Black Mountain

Day 11

11 June 2012

Weather: See Day 8 (somewhere in the middle)

T-shirt count: 2

Cat count: 10+

I woke to a stiff but movable neck. The cats had been in and had towels on the bathroom floor for me. They did my laundry too. Not sure what I’ll do about the hair clog in the sink.

I ran into a tour mate and asked if they had any aspirin. I usually take Advil (ibuprofen) but aspirin is a better anti-inflammatory. She gave me six which should do me the day. When I went down to breakfast, I told Gasper that I had slipped in the bathroom.

He looked at me with wide eyes and apparently thought I said that I had slept in the bathroom.

Nope. Not last night. The cats slept there.

Breakfast was good again with a healthy dose of Twinings English breakfast to get me going. Those going on the optional for Montenegro are aboard by 9 am. One woman is staying behind to go to massage and the spa.

My neck wants to stay with her, but the cats have already booked the other 315 spots for the day.

So, off to Montenegro I go.

We drive south and pass the Dubrovnik airport about a half hour from the old city. The planes land right over the highway. Soon after the airport we turn right off the highway onto what appears to be a smaller road and we’re all curious. Gasper tells us that there is road construction on the main road and that there are a lot of lights that take a long time so we’re taking a shortcut.

All seems well until we stop next to a man on the road and ask for directions.

Heh.

All seems well again as we take another right and a few kilometres later the bus comes to a screeching halt. I’m in the very back seat (great pic opportunities out the huge back window) so it takes a while for information to filter my way. Apparently there’s a sign that says buses are not allowed on the road. 

So, they ask a farmer on the road about it and it’s a new sign, so the bus gets to use his tiny driveway to turn around. We get back to the main highway a few kilometres down the road and by then we only have to go through one traffic light. Apparently, we learn later that other buses that had left Dubrovnik before us go to the border crossing after us, so our short cut worked despite the detours.

Oh, speaking of back seat, I forgot to mention that this new bus doesn’t have a middle back seat. It’s like they’ve learned a bit about what we like on the bus like no middle back seat and no curtains (has a pull down instead) and handles on the seats so that we don’t kill ourselves walking along the aisle. And a net in the seat in front of you instead of the cloth pocket which won’t hold a bottle. It has nice trays too.

The total time to the border is about an hour. Gasper says how long we spend there depends on the number of buses. It can take them 10 to 15 minutes per bus to get through.

But there are no buses at the Croatian crossing!

We wait a few minutes and a pretty handsome border office comes aboard and stamps our passports.

Yup. He can stamp my passport any day.

Then we drive two kilometres to the Montenegrin border through No Man’s Land. The Croats are not on good terms with the Montenegrins (which is why Gasper thinks they waited until May to work on the road to Montenegro. The more time the buses wait there, the less time they are in Montenegro.)

There are no buses at the Montenegro crossing and we pass through in about 15 minutes. Gasper said the border guard liked his watch so he said we could go on.

Border security. Gotta love it.

And Gasper managed to hold on to his watch. 

We stop at a gas station on the far side. There’s an ATM there to get Euros – which reminds me, if you plan on doing this optional, hold on to a few Euros to spend there. I got a 50 Euro bill out of the ATM and the gas station didn’t want to change it. Just to check, I try my debit card and voila! It worked.  

I’m wondering if Canadian banks don’t have a Kuna connection. It’s the one currency I could not get in Canada and the only country where my debit card hasn’t worked. Maybe they’re not on speaking terms.

Obviously, Visa is.

There was a rare sight at this gas station too. A line-up at the men's room. 

We meet our guide at the station and we start driving towards the only fiord in the Mediterranean. Someone has put out a list of the 25 most beautiful fiords and it’s on it. Unlike the fiords in Scandinavia which were formed by glaciation, this one was formed by tectonics. On the map, it looks like the letter T and on the way south, we’ll drive the whole fiord. On the way back, we will take a 5 minute ferry that crosses at the bay at the bottom portion of the T.

There’s a light cloud hanging on top of the mountains and the rest is blue sky. What a great day to see the country.  Not hard to see why it made that list.

Montenegro stands for Black Mountain (which is like an “ahha” moment – you don’t realize it till they mention it). The country uses the Euro but is not a member of the EU. It was using the German Mark after the Yugoslavian Dinar shrank from high inflation but when Germany switched to the Euro, Montenegro decided to adopt the Euro as well. They have to get their Euro from Germany. They’re not allowed to print their own.

