We had actually planned to visit Ston later.
It made sense. On the way from Korčula to Dubrovnik, the little town lies directly on the route. Visiting it on the outward journey meant a small detour.
We decided otherwise all the same.
We knew ourselves well enough.
The closer we got to Dubrovnik, the stronger the temptation would have been to keep driving. Another hour. Another place. Then the great icon of this journey.
Ston could easily have lost out. Fortunately, it did not.
More than a brief stop
Within the first few minutes, we realised we had underestimated the place.
There was that remarkable wall, running over the hills and connecting Ston with Mali Ston. The small old town with its quiet lanes. The historic salt pans, where sea salt is still harvested today. And, of course, the oysters that have made the bay famous far beyond Croatia.
We are probably never going to become great oyster enthusiasts. But we learnt something about how they are farmed. And suddenly, for the rest of the journey, we kept noticing the floating structures in the bays and knew what we were looking at.
That, too, is part of travelling.
Sometimes a brief stop changes the way you see everything that follows.
The journey between the destinations
Looking back, Ston was much more than a stopover. And that was one of the reasons this road trip will stay with us for so long.
Not a single day consisted only of driving.
Between the major destinations, we kept finding places that had barely been on our radar. Rastoke. Krka. Šibenik. Blagaj. Kravica. Piran. Perhaps none of them alone would have prompted a separate journey. Together, though, they made our days fuller, more varied and often more surprising.
The big destinations are already in your head before you set off. But the road holds plenty of discoveries. Together, they make a journey.