Destination – Montenegro (Kotor & around) and Croatia (Hvar) – Balkaned out!
We take the airport bus and after 2 very nice Vueling flights, one to Barcelona and another one to Split, we arrive in Croatia, where the very nice and friendly owner of the Sustic Apartments picks us up from the airport, even knowing we are staying for just one night. We’ve been to Split before, so the next morning, he takes us back to the airport where we take a bus and then a two hour ferry to the island of Hvar. At the docks we meet Paolo, the owner of the Dina’s Apartments who takes us to our nice little apartment in Hvar. The apartment is gorgeous, nice modern kitchen and we get excited about self-catering again (yeah, believe it or not, eating out can get really boring after a while). It also happens to be really, really, really far, far away from anything. By now we are used to the Croatian way and we know most of the private accommodation is only “10 minutes” away from anywhere you want to go. You just need to know if by helicopter or teleporting. Never mind, we have fantastic views of both the bay and the sunset. We go down to the village and it’s really amazing, Hvar is definitely one of the most beautiful places we have seen. The Venetian architecture, the little azure bays, the white boats in all shapes and sizes and the Spanjola Fortress watching over it all makes this island a very special place. We of course walk around a lot, climb up to the fortress, eat well and drink Macedonian (Skopja) wine. On our last day a massive electric storm over the sea washes away our petty jealously of the nice big fat yachts floating around the bay. We take a late ferry as the morning ones were cancelled due to the storm, and a 4 hour bus to Dubrovinik. We’re picked up by another very nice lady who takes us to a nice simple private guest house really high up and very far, far away to overnight but again, with amazing views.
The next morning we catch another 2 hour bus to Kotor, Montenegro. The trip along the coast is, even for the second time, still breathtaking. We arrive in Kotor and realize quickly it is even more beautiful than we remembered it. We find a room for the night and make our way back to Dubrotski Dvori, one of our favourite places to eat in this whole trip, and get a mixed grill for a full protein shock. Completely comatose, we then resume our search for an apartment as we are planning to stay here for a month, till we can get a new visa to go back to the EU. We’ve (Paul) been emailing an English guy who has 3 apartments for monthly rental that sound really great but we want to see a couple more just in case they are far, far away, very high up but with fabulous views. Next morning we meet Lidija who shows us the apartments. Both are amazing, modern, very nicely renovated, fully equipped and incredibly affordable and, even better, in the heart of the old city. We move in and are very happy enjoying the fast unlimited internet till we notice that the very nice flat screen TV with so many satellite channels doesn’t have any sound. OK, it shouldn’t be a major drama but don’t forget we are renting the place for a month, reading the BBC newsbar for a month could get a bit frustrating. Also, another shocking realization is that the lady who lives downstairs has many cats (we count between 4 to 12 cats hanging around her door every day, really don’t want to know what happens inside her place) and feeds a lot of stray cats, so there’s a constant strong smell of cat piss every time we open the front door. Actually, there are cats everywhere in Kotor, it is insane. The deafening cathedral bell sounds every hour and half hour, including during the night, all night. Every morning at 7AM the bells go crazy and wake everybody up! Who cares? The apartment is nice and modern, the location and views are fabulous. We are living in the middle of a medieval city and we are getting the feeling we actually live here, going grocery shopping, looking at supermarket fliers and even complaining about the tourists crowding our little special place. 1, 2 sometimes 3 cruise ships a day… Get the F**k out!
After a week, we move to the opposite flat where the sound on the TV works. We kind of get used to the bells but the cat piss smell is still suffocating outside and the lovely village feel wouldn’t be complete without our very noisy neighbours talking to each other from their balcony or porch. And there is also a crazy guy who talks to himself and chain smokes under our window all day and of course there is a nightclub playing very loud music every Saturday night, right? Again, who cares? We are in a great renovated little flat in the heart of the old town in Kotor, the views are amazing and we are loving it, a lot. Our friends Jenny & Peter from Australia come over from Croatia to spend 3 days with us and we have a fabulous time driving around to Cetinje (old capital), Lake Skodor, as well as Budva and a couple of other places down the coast. The drive is fantastic and we almost make it all the way to the border of Albania. They definitely shake us out of our lazy “old town” lifestyle which is quickly resumed after they leave.
The weather so far has been amazing and we also use the time to do some planning for the last part of our trip. One week before we leave Kotor the rain comes and we have our first taste of autumn. We can’t really complain as we’ve been getting fantastic weather all around. The rain hangs around for our last week in Kotor, it is a lot of water, so we get a bit of a taste for the impending weather change. Might have to buy some winter clothes and shoes, yeah! Well, after a month our little experiment living in a lovely modern flat in a medieval town is coming to an end and it was incredibly awesome, even the nice weather came back for our last few days. Ciao red wine by the litre or litre & ½, meat and sausage overload, beautiful sunshine and lovely landscapes, will definitely see you next time.
