Trip to Dubrovnik (Croatia)

After long time, half a year it became actually, I exit the borders of Bosnia for going to Dubrovnik in Croatia. Actually, the trip was not basically for visiting but for some official procedures. My visa expired and I needed to leave the country and then enter again to start the process of 3 month legal staying period in Bosnia for every country citizens. It is a bit weird process but it works like that, what can I do?! Anyway, we wanted to have a small vacation with my husband also. Dubrovnik is a good choice since it is one of the most closest cities to the border between Croatia and Bosnia, we do not need via (well I do not visa because anyway my husband has no problems like that because of EU citizenship) to go to Croatia and it is one of the most beautiful cities around that area. B. Shaw calls this city as a 'pearl of Adriatic'. I did not see so many other Adriatic cities, but I can agree that it is quite nice city. We took bus from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik which goes directly and such kind of a bus trip generally takes around 6-7 hours. On this way, you see Konjic and Mostar as basic Bosnian cities. Interestingly, we did not only exit Bosnian border and enter to the Croatian one but we did this twice! Yes, because there is a small place after you enter into Croatia, called Neum, which is inside the border of Bosnia. hence, because of this small place belonging to Bosnia, you exit Bosnia and enter Croatia twice. Complicated? Everything is possible around here. A scene from a break from our bus trip somewhere between Croatia and Bosnia. During the whole trip, you see similar views; high mountains, green environment and green lakes...

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Dubrovnik is not a big city, just around 45.000 population in regular times. I say 'in regular times' because during the summer time I think this number doubles or even triples! I have never seen so many tourists in one area and also I have never heard so many different languages at the same time. You even become tired to try to understand where they are from. By the way, there are especially German and Swedish tourists. We have arranged our hostel before we go there, hence, it was just a matter finding the address of it and get settled. A scene from our window where we stayed. I suggest you to use this web site if you plan to arrange a hostel from all around the world: www.hostelworld.com There are so many stone type old houses where the landlords are renting for tourists. So, you feel as if you stay in a real house, nice.

The city is not big as an area also. The most important part of the city is the 'old town'. There are so many things to see in that area; churches, monasteries, museums, fountains and even a mosque. We got a detailed map of old town before we go there and then see all the things what we wnated to see. Good to be organized. You can a scene from the main street of Old Town. There are beaches and some less crowded places to swim. You can also take boat trips to the closer small islands. We could get a chance for quite long walk around the places of Old Town, but I need to say, there are only houses, not so much special things to see.
Some tips for Dubrovnik; it is quite expensive city. You can search on wikitravel (http://wikitravel.org/en/Dubrovnik) where you can eat with cheaper prices before you go. There are some bakeries called 'pekara' where you can get cheaper stuff to eat outside wherever you want. Try to find a place to stay somewhere close to the Old Town. Otherwise you need to take bus in city every time when you want to go there. Below, you can see a nşght view from the Old Harbor.
Two days were totally enough to see most part of the city and all in all, it was really nice to see this small and beautiful city!