Ćurilo

We were a bit sad to move on from our new friends and wonderful guide, but excited about what lay ahead for us.

We'd reserved seats on Croatia's equivalent of Greyhound (with a little city bus parentage). But the price and the views were totally worth it.

The first half of ride had the tall white mountains on our left--just like our hike at Paklenica--and the sea with its turquoise coves on our right. The best of both worlds.

Near the Bosnian border, the land became much more agricultural--figs, olives, cherries, and other fruit trees. The plots of crops were separated by waterways/canals and were relatively small and slightly haphazardly placed. Not like the large organized farms in California. Soon the terrain gave way to larger plots for vineyards, on hillside slopes. Then we reached the border of Bosnia--the country has a 12-mile coastline that cuts into Croatia. The ticket agent on the bus gathered up all of our passports to show at a border crossing gate, that looked much like our agricultural inspection stations in California. We can officially say we were in Bosnia because the bus stopped for a 15-minute break and we got out for a piece of pizza at their cafeteria to take in the road. Road-stop Bosnian pizza isn't anything to rush out for.

Leaving Bosnia, there were so many floating mussels lines in the water. The road gradually climbed into the mountains, giving us panoramic views of the winding coastline and the many, many islands of all sizes.

We arrived in Dubrovnik in the late afternoon and were met at one of the city gates by our Airbnb hostess. She is from Vancouver, Canada, living and working in Croatia now.Read more