The country is about the size of Connecticut and has about 630,000 people. The area just over the mountains is the rainiest in Europe and the coast area benefits from the runoff. It also makes the bay less salty.

We stop for a photo and can see two islands. One is real and the other artificial. It was built apparently to preserve a religious icon of some sort. The real one has a church and cemetery. The scenery of the fiord is beautiful!

We arrive in Kotor and head for the old town. And in this part of the world “old town” means only one thing….a walled city!! An unexpected surprise.

My like the 315 hungry cats at 3 am.

We walk inside and the guide shows us four or five town squares like the Square of the Arms, Square of Sailors etc. 

You get the drift.

It’s like a small version of Dubrovnik but the walls climb to the mountain behind it. We won’t be climbing it today. But we can walk along the part that goes along the canal. 

On the tour, the guide shows us a 17^th Century fountain that was the only source of potable water in the city. It was a place where the women used to gather and gossip. The name is not Montenegrin but Venetian and apparently translates to “Old and Ugly Women.”

Gasper lets us loose on the city for 45 minutes. That’s enough time to grab a pastry for lunch and do a little shopping. I go up to the wall after my 30^th visit to the bathroom this morning. I walked the length of the canal and came down into a small square in the corner. There are four cats sunning themselves there.

I dub it the Square of the Cats.

I learn later that there was a Cat Store there that I missed. But I do get fridge magnets and a couple t-shirts. And my cat figurine for Montenegro.

I have like 10 Euro left.

We leave Kotor by 2 pm and drive across a plain to the Adriatic and along the coast to Stevi Stephan. It’s a small island connected by a short causeway. It’s a hotel now.

It’s the hotel we’re *not* staying at.

LOL

Cheapest room (which is probably the former dungeon complete with rack and chains) is 700 Euro. 

We take about 30 gigs worth of photos and then head to Budva and its old town.

Guess what it is?

It’s smaller than Kotor and the guide only takes 15 minutes to show us around. The city was founded by the Greeks and the walled city was built by the Venetians. 

I’m really interested in the washroom right about now. 

I have 6 litres left to get rid of.

After I make a deposit for the low price of 50 cents, I find an ATM to get 70 Euro, but I only spend about 10. I spend the rest of the time looking for cats to photograph. No shortage there.

I’ll have fun showing off the pictures to the cats.

We leave Budva and head for the border at 4:45. We get to cross the bay on the ferry. It’s so short, I don’t recommend you use the WC on the ferry. You won’t finish before you hear the bus start up and start to drive away.

Just to make it clear. That wasn’t me. That was the version from the man who did try the WC. He said it was an experience.

We get to the Montenegrin border by 6 and make a record breaking passage through the border. Gasper got aboard with his watch still on his wrist.

We get to the Croatian border and there’s three buses in front of us.

You do the math.

When the car lane runs out of cars, they let us use that lane. I guess they like Gasper’s watch too. We didn’t get a stamp though.

This time, we know which back roads to take back so that we only have to go through one set of construction lights. We zip through the back roads and enter Dubrovnik around 7:30. Then Gasper’s phone rings. The woman who spent the day in the spa texted Gasper and was wondering where her husband was.

We wanted to tell her that we left him on the ferry in the WC.

As I noted, I almost didn’t take this optional in order to have more time in Dubrovnik but I am very happy that I did take it. Not only because I enjoyed a day in an air conditioned coach, but the fiord and the two old towns were well worth the visit. Unless you really want a day at the hotel or really want a second day re-walking the same streets of Dubrovnik (or if the weather is crappy on the Dubrovnik visit and good on the second day), then I highly recommend this optional.

I mean, there are so many cats down there. Go see them!

But don’t tell my cats that. I need them to drive north tomorrow. Not south.

Dubrovnik. Enough Said.

Day 10

10 June 2012

Weather: See Day 8 (the one on the far right)

T-shirt count: 6

Cat count: 7

For once I had enough room for the cats in the room and they were living it up with some Saudi prince. I slept like a log and was down to breakfast by 8:15. This hotel has the best selection so far which also includes a potato quiche and little pots for your tea so that you can have two or three cups from the one pot that you pour yourself.

And Twinings English Breakfast too.

I’m all set for what is going to be the longest day for me since I don’t expect to be back to the hotel until 9 pm. We board the bus for 9 am and drive first to the lookout from the road above. 

