Holding on for dear life! 🛥️

18/6/22

Today, we were heading a short way down the coast to Kotor. I didn’t really know what to expect of Kotor – the pictures looked pretty nice but Amanda’s housemate had told her it was overrated so we were unsure.

The road from Budva was rather pretty since it was coastal all the way. We arrived in a cute town with an insane view of the bay, Kotor Bay. We ditched our stuff in our apartment and headed straight back out to the beach.

On the walk along the bay, we were stopped by a boat man selling tours of the bay. We agreed to get a tour in a few hours time, stopped for a coffee with a view and then continued on to the beach. We chilled and read there until just before 3pm and turn went to get our boat.

The boat was was quite the ride! While it was fairly small and cute and fitted seven of us with just a bit if extra space, when the driver accelerated, it was incredibly bumpy! We lost two hats along the way, having to double back to fish them out the water and at some points, we had to cling on for dear life!! If not, you’d bounce so much you’d be knocked sideways and probably bruise! My right arm got quite the workout just from holding me in place!!

We stopped at an artificial church island and past a few pretty towns, before we drove past an old prisoners island, and a submarine bunker before reaching the famous blue cave. Three out of seven of us went swimming in the cave with Amanda leading the way! It was very clear and oh so blue in the water! Beautiful! We dried off in the wind on the way back before being dropped off in the old town so we could get some dinner.

We sat on a cute square and ate, before wandering round the old walled town. We started walking back towards our apartment and then I stopped for pudding, while Amanda continued on home. I got a glorious homemade chocolate and cherry lava cake with a cup of coffee, which was delicious! My good was enjoyed with a sunset over Kotor Bay in the background – perfect!! After waiting for sunset to finish while sitting on a boardwalk, I headed home to sleep.

19/6/22

Today we packed up our stuff before heading back to the beach. We got a beaut salmon toast breakfast (with fries – wild!) and then chose our sunbed spot. We swam, sunbathed and most importantly, I FINALLY finished my six-hundred page book, A Famished Road, which I picked up over two months ago in Sri Lanka I think!! What a success!

Around 4pm, we walked back to our apartment, grabbed our stuff and got a taxi to the bus station. We were moving to Dubrovnik.

The bus journey was maybe a couple of hours plus a while for the border control to leave Montenegro and to enter Dubrovnik. A guy on front of us told Amanda that he didn’t feel well, and then she told him I was a nurse. He said his left side felt tingly and he thought he was having a stroke. He looked grand so I left him alone. Later he was still worried but he could talk, his face and smile was equal so I told him not to worry – it was probably just heat exhaustion and dehydration, (and maybe stress from thinking he was having a stroke!). At the border crossings, the three of us got talking. He was Daniel, from Glasgow and travelled a fair bit.

When we arrived in Dubrovnik, we all got in his taxi before splitting off to our separate accommodation. Daniel and I headed through the old town and Amanda carried on in the taxi. The old town was even more beautiful than I remember from over ten years ago when I had gone with my family. I was pretty sad that I was only there for less than 12 hours!

I found my hostel, showered and then headed out. I had been going to the beach in trainers for a few days and was in desperate need of decent flip-flops. I asked the owners of the hostel, but it was a fairly tall order since it was past 7pm on a Sunday. They gave me a few places to look and after going to the right area and asking in one shop which only had crocs (have I missed the fashion memo here?!), a guy on the till in that shop recommended next door, not for Havaianas, but another (hopefully legit) Brazilian brand, Ipanema. I bought some flip-flops, ditched my nasty trainers at the hostel and then went for dinner with free toes.

First, I raced to a bar through a hole in the old town wall for sunset that I had been to with my family ten plus years ago. It was still beautiful. Then, I went to a bar that I could ring my dad from since it was Father’s day. I sat down in a bar down a quiet alley and rang him. Of course, as soon as I had begun, a pianist came and started playing very nicely but also very loudly next to me! I moved away and chatted and drank Aperol Spritz. I briefly spotted Amanda roaming around, also dressed nicely for Dubrovnik’s vibe. She headed for food and then returned to her hostel. Daniel from the bus, came to meet me after my phone call and we went for dinner. He had been to Dubrovnik and said he knew a good place. I ate squid risotto with the ink and continued with another Aperol – it was delicious. Then we headed to another bar with another pianist, this time a woman. We chatted and had a final drink, before the pianist finished and Daniel went to grab pastries from across the road and we munched while the bar staff cleared away the tables, until ours was the final one remaining! Daniel showed me a famous water fountain but it had been shut off for the night. Then I headed to bed since somehow it was already 1am and I had to be up early!