South Dalmatia and Herzegovina

We had already been in the flight path of Split in Trogir. Split is the largest city in Dalmatia and the second largest city in Croatia. The old town of Split is definitely worth seeing. Okay, Split is the x-th old town along our journey, but Split is the only city that was built into a Roman imperial palace. The Roman Emperor Diocletian had a huge palace built here for himself and after Diocletian voluntarily stepped down from office, the palace was transformed into an inhabited fortress. Thus, large parts of the palace have been preserved to this day and can be seen at every turn in the old town. Of course, the old town of Split is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. What was noticeable: here the number of Americans and party-goers increased dramatically. It seemed like we were approaching the peak season.

From Split we then went straight back to Bosnia and Herzegovina for a detour. With small stops at the Kravica waterfalls, Počitelj and Blagaj, we drove to Mostar.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federal republic, which, contrary to its name, consists of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the primarily Serbian inhabited Republika Srpska, roughly Republic of Serbia. Both parts have their own judiciary, executive and legislative branches, and to make matters worse, Bosnia and Herzegovina has three presidents, one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat, of whom one is always the rotating president of the presidents. In addition, there is the High Representative of the UN, currently a German, who can dismiss elected officials and enact laws. So all together, it is an extremely complex political entity which is certainly not conducive to the formation of a Bosnian-Herzegovinian state feeling. This entity is owed to the Dayton Agreement, which attempted to secure and maintain peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina after three and a half years of cruel war. Since the war, the city of Mostar has been a symbol of the division and disunity of this state. Serbs fought Bosniaks against Croats here in the Bosnian War and destroyed a large part of the city. Both Croats and Serbs carried out ethnic cleansing in their occupied districts, as there was a plan to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina between the two countries. The new border was supposed to run right through Mostar. Thus, Mostar became a focal point of the Bosnian War, which culminated in the destruction of the historical and symbolic old Ottoman bridge of Mostar. Well, the bridge was rebuilt with a lot of international help, but even today Mostar is politically divided into a Croatian and a Bosniak city with the Neretva River as a clear border. This can be clearly seen from the churches in the west and the mosques in the east of the city. We learned all of this on a free tour from our guide Sheva, who was trapped in the city as a Bosniak soldier by the Croats and Serbs.

From Mostar we went back to the coast of Croatia via a short stop in Stolac. After Stolac, we left the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and entered the Republika Srpska. It didn't take long before we were stopped at a police checkpoint. Driving with a child seat on the passenger seat is forbidden in many countries and apparently results in a €200 fine in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the police officers were quite 'cooperative', since we unfortunately didn't have €200 in cash with us, we ended up paying only €35, allegedly for driving without a seatbelt. They didn't find any other offenses on our part, although they were definitely looking for them. There was no receipt, but Karl has been sitting in the back seat ever since and Juliane can now see what is happening in the landscape in front of her. Later, our Airbnb host from Mostar confirmed that it really does cost €200 in Bosnia and Herzegovina to have the child seat in the front (which locals also do).

To be precise, we were supposed to pay 400 Marks. During the Bosnian War, the Yugoslav currency was heavily devalued and since many war refugees fled to Germany, the German Mark established itself as a means of payment. Therefore, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the convertible Mark with a fixed 1:1 exchange rate to the German Mark was introduced after the war and still exists today.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has only 22 km of coastline, which means it has only a little more coastline than the small country of Monaco. The short Bosnian access to the sea makes southern Dalmatia in Croatia an enclave that is soon to be connected to the mainland by a long bridge, paid for by EU funds and built by the Chinese. But South Dalmatia is also home to Dubrovnik, which has been a highlight of a visit to Croatia, especially since Game of Thrones. Accordingly, the city is crowded, with the sheer number of Americans standing out. What can be said about Dubrovnik is that it is truly very beautiful. You won't find such an intact large old town with a continuous city wall and majestic bastions very often. However, it also resembles Disneyland, because locals are hardly found there anymore, prices are overpriced, the price per square meter is €7000, and everywhere there are attempts to make a lot of money with tourists. We went on a free old town tour, which is really recommended. However, Game of Thrones tours are much more common there. Terence, as a fan from the beginning, was also very enthusiastic, but for Juliane's sake we stuck to the old town tour. Karlchen was able to bomb some tours. For example, the guide of a GoT tour squealed in the Blackwater Bay (no one remembers what the bay is really called): 'Oh my God, he's so cute' as Karlchen walked along the pier. Many Americans and other tourists were also fascinated by Karl in his child carrier, and on our tour through the city, we were always accompanied by laughter and 'so cute,' 'sweet,' and 'sympatico'. Karl is undoubtedly stealing the show from the Game of Thrones.