The only problem is that the one big enough for the bus has trees growing up in the way. I got better pictures from the bus after we turned around. There were only two cruise ships below us too. That means it won’t be overly crowded. The Saudi’s ship is gone, so I’m guessing the cats are back on the rocks sunning themselves.

And sleeping off the night before.

One of the cruise ships is a Costa ship, too. The Costa Fascinosa. 

No worries about the cats hitching a ride there. You know how cats hate water.

As we drive back to the Old City, Gasper gets a phone call from what he called “two nervous guides.” We were a little late because there’s road construction just down from the hotel and it is delaying us by ten minutes every time we come or go from the hotel.

We pull into the area where he says the bus #6 would drop people off. 

The entrance there is called Pile Gate (pronounced Pea-lay). We meet up with our guides near the gate and split into two groups of 13. They won’t take a tour of more than 25 people. (And since I signed on, the original 25 became 26 so that they ended up with splitting the group instead of taking one large group – and believe me, the smaller the group, the better. I can’t imagine doing it with 25 and 6 cruise ships in port).

We start by walking down into the park at the base of the walls on the outside. The guide tells us that a moat used to exist there but was filled in when the Austro-Hungarians took over the area. There is a short draw bridge between the gate and concrete bridge. Apparently, that bridge was pulled up every night for 400 years.

Then our guide points up at the walls. She tells us that they’re a 1940 m walk. That’s almost 2 km and takes about 2 hours to complete. She points to two towers in the northeast corner. One is round, one is square. The square one was built first and they eventually learned that with the coming of cannons, the rounded towers held up better by deflecting cannon balls. 

 Then she led us inside the gate via a door from the moat area and showed us two maps of the city. One was a tourist-like map. The other showed the places where the city sustained damage during the war. The Montenegrins had shelled the city from the hills above and they still don’t know why. The Montenegrins have close ties with Serbia and even maintained a union with Serbia until 2006. I’m guessing they shelled it because they knew it would get media coverage around the world and bring attention to their own concerns.

The city was reconstructed with help from UNESCO and is considered one of the best restorations of a war damaged city. There is virtually no battle damage apparent in the city.

Inside the first square is a huge fountain with water pouring from several spigots around it. The guide said the water come straight from the mountains outside the city through a 12 km long aqueduct and is pure. We can drink it straight and many people do. The fountain was damaged in a major earthquake in 1667 and was partially restored.

Across the street from the fountain is the Franciscan monastery where you can find the oldest operating pharmacy in the world. But it’s Sunday and it’s the one thing in the city that is closed.

The city contains 38 churches in all – one for each noble family. It now also has 98 restaurants and some 129 souvenir shops.

Oh yeah!

I should note that you see a few churches on this tour – like so many tours – but we spend precious little time inside. But in most cases, you can return during free time to go in so that people who don’t want to see ABC can go shop or explore elsewhere.

Our guide refers to one church near the port area where they excavated one church and they found a second one below it. That was expected. What they didn’t expect was to dig farther and find the remnants of a third church that dates back to the 7^th Century. That was a shock.

Kinda like waking up to 315 hungry cats staring at you at 3 am.

Our guide takes us up from the main street (Stradun) to the back street that parallels it. She does this to keep us in the shade as we walk. It’s 9:30 and already sweltering despite the bit of haze. She points out some good restaurants along the way with some great guarantees.

We come out at the port and walk back into the city at the far end of the Stradun. She shows us the Rector’s palace. The Rector was like a governor but he didn’t rule per se. He was a representative of the senators.

Across from the palace is a church with what appears to be a bit of shrapnel damage. 

Our guide points up one street to a set of steps that look a little familiar. And sure enough, she says they’re a copy of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

As we wander into the square under a bell tower, it rings 11 times for 11 am. Then it rings again three minutes later (just once). Our guide says that the bells were sometimes a call to a meeting and that anyone should be able to get there in 3 minutes. When the second bell goes, you’re late.

Our school used to do the same thing.

The guide pointed out some places of interest including the public toilets and then Gasper let us loose on the city. I had already arranged it with him that if I wasn’t at the hotel at 6 pm when they were to leave for the Highlight Dinner, that I would meet them at the restaurant which was just outside Pile Gate.

That gives me 7 hours to explore the city.

Woohoo!

First things first. I check out the public washrooms. There isn’t much of a lineup and I think I know why.

They’re the first squat toilets I’ve seen since China.

Hey. They’re free.

