As you probably know, with Brexit we are only allowed 90 days in Schengen out of 180 which means we can be in Schengen for 90 days and then have to be out of Schengen for the next 90 days before we can enter again for the next 90 out of 180. That’s the reason we left Spain and headed for Croatia (yes, Croatia is in the EU but not currently in Schengen) to be in Croatia by the end of March. Being able to travel around Croatia despite Covid-19, we’d like to make the most of it, as you’ve seen from recent posts, and after having a couple of weeks for us to plan (and by ‘us’ I mean Steve) we decided the easiest way to visit Dubrovnik would be by car leaving our caravan at our wonderful campsite Camping Stobeč. But, how to plan the route without crossing Bosnia, requiring passport checks? Solved. We’ll island hop. Sounded like fun if we can sort out ferry timings.

A plan was in place. We would go to bed early Monday evening having packed our bits and pieces into our caravan and awning, got out the clothes we thought we needed and be away by 8am Tuesday morning. We set our alarms for 6, 6:15, 6:30 and 7, getting out of bed as late as we could. With Steve serving tea (blue job) our routine commenced. He showered first, then I showered, then we made sure the car was loaded, checked our check list from last night (and again, because as you all know I’m not a morning person) and set off in the direction of Dubrovnik on our way to Ploč

e to get the ferry to Trpanj on the peninsula of Pelješac, aiming for Ston thinking we would get breakfast on the way.

Drive from Stobrec to Ploče

First, we took a secondary road, with mountains to our left and villages either side of the road. The sky was grey, the weather looked bleak and the temperature was only around 10/12 degrees. Our Poacher is incredibly noisy and although we do have a radio, it’s never on. Chatting away we admired the mountains, which were now on both sides , clusters of villages sprinkled through various valleys as we drove through narrow roads without kerbs or pavements, noticing an absence of fuel stations. Luckily we had filled up before the trip.

Suddenly out of no where, with just a road sign, our single lane turned into a full blown motorway the A1/E45 complete with toll. The temperature heated up slightly and the mountains were as impressive as those in Switzerland but way more dangerous with serious drops at the road edge. Steve said ‘did you see that?’ I had no idea what he was talking about but apparently there were road signs warning us of wild bears. I wasn’t quick enough (basically not yet awake) to take photos and missed every other oncoming bear sign. It was now almost 9:30 and the temperature was teasing its way up to 16 degrees.

Ferry from Ploče to Pelješac

We arrived at Ploče at a convenient 10am, well in time for our 11am ferry to Pelješac. The one way crossing with the car and Stella was under £20! The crossing is an hour and thankfully Steve got some snacks before we boarded as everything on this tiny roll on roll off ferry was closed. Just take a look at this beautiful ferry port. The wind had whipped up and we thought we might have a crossing full of attitude. However, it was calm and we watched as the ferry pulled into Trpanj.

Arrival Pelješac drive from Trpanj to Ston

Despite the greyish weather and winds, the drive from Trpanj to Ston was breathtaking. We were taken high into the mountains along tracks that didn’t look wide enough simply cut out of the mountains. Pelješac is famed for its wines and the route we followed vineyard after vineyard, signs at every opportunity advertising Wine Bars, Vineyards, Wine for Sale, Wine for Tasting and Wineries. There were laybys built into the roads to be able to pull in as often as we wished to take advantage of amazing view after amazing view. Along the way there were now signs of wild boars. This time I was ready and was able to capture one of them – the sign, not a boar!

Ston

Arriving at Ston, which is famed for its wall (with Steve having cycled Hadrian’s wall doesn’t agree its the largest in Europe), but very small we parked up and looked for the Tourist Office. Again, we were in the right place at the right time. We do that a lot. The office closed at 2pm, but we were there well in time at 1:30. Not only did we get all the brochures and information we needed to tour the local area, discover the wall and visit Dubrovnik but one of the ladies had an apartment we could rent for the few days we would be there.

The Apartment is actually in Mali Ston only a kilometre from Ston itself. We chose to stay here as there are two restaurants within walking distance, one owned and run by a Croatian TV chef (picture of menu to come), and also there are boats to hire to tour the famed oyster beds, do tasting of oysters and of course enjoy wine tasting too. Arriving at the ground floor apartment, the front door was open with the key in the back of the door. The owner Fani showed us around, said the rate was £35 per night and asked it if we liked it. Liked it? We loved it! It was perfect and Stella immediately settled herself in. Fani also told us not to be startled if we heard golden jackal wild dogs (who live in the forest), saw geckos in the apartment (because they east flies and spiders), or glavors which are lizard looking snakes (apparently Fani has two in the garden).

First Oysters this Year

Having unpacked the Poacher and settled into this quite large apartment, we walked back into Ston and stopped for lunch at a local restaurant because it was open, the Konoba Bakus. Starting with half a dozen oysters as big as my hand and moving on to a Bakus special seafood platter our eyes were as big as saucers. The platter comprised a whole seam bream and whole sea bass, shrimp, prawns, Jakob caps, 3 types of shellfish, scallops, squid with vegetable soup. Take a look and you’ll see why.

It’s late and we’ll decide tomorrow whether to scale the fortress walls or drive to Dubrovnik depending on the weather. Having said that whatever the weather we know we’re going to have a full and another enjoyable day.

Links:

• Ston – Home, Ston.hr
• Ston Oysters – https://malistonoysters.com/
• Walls of Ston – Walls of Ston – Wikipedia
• Bakus Restaurant – http://www.bakus.hr/