Day 45 to 47 Bosnia for a few minutes......we also mark the 1/2 way point of our trip.

Days 45 to 47 Bosnia and then to Trogir and the villa

We packed up and being a Sunday did an early 'Big shop' in readiness for the villa lest the shops shut early. We rejoined our drive up the Ionian/Adriatic coast having started it 2 weeks ago in Greece, up through Albania, Montenegro and now into Croatia.

Croatia has a massive coastline, over a 1000 miles of it just on the mainland coastline plus twice that amount on its 1200 + islands. The road is slow and sticks to the coastline and the chain of off shore islands means an uninterrupted sea view to the horizon is rare in the first 100 miles of our drive. Its hot and windless, the sky is deep blue and the sea is fantastic; a superb blue green ....the route is beautiful. The islands and mainland are rock, small trees and scrub with the occasional shore side house or small village. The land is too poor to be farmed and so the sea is instead, with many mussel farms in the multitude of sea inlets and bays. 

We come across an unexpected border post on the coast road. Perhaps with our lack of research it shouldn't have been !......It's a hot and sweaty 15 minute queue wait whilst the Croatians police and then the Bosnian Herzigovinan police study our passports. Just 20 km down the road we are again at a border post queue being baked in the van before the Bosnian and then the Croatian police repeat the document inspections....Its all feels pretty bizarre and pretty pointless.

Bosnia has a total of just 15 miles of coastline and it splits the Croatian mainland in two. The contrast is marked from Croatia as the 15 miles is pretty much end to end developed. Croatia are considering building a bridge, a highway corridor, leapfrogging across small islands in the bay to avoid the customs fiasco and reduce the hassle of moving goods around their country. Bosnia is not in the EU whereas Croatia is - fortunately they didn't press us for insurance/green card evidence.

After a 100 miles the scenery changes to an isolated fertile plain and we get on the brand new motorway which tracks the coast but from a few miles inland. It's carved through another 80 miles of mountainous scrub - tunnel followed by bridge followed by tunnel until we turn off down to Trogir and to the villa. 

Trogir

We unpack and I go and pick my Mum and Dad up from Split airport just 5 miles away. The villa is about a mile from the walled city and tiny island of Trogir town which is another UNESCO world heritage site( as Dubrovnik). It is a maze of small polished stone alleys, a large 7 day a week market and many churches, squares, bars and restaurants.

Over the next couple of days the the weather stays hot and we spend our time messing around the pool and around the villa. My dad, Charlie and I head off in the kayak to explore the bay, the 2 massive floating dry docks and their shipyard where I am surprised to see them part way through building a fairly large ship.

Later its off to town for a wander around and to watch the England game in one of the squares at a bar - the Uruguay v. Italy game is on in all of them - I should have worked this one out before ( Not much at stake in the England Costa Rica one !) and so we are graced with the TV highlights of our 0-0 draw after watching Italy's demise from the competition.

Inside Trogir centre

Boy's tea - whilst we watch the game

This week has felt quite different from our first 6 weeks away. Probably a combination of a number of things - all the space in the villa, knowing we are not moving on for a whole week, meeting up with my mum and dad and also Croatia itself. Apart from a few days in Greece we have been mainly in countries or areas of countries that are not much visited by Brits...it has been uncrowded in our first 13 countries as indeed Greece was.

June 24th 2014 - Half way point of our Trip

Time has moved on since we left home in early May and now in late June the Croatian holiday season is pretty much in full swing. The beaches and bars are filling up, Trojir town is too and it is only the Van parked up behind the villa that reminds us that we are not on a 'normal' Mediterranean holiday break. I like the change as it just adds to all that has made this a very special trip to date......the variety ........be it food, supermarkets, beer, menus, people, wine, agricultural techniques, campsites, hotels, time spent in the hills, and time spent on the very many and different coastlines, river and train trips.....even petrol station 'etiquette' where in Albania there will be at least a couple of blokes fighting to get to your petrol cap before you can get out of the van.

Looking forward to another 45 days full of different experiences - roll on, but not too fast and hopefully the van will survive it as it has done to date

Day 45 Mlini ( Cr) to Trogir ( Cr)   289 Km          Total 6740 Km