Game of Thrones.....10,000 off the boats (kid you not!)....Croatia Coastal Spectacular.....Richard Branson sighted in Croatia.

Croatia Bound....

Left Kotor, Montenegro and headed to Croatia. With bus routes/schedules,  it was easier and made more sense to head that way, rather than for Bosnia.

We arrived in Dubrovnik by bus after an uneventful crossing of the border.  It took 20 minutes at the Montenegrin section and 10 minutes entering Croatia a minute further down the road. They barely looked at our passports.

The view approaching the famed city of Dubrovnik is stunning and as you draw closer, the magnitude of this walled city becomes even more evident...

Met by people at the Dubrovnik bus station wanting to rent rooms to us.  We chose one whose place seemed to be in old town, or close to the walls. Didn't end up taking it, but we got to the center without any hassles and ahead of the thousands of cruise ship passengers that were slowly offloading for their day in the town.

Walked through the gates of old town looking for a room. Within minutes, we had found a room, after asking a waiter, if they knew of any rooms available. Room was clean, basic, with private bathroom, but oh so close to the tourists strolling through old town Dubrovnik.

And then off we descended into the chaos on the streets of OK Town...  The town was built in a bowl so you are constantly climbing stairs except at the bottom of the bowl.  This is definitely not a place for people with knee or mobility issues!

                       And, certainly not during a rain storm!

What can we say to describe Dubrovnik... gorgeous, restored, medieval.....a contradiction, bloated, over priced, overdone, victim of its own success.

It is a beautiful rendition of an ancient medieval fortress town, well preserved, restored buildings line narrow, shadow filled cobble stone lanes and alleyways or a caricature that gets used as a backdrop/centerpiece on the Game of Thrones series?

Don't mess with the Queen of Thrones!

While we were there, 7 cruise ships stopped by on one day. Estimates ranged that approx 10,000 passengers were in town... and we can assure readers, most were inside the walled city just wandering around, shopping or eating.

We couldn't wait to leave the place....we've seen more authentic/real old fortress cities elsewhere.... and with less crowds, shopping, food & drink places etc.....10,000 tourists!!! And, prices to match their bank accounts. Things were sky high in town - food, drink, lodging. One could easily go broke staying there. Cost us $20 Can each to walk the fortress wall for an hour or so. Outrageous but you do it to get the spectacular views of what its UNESCO status is for...its roofs.

It was very humid and 32+ C while we were in the city so we needed to find water to cool off. Where do you find this in a city of virtually no beaches and in a region of mainly limestone coastline?  Concrete beaches of course!! These brilliantly constructed  areas are beautifully designed to incorporate the natural rocks of the area and often include restaurants or bars. Just grab your food or drink then jump into the water and climb up the stairs for more snacks. Fabulous!

For first timers to Dubrovnik, the place is pretty impressive, but not for us and not with hordes of tourists!

So, headed to the bus station and got a bus to Makarska, up the coast, just south of Split.  Nice little beach town, on the Adriatic, set against the towering Croatian coastal mtns.

Again, this stretch of coastline is fabulous. Cute, quaint Croation towns hug the shoreline. Clear, rocky beaches abound. Mountains, seemingly, stepping out and up from the water's edge. At one point, we leave Croatian borders and cross through Bosnia Herzegovina. 10 minutes later, we reenter Croatia.

Seems when political-border lines were redrawn, they gave Bosnia Herzegovina a slim, sliver of water/coastline access. Odd thing, it seems to separate Croatia at that point. 

Stayed the night in Markarska, even had a Richard Branson sighting here by a waiter at a local restaurant! Haha!

Makarska is another beautiful coastal town with remarkable limestone cliffs overlooking the area

Next morning, caught the ferry to the Croatian island of Brac and the town of Bol.

Greetings from us to you...until next time....the islands of Croatia and back to Split!

Some random shots...

                                                     Ciao!!!

Roads less traveled...more summits....... missing Montenegro.... another border crossing...

We left Petrovac, Montenegro in a taxi, rather than wait 2hrs for a bus to take us the 20 minutes north to the beautiful smaller bay and village of Przno. Within minutes, we found a lovely sea view room one minute from the beach.

As usual, we don't book ahead.....we just get to the center of town and look for rooms. Usually, there are signs indicating rooms to rent. (Sobe, Zimmer or Rooms). If not, we just ask a waiter, bar tender etc, if they know of anything available. Most times they know of someone who has something and it goes from there.

There is no pedestrian walkway in Przno, but rather just a pathway that runs in front of the half dozen or so restaurants that line the beach. Prices are higher as of June 1 to kick off the official tourist season.  Too bad for us!! A beach chair is now 5 euros each instead of 2! Preparation continues everywhere for the upcoming tourist season... it's like getting ready for a carnival.

