Wednesday May 27th - London arrival

I flew British Air direct overnight from LAX to LHR, landing around 11:30AM. Heathrow's customs and immigration Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) was inspiring, taking just minutes to clear. All British Air flights arrive and depart from Terminal 5, which is the largest free-standing structure in the UK. I stayed two nights at the LHR Sofitel, a 5 minute walk from the terminal.

After a quick turnaround, I took the 15 minute ride on the Heathrow Express to Paddington station (20£ r/t anytime on one specific day if bought 30 days ahead). Outside Paddington, there was a lot of construction. Once I got my bearings, I walked the mile and a half northeast to Abbey Road Studios where the famous Beatles zebra crosswalk photo was taken (first picture below).

I picked up some Pink Floyd DSOTM and Beatles souvenirs at the shop. I walked south a mile for an early fish and chips dinner at The Seashell of Lisson Grove, a favorite of mine from years past. I returned to my hotel on the Heathrow express in the evening and retired for the night.

Dubrovnik's Zvijezdićeva street

I got a good nights sleep, luckily experiencing no jetlag. After a great breakfast at the hotel, I bought an all day off peak tube ticket (16.70£) at the airport and took the new Elizabeth Line train to Tottenham Court Road, connecting to arrive at Waterloo station around noon. Although I have been to London many times, I have never done the London Eye or visited Borough Market. My first stop was the London Eye (second picture above). Worthwhile to do once for sure. I then tubed east to Borough Market, which was packed, for a street food lunch (third picture above). I walked across London Bridge (fourth picture above with three London icons - double deck bus, black cab, and Tower Bridge) to try to get into a couple of tall view buildings, Horizon 22 and Lookout, but both were booked up for the day. I tubed west and did a long St James Park, Buckingham Palace, and Hyde Park walk. After an early dinner at the 1971 original Hard Rock Cafe, I tubed and Elizabeth Line trained back to my hotel.

Friday May 29th - Dubrovnik arrival

After my morning flight from LHR - DBV, I lined up for registration with the EU's new Entry Exit System (EES). It worked, but not as smoothly or quickly as the UK's ETA. I was out and looking for my driver in 30min. But - he had a second person booked on my "private" drive who had luggage, so I waited 20 minutes for him to come out - no tip. The 30 minute drive to the Sipa Apartments was scenic. The owners were waiting for me when I arrived. Somehow I got the two bedroom, two bath apartment instead of the one bedroom one bath I had reserved - okay! It was huge, but nice and well stocked by the owners. The view of the Adriatic islands and old town Dubrovnik from the wrap around balcony was great, except for the construction crane between the apartment and the old town (first picture above).

After a quick turnaround, I walked to old town passing the harbor (second picture above), snapping pictures along the way. This walk was my first introduction to the hundreds of steep stairways in Dubrovnik (third picture above). The almost two mile walk felt a lot longer with the vertical component. I decided to find a better route going forward. I walked the main avenue (Stradun - fourth picture above), which was not crowded in the late afternoon. The old town is very beautiful with shops and lots of outdoor cafes. I ate an early dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. On my walk back to the apartment I stopped at a small grocery store for snacks and supplies. I tried my first Croatian wines (Plavac Mali and Pošip) on my balcony as the sun set and the full moon rose (first picture below).
 

Saturday May 30th - Dubrovnik's old town with Tom

I woke early and did a scouting walk for the best path (fewest stairs) to and from the old town. The old town was very crowded in the morning, I assume because of cruise ships or some other mass tourist incursion. I visited the main church and did some back alley shots before returning the apartment and relaxing on the balcony. Tom arrived around noon from Paris. We walked to the old town and enjoyed a remarkable lunch at Spaghetteria Toni, perched on a thin back alley. We then walked the periphery of the old town past the two Buza Bars with views of the cliff divers and the Adriatic coast. After a gelato at Gianni and a stop at the harbor, we headed back to the apartment. Because it was a national holiday, the grocery stores were closed, but we found a bakery open and bought some supplies for breakfast.

After a couple hours of rest on our balconies, we walked a half mile down to the cable car that lifted us up Mt. Srd, with its commanding view of town (second picture above). We were early for our reservation at the Panorama Restaurant, so we sat at their bar and started a bottle of excellent Edivo Dingač, (a high quality regional Plavac Mali). Shortly after 8PM and just before sunset we were seated at the front row table I had reserved months before (third picture above - night view from our table). After a great dinner, we Ubered back to the apartment and got ready for our next day adventure through Croatia's wine country.

Sunday May 31st - Croatia's Peljesac Peninsula wine country

Our driver for the day, Sasha Lusic, the transplanted Ausie owner of D'Vino wine bar in old town, picked us up at 9am and we headed northwest to wine country on the Pelješac Peninsula. I knew Sasha was a character from interviewing drivers ahead of the trip. The trip turned out to be punctuated with too many time wasting events - oyster farm, useless barrel room visits, too much talk / too little wine, etc. I had told Sasha I didn't want tours, barrel rooms, or wine making lessons, but apparently that didn't register. At Marlias winery (fourth picture above) we met the owner/winemaker and tasted some interesting variations on Plavac Mali and Pošip. The more formal and beautiful Milo winery had more variety, but we never got to taste their really great stuff. We stopped for a huge formal lunch at Vitaceae in Trstenik, which was unique and excellent, but again, took forever.

