Dubrovnik to Kotor, MonteNegro, - the Land of the Cats

Sunday May 27

It was an early start this morning to drive to the border with Montenegro and on to Kotor. The Sea to Sky has serious competition!! The drive was stunning. The road took us high up along the coast of the teal Adriatic waters. Islands popped out of the shining glass ocean. Limestone cliffs sheared straight out of the water, and beside us on the other side of the road a wall of limestone rock. Two lanes of cars drove sedately along. As we drove into Montenegro, we entered what appeared to be a valley filled with lush green bushes and lined with mountains that rose craggily up into the sky losing their greenery on the way. Small communities merged out of the mass of green; off white stone or concrete houses with the now accustomed terra cotta rooves.

We drove all round the bay down to Kotor where we unloaded and walked the last few hundred metres into the old town, across the square, and up one of the narrow lanes to the Hotel Marinja. The hotel is much older than in Dubrovnik, and although filled with atmosphere is not quite as functional, for example, no usb charging sockets, lights that don’t work, and what appears to be a towel for a top sheet. I later found out there was supposed to be a sheet as well!!

Peter our tour leader took us on a 30 minute introductory walk around the old town of narrow lane-ways filled with shops selling tourist souvenirs, what looked like designer clothing, delicious cakes and ice-creams, jewelery, and anything else that tourists might like. The character in the old town lay in the ancient restored buildings, and the cats. Yes, we even went to the cat museum!! Robin, you would have loved it. A collection of cards, paintings, shows, and caricatures of cats over the ages. Quite amazing. And, complete with the resident cat, lying on the counter, sound, sound, asleep!!

After lunching in one of the squares we decided to take off early (around 4:00) on the climb up to the Fortress. It was still pretty hot, but cooled off on the way up. The climb, about 1500 stairs, gave its reward: spell-binding views over the countryside and the bay. On the way up we stopped for a thousand photos, played with the cats, oogled at the views, and admired the pretty wildflowers.

The way down was easy, and of course more pictures!!

There was time to clean up, change, and off for dinner, following our guide along the waterside to the restaurant, and a dinner of delicious mussels!!!! And wine!! The wine in this region is really very good!

Dubrovnik, Croatia - The Walled Town, the Most Dr. Franja Tudmana, and Hill Training

Thursday May 24, Friday May 25, Saturday May 26

Dubrovnik has mesmerized us. Its coastline beauty, its mix of old and new, and its efficiency are things we are wowed by. We have had 3 full days here and I think we have just about walked around the whole city!! We are not staying in the “resort” area, but in the port area….where the cruise ships come in!!! However, this is also the quieter part of town, well, at the this time of year anyway, despite the 3 cruise ships per day!!!

The city is built on the side of hills, and so the streets take you straight up and down constantly - much like St. Johns, Newfoundland!! There are many stairs to climb, but since we are staying at sea level, also many stairs to go down!! The city is small; about 42,600 people are resident here. Trip Advisor says it is shaped like a “dolphin” and it seems to be pretty well isolated from the mainland except for a border of land on the west coast of Croatia. The history of Croatia is complicated, and I can’t begin to explain it, but here is a link that might help: https://inavukic.com/2014/02/17/a-brief-history-of-the-war-in-croatia-background-battlefields-and-outcomes/.  Needless to say in the 1990s war in Yugoslavia it suffered quite badly; the old town was badly hit with about 68 per cent of the Baroque buildings, such as the Franciscan Monastery, being hit with shells and either destroyed or badly damaged, and many lives were lost. Today it seems at peace, but people who experienced the war will still be alive and I am sure that although their memories may be dimmed, it is a time they will never forget. One can see why it was attacked. It’s position on the coast line of Croatia is stunning.

We visited the Old Town and clambered up on the Wall in the blazing sun to experience Dubrovnik from the top. The views are expansive looking out over sea and land, over the terra cotta roofed, white houses of both the old town and the new. It is a blast that wows the eyes; the coastal nooks and crannies, the Cyprus dotted islands, and the narrow lanes of the Old Town are all riches of sight.

On our second day, Ray had spotted an interesting bridge, and so we climbed up a zillion steps to reach the upper highway and walked across the suspension bridge Most Dr. Franja Tudmana and a little way further before turning back on the opposite side of the bridge and experiencing a whole new perspective. In the middle of the bridge we briefly met a cruising couple from Abbotsford, BC. The views from the bridge held our gaze and it was hard to watch our path at times. We had a few moments of panic when we saw a sign back to the Port which said 10k. 10k wouldn’t usually be that far, but in the blazing hot sun, the thought was a little daunting. I thought of Lari and Hedley (our Australian friends from the Bruce Trail hike) hiking the Israel National Trail and their comments about hiking in the hot sun! Well, it wasn’t as bad as that, but it was still daunting! Fortunately we discovered some “steps” thanks to a kind Dubrovnik resident, which took us nicely down to sea level and landed us just a block away from the Hostel Sol.

We discovered a little restaurant, Mala Kuzina, near our hostel which had pleasant servers, delicious food, and reasonable prices, so we have frequented it a few times. The season has not started here yet, so many businesses are just in the throws of starting up. There isn’t a huge number of restaurants around us, but this one continues to appeal to us the most.

On our third and final day in Dubrovnik we took a boat trip to three islands: Lopud, Sipan, and Kolocep. Lopud was the largest and we stayed there for 3 hours. This gave us time to walk around the Botanical Gardens, the Monastery and the little community, plus take a golf cart ride to the ocean, swim a few strokes, and walk back to catch the boat.  Aesthetically, there wasn’t much to distinguish between Sipan and Kolocep. We had an hour at each. Both were a strip of homes along the shore of the Adriatic and not much more. We dreamed of renting a flat there and spending a chilled holiday - which most likely won’t happen, but the islands are dreamy and the scenery simple and stunning. The teal ocean and the white homes with terra cotta tiled rooves form the perfect Adriatic island picture. On Sipan and on Kolocep we wandered around and drank in ambiance of the small communities, the Adriatic, the people, and the wondrous scenery.

We had a bit of a rush to get back to the hotel for our meeting with the Intrepid leader, and we made it about 20 minutes late. We had a short briefing on our trip and then as a group of 10 we walked back towards the old town to a restaurant for dinner. There are two other Canadians in the group, two people from New York, three people from Australia, and a couple of ex-Croatians now living in New Zealand making a total of 11.

We start our journey tomorrow, May 27, at 8:30 a.m.