Same same but different

Off to kotor this morning. We met some saga holiday people stranded from the volcanic ash. They were really nice but not used to travelling on local transport. The drive along the coast was amazing as it always seems to be and we arrived in kotor early morning. It has a much bigger old town than Budva and is located along a fjord. There is a castle above the old town with views of the entire town as well as the fjord. The path though involves climbing up some steep hairpins and then through a hole in the wall of the castle. All the castles and ancient sights are really nice as you can walk anywhere you want. Had a blister on my foot by this point which was killing so had to burst it. The hostel was an appartment right in the middle of the city within 5 minutes walk of everywhere. The staff were really helpful with the bus timetables for dubrovnik so we went to bed to get up early.

We got up that morning and realised the reception was closed and they still had the ten euro deposit for our key. Fortunately the irish girl woke up and offered to hand in our keys so she gave us some croatian kuna she had left, we had no idea what the exchange rate was so just had to take it. After walking to the bus station they were no there is no morning bus to Dubrovnik which was great. Brian then admitted that several reviews of the hostel had said that the timetables were wrong. So instead had to catch a bus to Herceg Novi and then after an hour or so wait the bus onwards to Dubrovnik. I have always wanted to go to Dubrovnik so i was really looking forward to it. We got an apartment from some people waiting at the bus station and then as the weather was nice i walked into Dubrovnik. As i got to the top of the hill overlooking it i was gutted. Even in the off season it was full of package tourists so many it was difficult to walk on the main street. Instead i went for a walk in the side streets which was ok but essentially a scaled up version of kotor. As we had gone along the coast the old towns have been the same but just increasing in size. Went back to the apartment(half hour walk each way)and feet were killing. Brian had cooked pasta with this salami sausage as it was far too expensive to eat out. Went for another walk into the old town that night and it was completely dead. Too busy in the day and empty at night no atmosphere so we left. Even the irish bar which is guaranteed to be busy was empty. 3 euros for a beer probably had something to do with it. Next day i again walked to the old town as there was nothing else to do. The apartment did not have wifi and everybody has locked there private ones so even the internet was out.

Up early to go to split, brian went straight to mostar as he was fed up with the prices in croatia. I arrived in split managed luckily to find a hostel and went to the hajduk split match. The atmosphere was crazy even though the match itself was pretty rubbish. The number of flags and flares being lit made for an interesting experience. I took a few videos so will post those later.

Yesterday i caught the bus at 9:30 to Mostar in bosnia. The trip took 5 1/2 hours as the driver took the coastal route practically all the way back to Dubrovnik before turning inland. The route was scenic the first time from Dubrovnik but now it was irritating as we averaged 30mph on the windy roads. Met Bosnian guy on the bus who spoke english and we had a chat about the history. Bought me coffee at the border as we had to wait for ages. I should have learnt after the ohrid experience not to drink coffee before a bus journey. The next hour was spent looking for the next toilet. I have never liked coffee in england but the thick strong stuff here is really nice and cheap as well. Properly starting to get addicted to it. Got picked up from mostar bus station by the hostel which was rated number 1 hostel in europe. There were a few people there which made a change and was given food when i arrived. The hostel itself is in a crumbly old apartment block but the people are so friendly. Went for a walk around the old town and to the world famous mostar bridge. Its the least place i would expect to be filled with tacky souvenir shops but it was. Also it was the first time i had to think contiously about pick pockets since athens as it was crawling with gypsy kids. Randomly in the street these two belgian guys asked me for directions. They are driving a battered old van from belgium to mongolia through the central asian 'stan countries. Its similar to the mongol rally but they are not doing it for charity and are taking 8 months over it. Maybe thats the next trip sorted. I gave them directions to the hostel and then met up with brian for a few beers. The bar closed at 10:30 so went back to the hostel. He is off to sarajevo tomorrow so might see him there or belgrade before he heads to africa for the world cup. On a organised tour around the local area today with 10 others so that should be good.