First stop, a historic three-storey 15thC Sufi monastery, built during the Middle Ages at the base of 240 metre towering cliffs, next to the source of the river Buna. You can take a boat ride into the cave at the side of the monastery. There are a number of restaurants and stalls with local produce, lining the banks of the river, with views across fast-flowing water. Great weather for it today, only 26 degrees after the storm that deluged last night. Time and rock slides have led to extensive repairs and reconstruction of the buildings. A lovely calm, quiet, beautiful place to experience. Dogs were enjoying the beauty as well 🙂 But quite gruelling on my knees, its a Voltaren night!

20 kms further on was a lovely little historic fortified/walled town on the left bank of the river Neretva, Pocitelj. The story is that the settlement of strategic importance was built by Bosnian King Tvrtko 1, sometime in 1383. Hungarians and the Ottomans conquered the town during the 15thC-19thC. The town suffered extensive damage and the town’s people were ‘ethnically cleansed’ during the Bosnian Wars 1992-95. It now has about 800 residents, 59% Bosniaks, 39% Croats, 2% Serbs. Here’s a couple of settlement views – facing the river from the settlement walls and facing the town from the river looking up the escarpment.

The last 100 kms of driving today to get to Dubrovnik, through the Ostrvo mountains and past Svitavsko Lake…very pretty scenery, but narrow back roads so lots of concentration and quite tiring. And then I got to the outskirts of Dubrovnik, to be greeted by this scene.