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After a rainy, miserable day yesterday, we woke to beautiful blue skies. Ok, at least it looked like it was going to be that...then it would cloud over and look to rain again. C'mon stop teasing us! We opened the windows of our little apartment and found that our hosts, Kristof and Angela had left us a little surprise of fresh pastries from the bakery down the street. So, we sat outside on the terrace and enjoyed coffee and pastry overlooking the beautiful blue sea.
Today we are renting a car and driving to Montenegro, the small country south of Croatia. It is known for its beautiful fjords, the only ones outside of Norway. But, it is also known to be quite poor and while it has beautiful scenery, doesn't have the infrastructure of Croatia. We have learned a lot about the Balkan history, and during the time of Tito (ruler of Yugoslavia during the 60-80's) he invested in the Dalmatian coast for tourism, while ignoring the area of Montenegro. The contrast is quite visible.
But, before we got on the road, we wandered into Old Town for some coffee and a bit of breakfast and people watching. With the sun out, it also brought out all of the tour groups and the main street of Old Town was becoming quite busy. We saw several groups of older people, mostly overweight or moving very slowly (who knows what nationality...could be any, except for Japanese who tend to be very healthy looking) and we decided that we need to keep doing Backroads tours or we are going to look like that!
We picked up our car and started down the dramatic coast to the south. Lots of twists, turns and cliffs that looked out to the Sea. After an hour, we hit the Croatian border and had a short 15 minute wait to present our passports. Then, about 10 minutes later we hit the Montenegro border and had a 30 minute wait, which based on reports isn't bad for a Saturday.
We had our Rick Steves Montenegro driving tour chapter ready to go and he walked us through the next 1.5 hour to Kotor, at the tip of the bay and with the most dramatic views. We passed many grey, drab. communist type apartment complexes all overlooking beautiful green mountains and blue water. We stopped at a small village to walk around and enjoy the scenery.
Continuing on the narrow, windy road we arrived at Kotor, which was at the base of rock cliffs and had another small walled village. We wandered the alleys until we found one of the two recommended restaurants. It was a small, family run seafood place and we both ordered the fish that had been caught that morning. While enjoying our food at the table in the alley, another couple sat down at the table next to us. We started chatting and found they were from Missouri City, the suburb of Houston next to ours! Last year in Florence we sat next to a family from Houston....no matter where we go, we meet folks from home.
After a great lunch and chat with our fellow Houstonians, we continued to wander around the little town and marvel at the walls running up the tall mountains. Very much like the Great Wall of China, but has a fort at the top. There was a part of the wall that didn't look like anyone had been on it for years, and could have been very damaged in the war. But, you could hike up the main part, but we didn't as I was in flip-flops (my tennis shoes were still wet from the night before) and that just wasn't good footwear for a long hike up uneven stones.
We finally decided to head back to Dubrovnik and the ride back was had more spectacular scenery, just in reverse. We discovered that Montenegro is on the Euro, while Croatia still on the Kuna. We didn't have one Euro with us, so to get our car out of the parking area had to hit the cash machine. Not good planning on our part!
Once again, the border crossing was uneventful and within a couple of hours we were back on our little street above Old Town. Our apartment came with parking, which is very handy as it is limited. We weren't sure of which space we could use, and Kristof wasn't home, so we just parked in front of his garage and relaxed on the terrace overlooking the street and watched the world drive/walk past. Bonus was the great view over the town and the harbor.
Kristof and Angela arrived and directed us to our parking spot. By then, it was time to find some dinner, so we went in search of two Rick Steves suggestions in the back alleys of Old Town. We soon found Spaghetteria Tina and sat outside in the small alley. We split a pasta and a bruschetta with very fresh tomato and anchovies...it was SOOO good. Then, we walked to the wall overlooking the harbor and found a bar, hanging off the cliff. We were able to snag a great table with an amazing view and a glass of wine, as the sun was setting. Life is good.
By this time, we were ready for the hike back down the stairs and then back up the stairs to our room. Tired, happy and not ready for our adventure to end.
- comments
maria mcclung what a beautiful way to end your adventure.....
Don Well, another intriguing Ken & Jenine adventure comes to a close. Wonderful pictures, stories, and commentary, except for the tumble by Ken. If it were not for the x-ray, I thought maybe he was crying wolf to ride in the van all day. Well I guess you start the trip home tomorrow or today. Have a safe trip home.