Montenegro and the end of the trip

As we headed south on our bus from Dubrovnik, we passed the Dubrovnik airport, then stopped for lunch at restaurant in a small village in the Konavle region of Croatia. Trout was the main course. Next came the border crossing into Montenegro. Montenegro is a small country, less than 700,000 people. Montenegro is not a member of the EU but uses the Euro as its currency. The history of the currency goes back to shortly after its independence. To fight off inflation, it began using the Deutsche mark as its currency. When Germany changed from the mark to the euro, Montenegro changed as well.

We stayed at a hotel on the Adriatic near Herzeg Novi for the last two nights of our group tour. There is a several miles long promenade in front of the hotel lined with restaurants, bars, and shops. The hotel was very nice, supposedly the top hotel in the area, but there were a few quirks. For example, despite it being a hot day, the hotel had chosen that day to shut down the air conditioning for the season. At least I could open a door to a balcony to keep the room temperature reasonable.

The next day was a full day tour of Boka Bay, the most beautiful spot on the Adriatic coastline. The bay is an inland bay, with smooth, clear blue water, and surrounded by mountains. One of our stops was at the town of Perast, an incredibly picturesque little village built on the side of a steep mountain that rises from the edge of the sea. At Perast we took a small boat out to a man-made island and church built in the 1400s, Our Lady of the Rocks Island. 

Our next stop was the town of Kotor. The old town of Kotor is surrounded by walls and is a UNESCO world heritage site. This place was amazing, and I will be returning there in a few days. I had a wonderful lunch there that was squid stuffed with smoked ham and cheese, along with a draft beer. I was wearing my Oklahoma State shirt that day. As I was heading back to meet my group, I heard a loud shout from a table of four people at an outdoor café “Go Pokes!”. That is one of the reasons that I wear shirts like that on these trips—who cares if I look like a tourist! Back on the bus, we returned to our hotel in Herceg Novi. We had a nice farewell dinner at the hotel. Dinner time was earlier than normal due to the morning schedule.

Of the 22 participants, 21 (i.e., everyone but me) were traveling on the 7:25am flight on departure day from Dubrovnik to Frankfurt. If Montenegro were in the EU, there would be no border crossing between the two countries. The drive time from the hotel to the airport would only take about 30 minutes. However, reaching the Dubrovnik airport from Montenegro involves the uncertainty of how long the border crossing will take. It could take 5 minutes, or it could take 2 hours. Everyone but me had a 3:15am wake up call and a 4:00am bus departure time. As I learned a few days later, the border crossing for the group went quickly, and everyone was at the airport by 5:00am, at least an hour earlier than necessary. But better safe than sorry. In the meantime, I slept in and had a leisurely morning. After breakfast, I packed up, took a cab to the bus station (the cab only cost me €4 with tip), and was on the 10:30am bus to Kotor. 

I stayed at a small, boutique hotel in the heart of the old town. I walked the old fortress walls and climbed up to the top of the fortress (260 meters high). Back in the old town, I enjoyed a craft beer (not from Montenegro, all their craft beers were from the Czech Republic!) at a fun little craft beer pub that was playing one of the best music play lists I can ever remember. While every town in Croatia and Montenegro had stray cats, Kotor took the prize. Cats were everywhere. There was a Cat Museum. Every souvenir shop had t-shirts and other items for sale about the Cats of Kotor. I saw a sign that said in Kotor we feed our cats. There was a cat near my feet every time I dined or was having a beverage. There was a cat outside my hotel room door (I was on the third floor—no elevators). I had a nice dinner in Kotor, a multi-course fixed price menu meal for €15. My main course was hake in white wine sauce.

The next morning, I took the 10:10 bus from Kotor to Dubrovnik. The bus was an hour late arriving in Dubrovnik because the border crossing took a long time. From what I could tell, a passenger on the bus from Egypt was getting some extra scrutiny. The bus station in Dubrovnik where I arrived is not close to the old town. I had picked a hotel close to the bus station as prices were half of the old town area prices and I would not have to make an extra trip with luggage to the old town. After checking in, I took a city bus (that runs every ten minutes) from in front of my hotel to the old town. I saw a few more museums on my museum pass. I had an amazingly yummy tuna pizza (this tuna did not come from a can!) and a craft beer (this one from the Slavonia region of Croatia) for dinner. I had wanted to but did not ride the cable car. You do that for the views, and there were clouds at the top of the mountain that afternoon. 

Our group leader Ivan lives very close to my hotel. Ivan and I had discussed getting together for a craft beer my last night at Dubrovnik Beer Company, a five-minute walk from my hotel. We met there at 8:45pm. My big surprise was that Ivan is good friends with the two owners of the brewery, who were both there that evening. DBC is the only brewery in the city. Five beers were on tap. I had the milk stout. It was excellent. I was able to hear how they started the brewery, picked the location and the name, the challenges with hiring seasonal staff, the economics of their seasonality (they shut down for a few months since very few tourists are there November to February). I shared the history of a locally owned family brewery near our Wisconsin home where I hang out a lot, and about my homebrewing adventures. That was a lot of fun.

Oh, and water polo is THE national sport in Croatia. At one of the tables that evening was a group of locals that included an Olympics gold medal winner. And speaking of water polo, Ivan had to leave at 9:45pm to get to his local team’s water polo practice.

My wonderful trip was ending. Three countries, seven UNESCO world heritage sites, and a wonderful Road Scholar group to share most of my trip with. Amazing! I headed out from the hotel after breakfast for the ten-minute walk to the bus station to catch the 9:20 airport bus. My flight home from Dubrovnik airport was on Iberia Airlines, with a stopover in Madrid, then on to DFW. 

Dovidenja Hrvatska!!!

Zivjeli!!!