Day 6 was all about the beautiful mountainous terrains and breath-taking coastal scenery of Croatia, the quaint, charming villages of Rogotin and Komin, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Dubrovnik a.k.a. G.o.T.’s “King’s Landing“, crossing the border to Bosnia, and the mesmerizing afternoon walk in the Old City of Trebinje.

Here’s our entire route for the roadtrip, c/o Google Maps:

I forgot to mention that getting in and out of the hotel’s location in Split was stressful. The parking lot was at the back of Hotel Batuda, so we had to drive along the main road and turn to a narrower road get there. There was horrible traffic jam when we arrived, and horrible traffic when we left (we even got lost, lol). Nevertheless, we had a good stay in Split, and left the accommodation this review: “Comfortable stay: ind receptionist, spacious room, shops and restaurants nearby. Ok breakfast. Big parking lot.” It was a good idea to use uber when we were there.

We left Split at 8:30am. The drive was smooth and we were blessed with a sunny and clear weather. The scenery was amazing, I loved the mountains and the rolling hills! We passed through highways and some tunnels, admiring the bluish silhouette of Croatian mountains as we drove on.

At around 10:30 am, we stopped over a charming village called Rogotin. It dates back from the 1700s, and has a population of only around 570, which primarily depends on fishing and agriculture. We stopped over a cliff to admire its beauty and to do some stretching. Imagine waking up every day to the sight of some cute hills and fields..

As we drove along, we noticed several fruit stands on the roadside in another village, Komin. Komin has a population of around 900, and according to Wikipedia, a hoard of 300,000 ancient Roman coins was found there in 1918. After some quick discussion, we decided to stopped by one and try the fresh local produce! The vendors welcomed us with big smiles, and gave us a try of their candies – some dried fruits, caramelized nuts, and oooh.. sugar coated orange peels! That’s the first time we tasted something like that – it was weird eating orange peels, but it was also creative, chewy, and good. Not a bitter taste to it. I thought of fertilizers used and such, but we just brushed off the thought and hoped that they were grown organic. We bought a box of the orange peel candies, and a bottle of fresh fruit juice. It was so refreshing! Aside from fruits, vegetables and spices were also sold by the roadside vendors.

More shots from the road towards the coast:

Moving on, we reached Duboka at 11am and stopped by a viewing platform to breathe some sea air! Finally, the coasts! And a beach!

Apparently, some of the Balkan countries wanted a piece of the Adriatic Sea. We wondered why the road led us out to the coast and across a bridge on our way to Dubrovnik. Well, it was (most probably) to avoid crossing the border to Bosnia, and then back again to Croatia. Just like Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a small portruding part that opens out to the Adriatic Sea, the municipality of Neum. Neum is Bosnia’s access to the sea. Super cool 🙂

To bypass Neum, we crossed the beautiful cable-stayed Pelješac Bridge, 2.404 kms in length and was opened in July 2022. So, it’s pretty recent. What comes next was a winding coastal road that led us straight to Dubrovnik.

Seeing Dubrovnik for the first time was surreal. I really wanted to visit the city – which was a filming location for Star Wars (not that I’ve seen the movie) and Game of Thrones. The old city was known as the King’s Landing in the tv series. Driving down to Dubrovnik was exciting, although I thought that the roads were too narrow. It was also very difficult to find a parking lot! All of the ones we passed by were full, and so we ended up parking in Hilton Imperial hotel. We had no choice, haha 😀 We paid more than 300 NOK for parking there from 12:30-2:30 pm (2 hours).

Anyway, Dubrovnik welcomed us with ancient feels – beautiful fortifications, old gates, and lots and lots of fellow tourists. But first thing first: lunch.

Then, we explored “King’s Landing”, looking randomly for G.o.T.’s filming locations.

Dubrovnik has a long history – it dates back to the 7th century, when it was founded by refugees from Epidaurum, an ancient Greek colony. The city was then called “Ragusa”. At present, it has a population of around 41,000, and the old city center was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Before exiting Dubrovnik, we enjoyed some gelato. I feel really blessed and lucky to have visited Croatia and its beautiful cities. I wouldn’t mind vacationing there again in the future.

The border to Bosnia and Herzegovina was only a 15 minute- ascending drive from Dubrovnik. The crossing went successful, and so, we found ourselves outside the Schengen area. The Balkan countries were exotic to me before the trip. I was so excited to finally visit some of them – although there was that tiny feeling of fear of the unknown, or worry for travel mishaps. But I knew that that’s perfectly normal. I was, and still am, very glad that we did the roadtrip!

Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Now, the early impression was, honestly, that we were in a dodgy place at first. We entered a rural section of the country: with narrow and dusty roads. We had no plans of what sites to visit, but we already booked an accommodation in Trebinje. So, when we saw a roadsign pointing to a monastery on the way there, we decided to make a detour and try to find it. My husband was telling me then of hidden or undiscovered land mines, an aftermath of the Bosnian war in the 90s. According to Wikipedia, Bosnia had the most severe land mine problems in the world. So there was unease in my mind as we navigated the unpaved roads. The barbed wires did not help. We thought it was there as warning of the land mine contamination. Now, we did find the monastery, but I did not dare go out of the car (which I regret now at present). It felt so isolated, and my fear ate me up. Too bad..

So we drove back to the main road and on to Trebinje. At 3:40 pm, we checked in at Apis Hotel, took a nap, and went to explore the old town later.

Trebinje is the southernmost city in the country and is known as “the city of the sun and platan trees”. It is situated in a river valley, and has a population of around 31,000. I did (and still do) think that Trebinje is one beautiful and picturesque city. Since it didn’t seem crowdy, we took the car to the city center. Locals seemed laid-back, enjoying the warm afternoon in the huge parks, or in restaurants with outdoor seats.

The staff in the hotel, and in the visitor center, seemed aloof. We don’t know if its typically characteristic of Bosnians, but we didn’t mind that much. Until we sat down in restaurants later and nobody came to talk to us or take our order. It was a bit weird.

Anyway, I bought some postcards from the visitor center, but since it was a weekend, I did not manage to buy stamps. We continued walking towards the “Old mills” and “Old stone bridge”. It was a nice quiet walk, and I took some really charming photos from the new bridge and as we promenaded along the river.

Trebinje was like a breath of fresh air. We also got to experience the Old city center. There were very few people in Trebinje on a September day. Well, the stray cats were starting to be more visible in this part of the trip.

Thirsty, we tried to buy food/drinks, but they only accept cash. So, we took out some from a nearby ATM. Bosnia uses the convertible mark. And as mentioned, nobody came to wait on us in the restaurants, so we were a bit confused. We thought that we should go to the counter and buy food from there. We ended up getting just a couple of softdrinks to quench our thirst. Then walked on and bought crepe from the roadside – it was delicious!

At 6pm, we went back to the hotel and called it a (long) day. We saw, heard, and experienced a lot of stuff in one day. It was amazing! I took a photo from the little balcony in our room and thought that it’s always nice to wake up in a different place. 🙂 This was Day 6 of our roadtrip in September 2023. ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ARE MINE. Cheers! 🙂 #spreadloveandpositivevibes