From there, I go looking for the entrance to the walls. The one at Pile gate looked busy and since I was near the second entrance, I tried there first. There were only two people in the line. It costs 70 Kuna (about $13) for a ticket and entitles you to one go around the walls. The walk is continuous but divided into two sections – the north and the south. I’m starting with the north side. They check the ticket at the top where a line of people coming from the south half have to have their tickets checked to see if they can continue or have to exit at that point.

The most interesting part is that you can only walk in one direction – counter-clockwise. 

Absolutely ingenious. When the walls are busy, there’s no bumping into people trying to go in the other direction. Very orderly and less chance of being pushed over the edge.

And for my two hours up there, it’s very quiet.

Probably because it’s hotter than you know what. I had already put a layer of sunscreen on. I put another one shortly after I got up there and started in on my first bottle of water.

Before the day was out, I would drink eleven.

Plus 3 coke, 1 pepsi, 1 fanta and 3 ice cream.

Did I mention it was hot?

And this is mid-June.

Problem is, I only have one up with me on the wall and don’t realize that that isn’t a good thing until after I pass the only kiosk on the north wall.

And I’m not allowed to turn around and walk back to it!

The views of the city are phenomenal. 

If you only want to do one section, do the north wall which you enter from the port side. The south wall starts at Pile Gate.

The north wall is the higher one and looks down on the red roofs. It’s worth the walk up to the tallest tower when you get there too. It gives the best views from the city itself. (There is a cable car that goes to the top of the mountain above that probably gives the best views but I’m happy with what I got from the road above and from the tower).

I come down off the tower and pass by the entrance for the south portion of the wall. There’s no one checking tickets there. Only at the start of the north section. I get some good shots of the Stradun from above. 

Then I start climbing up towards the Adriatic side of the wall. I’m out of water by now and there is absolutely no shade in this area. I’m spent by the time I get to the last few steps.

And what’s waiting for me?

No. Not 315 felines.

One wonderful kiosk with a cooler full of water that they could sell for 10 Euro each and not get an argument from a single soul. 

I take pepsi #1 and water #2 and continue on. The crowds are noticeably absent as I do the southern half.

That’s cause they have enough sense to stay down in the shade of the streets below.

D’oh!

So, yes, my first recommendation. Leave the walls for later in the afternoon. It can be comfortably done in 2 hours.

And my second recommendation. Take three bottles of water.

Two for you.

One to sell to the spent Newfie you meet on the steps for 10 Euro.

With so few people, I can get pictures of the walls with no one on it.

It’s after 1 pm by the time I finish the wall. Gasper has the transfer set up to return to the hotel at 1:30 but expects only a few to take advantage. In the end, about 10 take the transfer, the other 15 find their own way back (most on bus #6) and I stay in the city.

I buy water #3 and #4 on the wall (a couple of bar/cafes on the south wall). I come down from the wall on the port side and my first stop is to a room dedicated to the defenders of Dubrovnik. The faces of over 100 men are displayed along with pictures of the destruction and a synopsis of the conflict. It’s free to enter that section and worth a few minutes to take a look at so many young faces.

My next stop is one I had planned. It’s a display of war photos from journalists and right now has a special display on Srebrenica. (The topic of my book). 

It costs 30 Kuna ($6) to get in and is well worth it. The photos are well done. I could only spend so much time there. I found a photo book that contained all the photos (a coffee table book that will add about 5 lbs to my luggage) and I bought for 350 Kuna ($60) so that I can take a look at them later. 

I highly recommend it. So few Westerners know of the massacre and it’s a crime that such a crime can go virtually unnoticed by so many.

From there, I go in search of the Hole in the Wall called the Buza that I was told about earlier. It’s a bar that sits on the rocks outside the walls on the Adriatic side. I saw two from the ship last night but only found one in my search. 

I took a picture of the doorway leading out there and went down and asked for a coke. Somehow, I ended up with water #5 and coke #1. So, I took a can of Pringles to go with it and took a seat. I was surprised that the place wasn’t packed but obviously, not a lot of people know about it. Good for me.

I take my time drinking the coke and water. It’s a good rest in the shade, which I need at this point. I’m starting to notice the effects of heat stroke. Then I notice the cats on the rocks below and I sneak out before they look to start a tab at the bar.

So, I get away clean and aim to stay in the shade for a while. I start wandering the streets looking at the shops and declining pizza. (Yeah, half those restaurants are pizza shops). I find a bit of jewelry for my sisters and a couple of t-shirts and the mandatory fridge magnet.

At this rate, I’m going to struggle to get my luggage up to 50 lbs.