Speaking of the euro...the cost of everything has probably doubled from Albania ... a rum 'n coke and a rye 'n 7 cost 15 euros ($20 Can)......

....we are deliberately paying a premium when we look for rooms...in a beach town, we want to be as close to the water as possible, with a view, possibly a little deck and close to town center.....

...in an old town, we choose to stay as close to the historic center/plaza as possible, with some sort of view and up high, off the ground floor.

For those standards: we pay about 40 - 50 euros/night in Montenegro. In Albania, we paid a bit less...25/30 euros/night.   There are cheaper places - we looked at a hostel in Kotor for about 15 euros/person.

Cleanliness worry has been, basically, a non-issue, throughout our journey. Rooms are clean, most tiled, smell nice, and toilets/water work. Some get cleaned out daily, some provide breakfast. We look for small, family run places and have generally been rewarded with great digs. Very little to complain about!

Washrooms have been interesting.  In Albania and southern Montenegro, toilet paper is never flushed!! It always goes in a basket\garbage beside the toilet. Surprisingly, there is rarely an odour!  In some more public washrooms like bus stations or restaurants, there are no sit down toilets but rather squatters. These have porcelain footsteps and a hole on the floor to aim for. For those of us with knee problems these are always a problem especially because there are no hand bars either!

It is a good time to travel through this region in May/June, before the European invasion descends from south and from all points east to west.

Have not come across any bugs in rooms and very little mosquitoes anywhere. Although, we have seen some giant, black bee-like creatures on the flowers! We watch them!

Przno beach/bay north of Petrovac, is quiet and has some great snorkeling around the many limestone islets. We swim every day, several times a day, when we are on the coast. Waters are cool, clear, clean, for the most part, of garbage and plastics. Around Przno, along the cliffs, the water depth easily reaches 15-25 m, just minutes from our beach. No need to scuba here, as snorkeling over these clear, deep waters provides the same thrill.

Schools of little fish, all shapes and colors, hang before us in the water, like some massive school-wide art project to create hundreds of fish-mobiles. The fish don't scatter, but hover, still...from the shallows to 10m or more, hugging the large, tower like rock formations rising from the sea bottom.

This part of the Montenegrin coastline, bunched up near the Croatian border is rugged, filled with many bays of varying size, beaches of rock and sand, small, quiet coves, tiny, ocean side villages and old towns. In fact, the stretch of coast from the Albanian border to Croatia is ( again) spectacular. With views that are similar to our Gulf Islands or San Juan's (WA) on a road that winds its way like a Californian ocean road, it is beautiful.

Because of the ruggedness of these limestone shorelines,  many of these towns do not have beaches. So, to remedy this they have created 'concrete beaches'.  Simply put, they are slabs of concrete where people suntan, swim and fish.  Some hotels and restaurants even provide beach chairs or loungers for their customers.

And, this postage sized country, which has been at the crossroads for a lot of European history, has picturesque mountain villages and rocky crests all shoved into its borders, seemingly ready to burst.

One of these in the bay has a very old stone structure perched on top. Lovely to look at!

There is hardly any English heard here...mostly eastern European languages and some Italian.

One evening we check out some neighboring beaches and come across the very exclusive town of Sveti Stefan - an island resort.

This resort island charges 900 euro per night ($1400)!!!  Not quite in our price range!! Ha!!  But, so beautiful to 

look at!

Here some nice scenes from Przno...

We head north to Kotor. Located at the head of an inlet/bay that winds its way in from the coast, Kotor is said to be in the most beautiful bay in the world.

We look to stay in the quaint old-town walled portion of Kotor. We wander for a bit, then ask around for rooms. One of the restaurants we stop at, contacts someone with available rooms. Several minutes later, we get to our room.....looks good......only much later... as in 5:37am, as the church bells begin ringing, that our room is just metres from the bell tower. And, then at 5:54am, the bells are rung again.  These times are odd....not on the quarter or half or hour...but somewhere in between.

Looking out our window with the church on the right.

We tour old town, watch the cruise ship parade of passengers stumble zombie-like by, climb the mountain and all the nearly 1400 steps to the old fortress. 

Another summit in the bag....must be at least 7 by now....(Coba, Holguin, Pyramids of the Sun, Mausoleum).....

But, we are itching to move on. Montenegro has been wonderful. 

People we've met, like Svetlana, are kind and gracious.

 Language concerns are not difficult to overcome.  It is friendly, safe and has much to offer. Not a lot of tourists travel through the country. Transportation works fine, rooms to stay everywhere. 

We are heading into Croatia next, maybe Bosnia. But....bus schedules make it a bit of a plan......stay tuned..... see you on the other side - somewhere!

                              Cheers from us to you!  Take care!

Here are a few more random shots...