like this I guess

             

So this was our hotel and room and us having dinner at the marina 7-30 in the evening still beautiful , plus a look at the sky this morning -- a short visit to KRK Island but anyone into camping , resorts and activities then this is the place for you.

 

Ok , breakfast beckons and then a little trip to Austria via Slovenia-- all in a days travels for Philynda then.