Heh.

I drink water #6 and coke #2 and #3 while I’m shopping. On my rounds, I check out the port and walk out to the farthest point and notice that the Costa ship is gone.

Hopefully, it sailed away.

As I walk back into the city, I see my first Dubrovnik cat. 

The cat population is not as high as Greece but there’s more than Scandinavia.

Which was none.

By 4:30, I’ve had coke #3 and am on water #7 and I go looking for the Fort located just outside the city that also gives a good view of the city. By the time I find it, I’m standing at the bottom of a very long staircase and only have a half bottle of water.

I know I would need four to do it, so I turn around and get ice cream #1.

It’s really too late to bother going back to the hotel, so I wander around a little longer and even take a birdbath in the fountain to cool my face, neck and arms. Talk about refreshing. I get ice cream #2 and Fanta #1 and sit and watch people for a while.

This is a vibrant, living city and worth every penny UNESCO put into it to bring it up to former glory. The place feels alive.

I had considered skipping the Montenegro optional to spend a second day here, but am glad I opted to go to Montenegro. I spent the whole seven hours there and did pretty well everything I wanted to do. I should have went for the cable car ride instead of trying for the fort in the end, but the pictures I got really do the city justice.

And nothing says one has to go to the highlight dinner at 6 pm. One could easily find a nice place to eat in the city and go back to the hotel on your own time (or meet them at the restaurant at 8:30 to return to the hotel). The city isn’t large and can easily be seen and re-seen several times in that time.

Just after 6, I went up to the restaurant entrance and waited for the bus while I drank water #8 and #9 and had ice cream #3. The tour showed up at 6:20 and we went into Mimosa restaurant.

I immediately ordered a bottle of cold water and a glass of ice.

The waiter gave me a bucket of ice.

Bless his heart!

Gasper didn’t think it was a good idea for me to eat ice, but I think with heat stroke, keeping the body temp down is the best way to keep it from taking over. I go through water #10 and #11 with dinner. That’s over 5 litres of water plus 2 litres from the soft drinks.

I’m going to be up at 2 am, 3 am, 4 am and 5 am for sure.

Dinner is mixed meat for me. It’s similar to the other mixed meat with a pork chop, burger and grilled chicken with French fries and salad. The appetizer was a meat salad that was delicious. The grilled chicken was especially good.

Fruit cocktail was dessert but there were fruits in it that I’m not fond of…and I wasn’t sure I could add anything to the dinner and 7 litres of liquid in my system.

Tonight is the first game of the Euro 2012 for Croatia and everyone is anxious to get back to the hotel to watch the game.

I’m just anxious to go back and use the washroom.

We leave at 8:30 and get back to the hotel in time for the game and other necessities.

I take a cold shower and immediately fell 100% better. The bathtub in this washroom is the type that has a half glass door and nothing else to keep the water from going everywhere.

I wiped up some with the floor towel and went about my chores and went back into the washroom and the wet floor was like ice. I went down, hooking my arm in the bathtub as I fell. It arrested the fall a bit but pulled something in and around my shoulder blades. Didn’t feel it right away, but did about an hour later. I took a couple of Advil and as I went to sleep, I wasn’t sure if I’d wake up fine or with a seized up neck.

I got to sleep, but woke at 2 am, 3 am, 4 am and 6 am for obvious reasons.

And in between, I dreamed of cats massaging my back.

Stepping back in time

Day 9

9 June 2012

Weather: See Day 8

T-shirt count: 1

Cat count: 3

I awoke to an empty room. There wasn’t a cat in sight then I remember the party last night. The dentists were living it up on the pool deck and my walls were vibrating.

And I’m not *that* close to the pool.

Earplugs. Don’t leave home without them.

Luckily, mine are here and not at home with my hearing aids.

I put out my luggage at 7 am and go down to find the cats on the pool deck and sure enough, they all got sloshed last night. I could barely make out the pool deck below the carpet of fur.

Boy, are they going to love going back over that twisting, turning narrow road with its thousand foot drops outside the windows.

I think I’ll rent them their own bus for the rest of the tour. Last thing we need are cats up in overhead getting motion sickness.

As we leave, one of the guys on the tour gets up to make an announcement to remind us that if you’re going to go out on your balcony to enjoy the view, don’t close the patio door behind you.

Yup. The patio doors in the Amfora lock themselves.

The Aussie couple had done just that and luckily the guy making the announcement just happened to be out on his balcony. He had to call security to get them back into their room.