Our final winery was Maslinino UljeIs, which is loosely associated with Grgich, a wine hero who was part of Napa's Judgement of Paris, before returning to Croatia to help build out their industry. The owner and winemaker, known as "The Doctor" couldn't stop talking for a second. It was exhausting, especially at the end of the day. Lots of talk, mediocre wines. Rather than continuing on for our planned dinner at D'Vino, Tom and I agreed to call it a day and told Sasha to take us back to the apartment. Without the wasted time, we could have easily done ten wineries instead of three and gotten a much broader and deeper sense of Croatian wine. After snacks and wine on our balconies we retired for the night.

Monday June 1st - Dubrovnik's city wall walk

After a good nights sleep, Tom and I met up at 10am and walked to old town. We decided we would do the long, hot, steep city wall walk, knowing we could bail out at a couple of places along the way. It turned out to be a remarkable walk, with old town roof views and perspectives that could stand up to some of the most beautiful places either of us had ever been (four pictures above). Prague came to mind for both of us.

After the walk, we headed to Glam Café for a couple of much needed cold craft beers. We got a recommendation for lunch at Moskar, which was good. We hiked back to the apartment and relaxed on our balconies before heading back to old town in the evening for dinner at D'Vino. Sasha wasn't there due to a family issue, but he had his staff treat us like VIPs. A good variety of wines and a bunch of tapas made for the perfect meal. When we asked for the bill, Kenny the manager told us it was comped by Sasha - a nice touch after the frustrating day before. We got back to the apartment at 9pm, relaxed, snacked on our balconies, and retired for the night.
 

Tuesday June 2nd - Bosnia day trip

We met our driver at 8am. It turned out the driver I had interviewed and worked out the details with got sick on oysters the night before, so he sent a sub, Tomisav, who turned out to be fine. We drove north on the Croatian coast, then north into Bosnia. We reordered our day's four planned stops to: 1) Kravice Falls, 2) Mostar, 3) Biagaj, and 4) Politelj, which turned out to be a good approach. Our first stop was for cappuccino at a fancy spa. Since Bosnia is not in the EU, we had a border crossing in both directions. Because of a storm the night before, the border crossing machines were down at the small remote border crossing we used to avoid delays. After a delay of about 30 minutes, we were on our way in Bosnia.

Kravice waterfalls (first picture above) were interesting and worth the hour we spent there. The tram (1€ up and down) to the falls was worthwhile. By noon we were headed north to Mostar. Unlike Croatia, Bosnia is still showing it's wounds from the 1990s civil war. It was a stark contrast with a few bombed and bullet ridden buildings along our walkway (second picture above). We arrived in Mostar and parked near the Old Bridge, which is actually new having been destroyed in 1993, after standing before that for over 400 years. The sidewalks in old town Mostar had very slippery stones inlaid, likely polished by hundreds of years of pedestrian traffic. They would be very hard to navigate safely in the rain. We had a traditional and delicious lunch of Cevapcici with side cream at Teatar restaurant, seated at a railing overlooking a magnificent view of the bridge (third picture above). Everything was inexpensive in Bosnia, including our meal for three people. Total with drinks and tip, 60BAM (Bosnia-Herzegovina convertible marks) - equivalent to about 30€.

Onward south to Biagaj, which is a breathtaking setting, home to a dervish monastery. This place is often photographed, so I tried to take a different perspective in the fourth shot above and in the first two pictures below. We opted to forgo the cave boat and the inside of the buildings as we were tiring out after an already long day. Our next stop was at Počitelj which has a fortress and mosque high up on the hill (third picture below). We walked the lower town, but I ran out of steam climbing the hundreds of stairs toward the upper town (fourth picture below). We heard the afternoon call to prayer as we left for the drive back to Croatia. The border crossing was painless on the way back. Along the Adriatic Highway about 2km before the Pelješac bridge, we stopped at the Deak Family Estate wine bar above Neretva Channel where our driver took the shot, top of page left. We finished the long day on our balconies overlooking Dubrovnik at sunset downing a few beers and snacks before packing for our next adventure heading to the Puglia region of Italy.

Wednesday June 3rd - Croatia to Bari, Italy

We spent Wdnesday morning on our balconies in Dubrovnik before walking to lunch just outside of the old town. Rain threatened, but never affected our travel. We explored every transportation option we could think of ahead of time to avoid Ryan Air for the short crossing from Dubrovnik to Puglia Italy, but there were no good alternatives. Ryan Air was as bad as we imagined, but we made it to Bari's airport, uncomfortable, but on time in the late afternoon.