Last night after I wrote, Mum and I had dinner in the main square of Trebinje. We enjoyed a nice meal, a comfortable temperature and a big screen showing the Russia vs Croatia game. I’m happy Croatia won! Then we went back to our room. The plan was to get an early night, but there was a nightclub over the road so loud it felt like it was in our room. After trying to sleep for a little while, I went to reception and they gave us a second room to sleep in that was far enough away that we could (just) not hear it. You’ve no idea how loud it was, I wish I had recorded it!!
Today felt like we were on ‘The Amazing Race’, and after five hours of sleep due to the above mentioned nightclub, we weren’t fully energised! As I mentioned the other day, our tour is only the second of its kind that Travel Talk have run. I have A LOT of feedback to give to make it better for future customers. We are making the best of it though and have had a great day, but this is the closest I’ve ever been to being on ‘The Amazing Race’ haha. There was way too much in one day.
First, we drove to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. This took ages! We sat there for 1.5 hours crawling around the hilltop and finally crossed into Croatia an hour later than anticipated. As a result, we only had from 10-12.30 in Dubrovnik. I came here back in September 2015 when I lived in London and spent two days. It is such a stunning place and really deserves far more than 2.5 hours. But I did my best to show Mum and three girls from our tour around and give her the best experiences in the time we had.
We skipped the included walking tour as we haven’t found them to be great so far, and instead ascended the city walls. If you want some history on Dubrovnik, click back to my post at the start of September 2015! The walls are nearly 2km long around the old town, and have about 1000 steps. Just as I did last time, we had gorgeous sunny views. It was pretty busy as it was the peak time, but we managed. We saw Fort St Lawrence and many other beautiful sights.
Once we headed down, Mum, Jayna and I walked through town. Last time I came here, I hadn’t really watched ‘Game of Thrones’ at all. Now I am a big fan who has watched all seven seasons, and I could recognise some of the sights around. I saw the “shame!” steps and got a photo, where Cersei is forced to walk.
We walked to a cliff top bar that Jamie and I visited in 2015, but the swimming area was a different one. Mum and I had a quick dip in the water - literally - because by then we had 15 minutes left. We bought some water, fruit and ice cream and made our way to the bus.
Then we arrived in my 65th country (I’m on track to hit 70 in January - wahoo!), Montenegro. This border was slightly less painful, but still took a while.
Montenegro is a fairly new country. Over time, Kotor in Montenegro has been ruled by the Illyrians, Romans, Serbians, Hungarians, Bosnians, Venetians (the town teamed up with them to resist the Ottomans), Austrians and the French. Then, the leader of Montenegro - Peter I - helped the people of Kotor in 1813 and teamed up with them to resist the French. However, the Paris Peace Conference in September 1814 did not recognise this unification and Kotor was then placed under Austro-Hungarian control up until the fall of the empire in 1918. Then the 20th century involved the Yugoslav Kingdom, Nazi occupation and Yugoslavia then the war. Montenegro became an independent country in 2006 after the people here voted to split from Serbia and Montenegro to become Montenegro by itself. It must have been crazy growing up in this part of the world, because the content and history taught here would have changed so frequently with different leaderships or occupations.
The country itself is fairly small with just 14 000 square kilometres of land and 700 000 inhabitants, many of whom move to other European countries for more opportunities. Something else I found interesting is that they use the euro even though they are not yet a part of the European Union, and it’s tipped they won’t be until 2025. The European Central Bank is OK with this.
Our next stop was Kotor. Again we skipped the city tour, this time to climb the Kotor Fortress walls up the very steep hill. Due to the different occupations and invasions, this was built to protect the city.
Our guide told us the hike took 15 minutes each way, but luckily I had spoken to my friend Shannon and he told me it was longer and more difficult than this. This happens a lot with information on our tour...
It took us about 30 minutes each way including drink breaks and photo stops. The views were incredible and we were so glad that we took the time to do it properly! Along the way, we saw St John’s Church and some people selling drinks. We had a coke each to replenish ourselves because we had sweated so much!!
When we got to the top, the views were insane and we explored the dilapidated fortress buildings. Then we headed down, our legs shaking from fatigue and the heat!
We had a quick look in town and then we were back on the bus to Budva which was half an hour away. By this time, we were like zombies. Mum and I still explored and the old town here was the smallest and most quaint of the day. We saw some Roman ruins and went out on the pier for a nice view of the old town. We had a ginormous pizza slice for dinner which was delicious.
Then we drove the final hour and a half to our hotel outside of Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Our guide was telling Macedonian jokes (she’s Macedonian) which didn’t make sense at all once translated - but we were all so deliriously tired by this point that we thought they were hilarious! It’s after 11 now and we are absolutely exhausted. We think Phil from ‘The Amazing Race’ would be very proud of us. Breakfast in Bosnia, lunch in Croatia and dinner in Montenegro, with a whole lot in between! Today was like the insane drives we did in Africa, but at least I’m not camping at the end of it. I am, however, covered in sweat, sunscreen and repellant (and a few mozzie bites!) as I was then!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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