I don't typically blog while on vacation. I come home, look at all my photos, and try to remember the best and worst parts of the cities we visited, then blog. However, this trip is slightly different. We recently bought a desktop.. which is now making it's way across the Atlantic. Since it will be quite some time before I can put my pictures on the mac and hence, quite some time before I can blog pictures and words, well, I might forget by then.. nooooo! And our little balcony here overlooking the Zaton Bay, literally 10 feet from the water, has wifi and is a beautiful place to sit and blog, so why not. I can only sit in the sun and read for so many hours anyway.
Yesterday, we had plans to lounge around here, kayak, etc. But it was partly cloudy. So we went ahead and took our trip to Kotor, Montenegro. Luckily, our friends who went with us were flexible with the days. So we headed to the city center of Dubrovnik to pick up Shanna and Chris. The drive was supposed to be 1 hour and 20 minutes and since we got a later start, I thought it would be better than going to Mostar, Bosnia, last minute, which is more of a two hour drive. Well, the drive was a bit longer, but not because of distance. One very large section of the road was under construction. And I mean a VERY large section. It was completely gravel. And allowing traffic at times, only one way. Slightly annoying. But not too bad.. the conversation and company was entertainining. Then we got to the border. I guess it was our fault, getting a late start and all, but we had to wait to exit Croatia/have them check our passports, licenses, car info, and stamp us out. Then we had to wait at border patrol for Montenegro... same thing. THEN we decided to take the scenic route, not the ferry across the water which was only supposed to cut off 30 minutes. Our hour and twenty minute drive turned into more of a two and half, three our drive. Of course, that includes the stop for a brew and bathroom break, many stops at scenic overlooks, and a stop to look at the incredibly adorable town of Perast, Montenegro. I am SO glad we decided to take the scenic route there. Gorgeous (If you ever go, I do suggest it, and then take the ferry that cuts off a very good portion of the drive back).
Perast, Montenegro, was a very, VERY cute stop along the way. We did not spend too much time there, just enough to take some photos, etc. But definitely worth the stop.
So, after our lenghthier-than-we-thought drive, we arrived in Kotor. We were impressed from the start. We found a little parking platz right outside of the walled city that wound up being DIRT cheap, no complaints there. We wound up eating an awesomely delicious lunch on a beeautifully scenic terrace overlooking a cute square. Since it was a late lunch, we had the place (called Luna Rossa) to ourselves. We had local wine (Croatian wine = not so good) out of the biggest wine glasses I've ever seen. Not so happy with the wine, but very happy with the wine glasses, so it all worked out. We started out with bruschetta. I had a salad which was very fresh, very delicious. A went all out and got the seafood kebabs accompanied with black squid ink risotto. We have had squid ink or black risotta multiple times now, but never before has it been THIS black. A's white linen napkin was destroyed by the end of the meal, along with his lips, his teeth, his entire face really. I mean, we are talking BLACK. It was gross. So gross, in fact, I didn't want to take a picture of his face because I didn't want to remember it (only kidding). Luckily, Chris got a few good shots of him upclose. It seriously looked like an ink pen exploded in his mouth.. or maybe 10. Shanna had a salad as well, along with prosciutto and melon (don't get me started on how much my vegetarian self misses prosciutto), and Chris, the lamb. mmm. Overall, good meal, good service, great view. Impressed.
Other than that, we walked around, saw the sights, yapped, bought a magnet, the usual. Had we had more time, we would have (or at least Chris and A would have) hiked up to the fortress. From below, you can see an awesome and intimidating fortress wall that jaggedly runs to the top of the nearby mountain. Very cool looking. Chris and A kept talking about how the wanted to hike it. Shanna and I..well... nah. If you go to Kotor for longer than a few hours, or stay nearby in Montenegro, I would definitely put it on your list of to dos.
After a few hours of eating and sight seeing, we left. We drove back to Dubrovnik and used the (extremely cheap, very fast) ferry and made it back in no time... or the time originally quoted, one hour, twenty minutes. The other side of the water, gorgeous, more so than the side we drove I think.
