That's more like it! This is what i expected Split to be like. The old fortified town of Dubrovnik is a real treasure, while the city surrounding it is pleasant, clean, tree-lined and easy to get around.
Dubrovnik is a long but pleasant drive from Split with the good-quality, 2 lane coastal highway of Route 8 winding between headlands and the intersecting coves each typically with its village of Italianate buildings and the few resorty towns such as Podgora and Makarska (for a smoko, coffees and snot blocks on the waterfront esplanade). Very similar scenery to the Cinque Terre and Amalfi Coast of Italy - steep limestone rises high out of the sea, rugged and sparse on the upper reaches, covered by pines, olive groves and vinyards on the lower slopes; except for an interim inland diversion through flat, well-watered plains and orchards near a place called Ploce after which the highway returns to the coast via a windy climb back over the mountains.
Dubrovnik is separated from the rest of Croatia by a short Bosnian coast that took only about 15 minutes to pass through. Can't really claim to have been to Bosnia given the brevity of the transit; the same with Slovenia on the way in. While the Croatia/Slovenia border had border posts they were unmanned and we drove straight through, the Bosnia/Croatia border crossings are manned but offialdom is minimal - upon request the Bosnian official looked for passport stamps to mark our brief visit but couldn't find any - they're not used.