Well, the Aussie woman got up and said that she had an announcement too. She said that if you’re going to dive in the pool, make sure your swimming trunks are tied securely because the man had walked out of the pool not realizing what happened and gave some older women a thrill and some little girls an education. A treasure that should remain hidden, the Aussie woman said.

They called a truce. They’re one for one.

Gasper said he’d call ahead to get us rooms without balconies but he wouldn’t touch the other one.

As we drove away from Hvar, Gasper gave us our Croatian language lesson. The words are all familiar, but there’s one I remember from my days in Bosnia – nema problema!

No translation necessary.

At the bottom of the list were some tongue twisters in Croatian. We didn’t attempt to repeat those. He said one is hard to translate but essentially says “on top of the mountain, trees are moving.”

No translation necessary.

We are heading for the town of Sucuraj at the southern tip of the island. From there, it’s only 35 minutes on the ferry to the mainland. But first, we have to take the same curvy Road of Death and it’s especially busy this morning. Again, Gasper recommended that we stayed seated.

No argument there. This morning, we’re not running into one car. We’re running into four and five at a time and there isn't an inch to spare.

Some drivers can see the big white bus coming for a long way off and pull into the first wide shoulder section and wait for us to get there.

I’m sitting in the back seat watching for the cat’s bus. They should be along soon. I thought I heard the driver say something about them wanting to stop at Jo’s place to chat with her 15 cats.

We get through the curvy roads with our wits intact and the road is a little straighter for the rest of the way. We arrive at the ferry at 10 am just as it is pulling out.

Nema problema, Gasper says. That wasn’t the one we were going to take. He wanted the 11:15 ferry so that we could have free time in the little town.

Which reminds me. Gasper has been great with the free time. I’ve been on tours where I’ve had so little free time, I was having a hard time just getting a fridge magnet. No problem here. There seems to be enough free time and at the right places. He said the At Leisure would give us more free time and it seems to mean not only full days free at places like Hvar, but more time at stops to do shopping, exploring etc. Very nice.

We take a walk around the little harbour – a five minute walk. 

I actually find a t-shirt and ask for a large. She doesn’t have one and offers me a medium. The store owner says it will fit and sure enough, it did.

I didn’t think I was doing *that* much walking on this tour.

I sit with some of the others at an outdoor café and they have bitter lemon drinks. I tried a taste. Ohhhh…bitter lemon is right.

I settled for a Coke.

At 11, we walk back to the ferry dock and the cat’s bus pulls in. I take a quick count.

Still only 315.

I think. I mean, have you ever tried to count three hundred cats?

Not unlike trying to herd cats.

The ferry shows up and off loads in minutes. It’s not a large one. Maybe 20 cars fit on it and just a small section of deck to sit on. The views are wonderful. 

I know the town called Gradac where I stayed on the coast in 1994 is just down the coast from here.

The ferry pulls in and we’re off. I’m sitting in the back seat to see if I can replicate the photo I have of the coast as we pass Gradac. The views out the back are pretty good.

I can see the cat’s bus aiming for the dogs on the side of the road.

Gonna have to have a long talk with them.

As we pass through Gradac, I’m snapping every picture I can and I am able to match the photos I have with me. I think I managed it.

I could see part of the town too where I think we shot the photo at the start of this tale. 

After we pass through this area, Gasper says he has another hidden treasure for us.

Promises, promises, the Aussies sing out.

Well, this one isn’t so hidden. It’s a series of green lakes inland from the Adriatic, but the lakes are lower in elevation than the sea. They have that wonderful green colour. 

Next to the lookout is a couple of fruit stands and Gasper recommends we try the dry dates and the carob. He buys enough for everyone and they’re delicious. You can just get the faintest hint of chocolate flavour from the carob. He said the seeds inside are always the same size and weight and were once used as a measure for gold because they were standard.

As we leave the lakes, we enter the Ploce region. I was never there before, but know there were Canadians posted here. I believe it was the port used to receive and send a lot of our gear. The area is a huge valley with cultivated fields for as far as you can see.

We get a photo stop here.

Not far from here we will enter Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country’s only sea access is a short section of land that separates the Dubrovnik area from the rest of Croatia. But Croatia is trying to build a link – a bridge across to a peninsula which would apparently affect the ability of Bosnia to move goods through the area. They’re not happy about it, but apparently, Croatia has run out of money to finish it. I’m guessing that if they want to join the EU, they can’t be doing something like this that would impede the trade routes of another country.

