Day Twentyfive - Jun 22, 2017

Dubrovnik, Croatia to Mostar, Bosnia

High Point: Honest air conditioning on the Mostar coach

Low Point: Eighty-eight miles of Croatian cliffs you mostly nap through

Miles By Automobile: 88

Miles By Foot: 7

Today's Antiquities: The Dubrovnik Cathedral, the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius, Sveti Spas on the Stradun, the medieval Old Town one last time

Today's Weather: 83º and pleasant in Dubrovnik. Some actual AC on the bus

Tonight's Lodging: Our apartment on the banks of the Neretva River

Touristic Events: A last loop of Old Town, a final swim off the rocks, lunch at Mea Culpa, the Gruž bus, the coach through Klek and Čapljina, a late bread at Peron 7

Travel Tip: The narrowest alley is always the one without the tour group in it

Daily Didactic

Today was a checkout-and-move day, Dubrovnik to Mostar. We packed up the little studio, Brian wrestled the door lock one last time with the green pack already on his back, and we took a final lap of Old Town before the heat got serious. Even on a Thursday morning the stepped alleys were a river of tour groups, sun hats and strollers, so we did what we always do and ducked into the narrowest ones we could find. We climbed past the Ulica Pucića sign, looked up at the Cathedral and the big baroque Jesuit church of St. Ignatius one more time, and slipped down to the rocks below the walls for a last swim with the city stretched out across the water. Lunch was a patio table at Mea Culpa, tucked under an awning where it was a few degrees cooler. Then it was the local bus down to the Gruž station, a low yellow building full of idling coaches, and onto the Mostar bus. The coach had honest air conditioning, which after a week of pretending sea breezes count felt like cheating. The drive was the good kind of long: Croatian cliffs out the window, a yellow sign counting down Dubrovnik behind us, the wide bay near Klek, and the Bosnian valley going gold as we dropped toward Mostar. We rolled in after dark, walked past a lit stone memorial and the socialist apartment blocks of Čapljina, and found ourselves a warm sesame-crusted bread from a window near Peron 7. The apartment on the Neretva would keep until tomorrow.