We’re a little tired, but we’re looking forward to Chris. We collect it with our rental car and the next road trip begins. We stock up on enough provisions from a supermarket and then we go south along the coast. We leave all famous national parks and also the city of Split to the left and just enjoy the Mediterranean summer mood and the wind in our hair through the open car window.

We’re heading for a hostel in the small town of Marušići that the Frenchwoman recommended to us. She has worked there voluntarily for board and lodging for the past three months and the owners are very happy when we greet her. Dean is an old American war veteran who invested his pension from his army days as a helicopter protector and long work in the oil fields in the USA in accommodation with a view of the Mediterranean. His blatantly younger girlfriend Steffi comes from Germany.

We can still use the last hours of sunshine to go down to the beach. I have never seen sea water as clear as here in my life. You can see many meters deep, because the water is clear.

The sea floor consists only of rubble, so the water does not absorb any sediments. The light and reflections from the ground make it look like crystal.

We have a fantastic evening with you and the few other guests. The season ends in September, although the temperature of the air and water are perfect. Therefore Dean and Steffi will go on vacation themselves in the coming weeks and travel through Thailand. Meanwhile, a Brazilian couple takes care of everything. They start with the fact that they prepare dinner for everyone for a small donation. While we wait we drink with a couple of French people. The French drink beer in proper style, while we Germans prefer wine. When we talk about clichés Dean gets upset until I assure him that we are making fun of it and I catch him falling for a cliché himself: “You are planning so much, typical German”.

We don’t plan a lot, we just want to know what the weather will be like in order to adapt our travel route. But it looks like we have to make the best of the situation. In Croatia, the views on the coast look excellent, while inland and especially Bosnia for the next two weeks continuous rain is announced. But who can trust the weather forecast? We decide against the tourists and in favor of the rain. Dean may be a fan of Donald Trump, but he’s a nice guy nonetheless.

The next day it continues. We don’t drive long along the coast, then we go into the mountains towards Bosnia. We stop at a remote lake in the landscape around Lokvičići and a small town called Imotski, which also has a lake.

This lies in a steep valley depression and can sometimes dry out or be a hundred meters deep full of water.