The border crossing is like a toll booth. The officer usually asks who is aboard and Gasper will say Americans. I asked if we could get our passports stamped and he said if he asked, they might take everyone off the bus and it might take time. Despite this, he came to the back of the bus and asked for my passport and said he would try. Very cool.

He runs into the building and comes back. No luck. They said we were just transiting, so no stamps can be issued.

At least now he knows what to tell others in the future when they ask.

A few kilometres up the road we pull into a restaurant for a quick lunch. For the first time in 18 years, I’ve set foot in Bosnia.

All I need now is a fridge magnet. 

Below the restaurant is a souvenir shop and I go in thinking I might actually be able to get a Bosnia fridge magnet, but all the souvenirs are for Dubrovnik. LOL

Yet, I do manage to get one for the town we’re in called Neum. I can use Kuna here but Bosnia used to use the Deutschmark (like we did in 93/94) but when Germany moved to the Euro, Bosnia simply adopted its own currency called the Bosnian Mark.

I ask Gasper about the lack of Bosnia souvenirs and he said that even though we’re in Bosnia, the people feel more connection to Croatia.

I go up to the restaurant and take a look at the pastries since I don’t want a sit down meal. And I recognize one of the pastries from some of the meals the locals used to serve us in Visoko. It’s meat or cheese inside a pastry that is formed in a circle something like a cinnamon bun, but actually, it looks more like dog poop. 

That’s the nickname it got 18 years ago, but they never had a problem running out of it at dinnertime. They were popular. 

They’re called pita or berck. I order one and take it cold with a Coke. It’s exactly as I remember it.

I take some pics after I finish and try another ice cream. I got Milka chocolate and white chocolate combo. 

Not bad.

I don’t see the cat’s bus. I’m guessing the border guards are not convinced they only want to transit.

We leave at 2:15 and it’s a short hour drive to Dubrovnik. We pass the town of Stone where Oyster farming is a major industry. The town has one claim to fame. It has the second longest city wall in the world. It’s across the water from the highway.

We pull into our hotel at 3:30 and have two and a half hours to relax before the evening’s optional. I ask Gasper if he wants to try my Visa card again and this time it works.

That saves me from getting over 3000 Kuna for him. LOL

This hotel is a little confusing too, but not as bad as the Amfora. The room numbers are not a problem. Just finding the elevator is fun. And my room is just above the entrance, but I have to walk halfway to the Old Town to get to the elevator/stairs then have to walk back.

Which makes me wonder…where’s my emergency exit?

The room is huge.

 There must be six feet from the foot of the bed to the desk. The bathroom has a full bath, bidet, shampoo and stuff, a safe, slippers, flat screen, a wonderful balcony and wired internet. It’s supposed to have wifi, but my netbook can’t pick it up.

We have 2 hours until the optional at 6. Guess what I do?

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Actually, I didn’t expect to spend so long at it, but I looked at the time and it’s suddenly 5:30.

Scramble time. I look out the window and see the cat’s bus has arrived but someone told them there were cats in the Old Town. You think I’ll see them before Tuesday?

Just as well. The hotel is full. Completely full. One couple was upset though because they don’t have a balcony. We kinda look at each other and wonder why, then one person clues in. The husband is a smoker. And he smokes a lot. I’ve never seen a smoker on tour who smoked while we’re walking with the TD. They always wait till they get back to the bus to have a smoke off to the side, but this gentleman smokes among the tour group so that you can get a puff of smoke in the face easily. He doesn’t even linger at the back.

So, no one had any sympathy for him. Me catsup, u catsup.

Or something like that.

We board the bus and take a short drive back to the bay where the Tudjman bridge is. As we approach our boat for the night’s optional, Gasper points to a ferry and says that one is special. During the war, when Dubrovnik was being shelled by the Montenegrans, that was the only ferry that operated, bringing in supplies to the city. So, it has a special place in the hearts of the people here.

We hop off the bus and get aboard a small boat that will take us to our restaurant. It comfortably seats the 24 who came on the optional and if you don’t mind salt on the lens of your camera, you can go up front. The waves are really funny here. I’m used to riding into a single wave so that you’re going up the wave and down. These waves go in whichever direction pleases them.

Kinda like the cats.

For that reason, the boat rolls in funny directions. It was fun. I stayed standing and walked around, using people’s shoulders to hold me up, but most stayed in their seats. It’s a comfortable ride in the seats.

