Blagaj and Pocitelj, BiH

Villa Anri, our hotel in Mostar, set our schedule for the morning by serving breakfast at 8am. Afterwards we drove to two nearby villages: Blagaj and Pocitelj. In the early morning without any crowds, they were absolutely worth a visit.

Blagaj is most famous for its 500 year-old Dervish Monastery and cave that is the source of the Buna River.

For best views, cross over the wooden bridge (2nd pedestrian bridge from cave) and follow the path that points to "cave".

The dramatic townscape of Pocitelj is worth a quick stop.

You can walk up to the ruins for this great view

Bosnia is quite underdeveloped (borderline barren), particularly compared to somewhere like Italy. Most of our drive is through brush, random commercial buildings, and cement/ brick houses. If you want to buy up cheap European property, I imagine this is the place to do it. However it might take some time to realize a profit on your investment.

This is a cute version of the brick and concrete homes here.  They look off-balance with the second floor jutting out over the first. 

A sign of the tension with neighboring Serbia, Cyrillic is scratched out on many defaced road signs in Bosnia.

Just past 11am and 1/4-mile from Croatia, we came to a dead stop - it was the start of the line to cross the border. This was the Metkovik crossing we avoided yesterday. It took over 45 minutes to get through two sets of booths (one for each Bosnia and Croatia).

We are on our way back to Dubrovnik to return the car and catch the 4pm ferry to the island of Korcula.

The Krilo ferry was a completely enclosed catamaran - not a car ferry

Rather than skip too quickly through the islands, we are spending 2 nights on Korcula. I found a cheap $75/night apartment with wonderful views overlooking the sea between Korcula Island and the Peljesac peninsula.

View from our balcony

Korcula is one of 1000 islands off the coast of Croatia

Korčula Town is nicknamed "Little Dubrovnik" – like Dubrovnik it has fortress walls and towers lining the exterior of the town. Having a walled medieval Old Town and the best Croatian wine, its popularity is growing year by year. With the backdrop of sea and mountains it is incredibly photogenic. Visitors come to relax, spend days on the stony beaches, eat delicious food and explore. Building outside the walls was forbidden until the 18th century, and the wooden drawbridge was only replaced in 1863.

Wine from Korcula is special, and one of the best European white wines is from here. 2,500 years ago, the Greeks arrived and planted an unknown variety. Nowadays, the island is famous for the production of the best Croatian white wines - Pošip and Grk.

For dinner we had Pošip, a dry white wine

One of the old town's medieval towers has been converted into a bar called Massimo's. To get up, you have to climb a ladder; the drinks are hoisted up.