Monday 11th March
We left Camping Maslina refreshed and ready to go.
We drove back to Bar to do some grocery shopping and top up the SIM cards, stopping on the way to take a photo of Svete Stefan.
The road was great on the way to Kotor. We found a parking spot on a waste piece of ground that the locals used.
The view of the mountains and water were stunning and we could see the old town just around the bay. High above us, perched on the top of the limestone rocks, was a castle and half way down the side of the mountain stood a church. You have to admire the people that built this stuff.
We wandered along the road and round the marina until we came to one of the town gates.
The old town was a maze of narrow streets and squares and a joy just to wander round.
Most things were shutting up for the day and it was getting a bit cold so we warmed up in one of the cafes with a latte.
That evening, the wind started to get up and for the first time on the trip, it kept waking us up as gusts rocked the van. It was still blowing a hoolley next day so we spent the day playing cards and watching Netflix not daring to venture outside. We were told later that it had been the strongest wind that had been recorded since 1924!
Wednesday the weather had completely changed, blue skies and sunshine and just a light breeze.
We ambled back in to the old town. It was much busier than had it had been previously which was lovely. We don’t like crowds but there were enough tourists to make it feel alive.
We continued driving around Kotor Bay until we reached Perast.
The village is well worth a stop. We parked along the main road near the bus stop and walked down the hill to the village itself. The first place we came to was a restaurant with seating on the waters edge. We ordered lunch and ate it in the most beautiful setting with the sun shinning down on us. It was a little slice of paradise.
No wonder they call Kotor Bay the jewel in Montenegro’s crown!
Leaving Perast we crossed the border into Croatia. It was nice to get into a country where we didn’t have to buy insurance but the customs guard insisted that we open every door and locker so he could check for contraband and drugs. He even asked us if we had any drugs onboard to which Andy cheekily replied, not this time lol.
We drove past the signs saying goodbye Montenegro and hello Croatia but the funniest one was the Lidl sign. Both of us breathed a sigh of relief when we saw it. Never in a million years would I thought I’d be happy to see a Lidl!! Cheddar cheese - yum!! Every few kilometers we saw signs warning of wild boar. We’d not seen that before!!
We’d downloaded an offline map from Google Maps to get us to the campsite. We’d read that it was illegal to wild camp in Croatia and that you could be fined if you were caught. So after finding some campsites open in the winter (of which there weren’t many) I’d marked them on the map. The nearest one to Dubrovnik was Camping Kupari. The gate was open when we arrived but the reception was closed. We found a spot and parked up. The whole place seemed to be abandoned? The write up said it looked like something straight out of the Cold War and they weren’t wrong! Not sure how you’d describe it. Luckily though, the water tap was working and we found a place to empty the waste. The WiFi also worked once we’d fathomed the password, but that was it. We spent 3 nights there in total and couldn’t find anyone around to give any money to. We did have a view of a Lodon Bus though lol.
One of the days we spent there, we took the local bus from outside the camp to Dubrovnik. What an amazing place. A UNESCO World Heritage site, with a maze of alleyways and nooks and crannies to explore. Medieval walls, marble paths and millions of steps.
Our budget didn't stretch to walking around the walls at £23 (200kn) per person but that didn't matter as there was lots of other things to do. We ventured into the aquarium and a couple of religious buildings.
We wandered around the waters edge watching the fish in the clear turquoise water
and ate the biggest single scoop ice creams whilst sitting in the sunshine. A great place.
Leaving Kupari we drove to Orebic, stopping on the way at Mali Ston. Between there and Ston is a structure they refer to as the "European wall of China". It was built in the 14th century and at that time was the biggest fortification project in Europe. Today it’s the second longest wall in the world (not sure how they worked that out) and although it was only 5km long it was an impressive sight!
We carried on then to Orebic where we found Camping Trstenica open.
The following day we walked to the ferry terminal and caught the boat as foot passengers to Korcula (£3 each return).
There was no bus to take us the 3km to the old town so we took the local taxi. The taxi driver was lovely and gave us his phone number to ring if we needed a lift back. We wandered around the old part admiring all the stonework.
Although it’s like a mini Dubrovnik, everywhere was closed. On the way out, we met an American couple who live on the Island. What a friendly pair! They invited us to have coffee with them and we chatted for ages. Bob turned out to be a retired police chief and his wife Monica, had worked in a bank in LA. Bobs grandfather was born on the tiny Island of Korcula and met Bobs grandmother in America. Unbeknown to him, she was also born in Korcula, in the same house a few years later!! What an amazing story!! They, like us, were so pleased to have someone English speaking to talk to.
They then took us for a sightseeing drive around the Island pointing out the main attraction ... the one and only traffic light on any of the Croatian Islands. What a brilliant day.
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| Long Live the Communist Party of Yugoslavia |
They dropped us back at the ferry terminal and 10 minutes later we had landed back in Orebic.
Back at the campsite all the wild flowers were out and I don’t think we’d ever seen as many Daisy’s in one place.
That evening we walked along the seafront and decided to eat out at one of the restaurants.
We had ate lovely meal but when we got back to the camping ground, the huge metal gate was locked! We couldn’t find a phone number, so tried to scale the wall lol but thought better of it as it was quite a drop down the other side. Running out of options, we walked around the corner to find a side entrance completely open. We couldn’t stop laughing.
What a brilliant day.
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