Then we see the walls of the city and the sun is peeking out from the clouds on the horizon. Gorgeous. The city isn’t as large as one would think. 

I see the café on the rocks as someone mentioned in another post. 

And I see 315 furry things sunny themselves on the rocks. We pass by a private yacht. No, ship. It’s too big to be a yacht and too small to be a cruise ship. It’s called the Indian Empress and likely is the home of some Saudi prince or something. 

We pass the old city and cross to the other side of the bay (Cavtat, I believe it’s called) and we risk getting off the boat. That’s fun too cause the waves keep the boat moving up and down but they have an ingenious little ramp with wheels on it and two handsome young Croatians are on either side to hold you as you step off.

The one thing you have to watch out for is the little ramp moves. If you step off while the boat is up and stand there, then as the boat goes down, the ramp would run into your feet. So step off and walk away several feet.

We are taken along a short shoreline path that has the Adriatic just below you. This is something you’d never be able to do in Newfoundland. Some of the hotels just up from the old city had their loungers down on the rocks within a few feet of the waves crashing against the rocks.

In Newfoundland, the North Atlantic would eaten those loungers – and anyone on them – for lunch. But I imagine the smaller Adriatic can’t generate waves – and rogue waves – large enough to creep farther up the rocks unexpectedly.

The restaurant is on the beach facing the old city and the Indian Empress in the distance.

Do I see cats going aboard???? Hey, wait one gosh darn second!!!

I go up to the restaurant patio and take a seat out of the sun. I had brought along a jacket but it’s not cold. T-shirts and shorts are perfect. We get served champagne as we get there and there’s no apparent limit on the wine. (Which seems to be the pattern for the optionals). I get a Fanta at the bar and go up to see the chef cooking the fish.

It’s a hot job to be leaning over that grill when it’s so hot outside. (It got up to 28 today and was a pleasant 28…the heat has yet to be oppressive).

I had chosen vegetarian because the selection was sea food or mixed meat. I thought the mixed meat meant it would be three types combined and if one was lamb, I’d not want to eat anything simmered in the same pot (I really hate lamb). But the guy at my table got a pork chop, chicken breast and a beef sausage.

I got a plate of lettuce.

I had thought it was supposed to be some sort of lettuce steak, but the other woman who had the vegetarian choice said she heard vegetable stack.

I think it qualifies as a stack. It did have a cheese among it that might have been feta or goat’s cheese. It was pretty good. Then one of the other women came around with the extra sausages they had given her and I said “set them right here.”

So, I had sausage sandwiches in the really fresh white bread. Turns out we confused the meals. The vegetable steak is at the Highlight dinner. It explains why every time he asked what we wanted to order ahead of time, he got a different answer.

The seafood turned out to be a mixed plate of octopus and other little critters. (One woman who is allergic to prawns started to have a reaction and I just happen to have my anti-histamine in my back pack. She wasn’t sure if there were prawns or if she has an allergy to octopus too, but she took the pill just in case.)

My suggestion from her experience is that unless you’re 100% sure of what the seafood is, go for the meat selection. Some say it was a mixed seafood selection.

The food comes slowly but there’s no rush. The boat doesn’t get back till after 10 pm and dessert is served at 9:50, so it was a pretty relaxing evening. 

I’d recommend the optional if for no other reason than to see Dubrovnik from the sea and the great ride to the restaurant. Those that had the meat and seafood liked their meals. The skinny little cat hanging around liked anything you put down for him.

The boat arrived at 10:15 and we boarded. It was a little more rocky, but the handsome guys on either end of the little ramp just waited till the rocking subsided and would get 10 or more aboard before it rocked again. With the guys holding on to you, there’s no danger of falling. Since it was a little more rocky, Gasper and a tour mate also waited inside and held on until you got your footing and sat down.

The ride to the old city is only ten minutes. We are dropped off inside the harbour of the old city (another reason for the optional) and get to walk up to Pile Gate through the Saturday night crowd and cats. Nice chance for some photos. 

When we exit the gate, there are taxis there and bus #6 stops there. The bus will take you right back to the hotel (get tickets at the hotel is easiest) so you have two choices if you go to the old city on your own.

Our bus is waiting nearby and it’s a ten minute ride back to the hotel. I turn on the tv back in the room and there’s a great movie on.

Yeah. The one night I’m ready to crash, it has a great movie on.

I get to watch some of it. I have to clean up the water in the bathroom as it appears the cats were in the room earlier and decided to check out the bidet.