Kotor, Montenegro,was even better than we anticipated...Not that our expectations were low. We could definitly have stayed in the near of Kotor for a longer holiday.. a few days, long weekend, something like that... if only we were staying in Germany for that extra year we were counting on. Bugger.
Yesterday, we had plans to lounge around here, kayak, etc. But it was partly cloudy. So we went ahead and took our trip to Kotor, Montenegro. Luckily, our friends who went with us were flexible with the days. So we headed to the city center of Dubrovnik to pick up Shanna and Chris. The drive was supposed to be 1 hour and 20 minutes and since we got a later start, I thought it would be better than going to Mostar, Bosnia, last minute, which is more of a two hour drive. Well, the drive was a bit longer, but not because of distance. One very large section of the road was under construction. And I mean a VERY large section. It was completely gravel. And allowing traffic at times, only one way. Slightly annoying. But not too bad.. the conversation and company was entertainining. Then we got to the border. I guess it was our fault, getting a late start and all, but we had to wait to exit Croatia/have them check our passports, licenses, car info, and stamp us out. Then we had to wait at border patrol for Montenegro... same thing. THEN we decided to take the scenic route, not the ferry across the water which was only supposed to cut off 30 minutes. Our hour and twenty minute drive turned into more of a two and half, three our drive. Of course, that includes the stop for a brew and bathroom break, many stops at scenic overlooks, and a stop to look at the incredibly adorable town of Perast, Montenegro. I am SO glad we decided to take the scenic route there. Gorgeous (If you ever go, I do suggest it, and then take the ferry that cuts off a very good portion of the drive back).
Perast, Montenegro, was a very, VERY cute stop along the way. We did not spend too much time there, just enough to take some photos, etc. But definitely worth the stop.
So, after our lenghthier-than-we-thought drive, we arrived in Kotor. We were impressed from the start. We found a little parking platz right outside of the walled city that wound up being DIRT cheap, no complaints there. We wound up eating an awesomely delicious lunch on a beeautifully scenic terrace overlooking a cute square. Since it was a late lunch, we had the place (called Luna Rossa) to ourselves. We had local wine (Croatian wine = not so good) out of the biggest wine glasses I've ever seen. Not so happy with the wine, but very happy with the wine glasses, so it all worked out. We started out with bruschetta. I had a salad which was very fresh, very delicious. A went all out and got the seafood kebabs accompanied with black squid ink risotto. We have had squid ink or black risotta multiple times now, but never before has it been THIS black. A's white linen napkin was destroyed by the end of the meal, along with his lips, his teeth, his entire face really. I mean, we are talking BLACK. It was gross. So gross, in fact, I didn't want to take a picture of his face because I didn't want to remember it (only kidding). Luckily, Chris got a few good shots of him upclose. It seriously looked like an ink pen exploded in his mouth.. or maybe 10. Shanna had a salad as well, along with prosciutto and melon (don't get me started on how much my vegetarian self misses prosciutto), and Chris, the lamb. mmm. Overall, good meal, good service, great view. Impressed.
Other than that, we walked around, saw the sights, yapped, bought a magnet, the usual. Had we had more time, we would have (or at least Chris and A would have) hiked up to the fortress. From below, you can see an awesome and intimidating fortress wall that jaggedly runs to the top of the nearby mountain. Very cool looking. Chris and A kept talking about how the wanted to hike it. Shanna and I..well... nah. If you go to Kotor for longer than a few hours, or stay nearby in Montenegro, I would definitely put it on your list of to dos.
After a few hours of eating and sight seeing, we left. We drove back to Dubrovnik and used the (extremely cheap, very fast) ferry and made it back in no time... or the time originally quoted, one hour, twenty minutes. The other side of the water, gorgeous, more so than the side we drove I think.
Kotor, Montenegro,was even better than we anticipated...Not that our expectations were low. We could definitly have stayed in the near of Kotor for a longer holiday.. a few days, long weekend, something like that... if only we were staying in Germany for that extra year we were counting on. Bugger.
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