VISITING DUBROVNIK AND MONTENEGRO

To complete a wonderful 9-day stay in Croatia, the fitting last location was Dubrovnik following stays in Split and Zadar (see previous post).  The drive from Zadar takes 3+ hours, and the winding highway goes through the smidgen of coast that Bosnia must have demanded when the former Yugoslavia broke up into several countries. After being waived though a border crossing, we proceeded to the coastal road when we decided to stop for lunch in a town called Neum.  It wasn’t until we were paying for lunch with Croatian Kuna and the waiter brought us change that we realized we were actually still in Bosnia (it was the Bosnian currency that was the tip-off).  And the lunch was delicious — my fish was caught that morning in the local waters so it doesn’t get much more fresh than that …

Finding our hotel in Dubrovnik was a bit of a challenge as most of the city is built into the side of the mountain with very windy and narrow roads. “Narrow” in this case means it might be a two-way street but only one car can fit at a time. To say it was worth the journey is a huge understatement. The Hotel Villa Dubrovnik  can more than hold its own against any of the gorgeous hotels along the Amalfi Coast for essentially half the cost (a good thing).  And then there is the view …

Two views of the old city, both taken from our balcony.

The old walled city of Dubrovnik was an easy 10-minute walk from our hotel and, once inside the gates, there are myriad choices of sidewalk cafes, gelato shops and plenty of other types of shopping available.  For the first dinner, we went to Restaurant Wanda which is owned and operated by a Dubrovnik native who spent many years in Los Angeles, most notably at Locanda Veneta.  We have mutual friends in L.A. so we were treated exceedingly well and the food is just delicious. I absolutely went crazy for a native Croatian wine and the linguine and clams were about the best I’ve ever had!

Clockwise from top:  Eggplant Parmesan; Fettucine with Croatian Clams;  Dingac wine; with Owner/Chef Goran Starcic

Montenegro is an easy drive of less than one hour from Dubrovnik.  Had we not encountered the misfortune of being behind a car from Albania at the border crossing, we would had made it through quickly.  But those pesky Albanians have the reputation of questionable activity, causing literally every inch of their vehicle to be closely inspected.

We followed the water from Herceg Novi to Tivat

With Davor

Bay of Kotur

Baseball fans (one very tall from Oregon) always find each other.