AfricaMontenegro
After 4 days in Dubrovnik we moved on to Montenegro.
Our hire car for the week
Tuesday 3 July, after picking up our rental car from Dubrovnik airport we hit the road and soon reached, and passed, the Croatian border only to find ourselves at the end of a longer queue for the Montenegrin border.
Top tip - the right hand (2nd) car queue moved significantly faster as it appeared they were periodically diverting cars into the 3rd lane marked for minibuses.
Herceg Novi
We stopped at Herceg Novi for a walk around the old town.
Perast
Rather than making the 5 minute crossing on the car ferry from Kamenari to Lepetane we drove around the Bay of Kotor to the picturesque town of Perast.
Lunch at Conte Hotel
We stopped for lunch at Conte Hotel Restaurant.
After lunch with a beautiful view of the bay we took the short boat trip out to the islet of Ostrvo, "Our Lady of the Rocks", a man made island dating from the 15th century (which can be seen in the background of this photo).
After departing the island our taxi boat driver took us on a loop around the beautiful neighbouring island of Sveti Dorde.
Our room
It was then on to Porto Montenegro and the Regent Hotel where we would be staying for the next 4 nights.
Our room
We somehow ended up with a huge room, one of the largest on the floor.
Relaxing
After checking in we spent about an hour sitting next to the indoor pool.
That evening, still feeling stuffed from breakfast and lunch we opted for some snacks in the hotel’s Library Bar with a fantastic Cucumber South Side (gin) cocktail while watching England play Columbia in the World Cup knockout stage. Amazingly England were 1-0 ahead until a 93rd minute equaliser that took them into extra time and a subsequent penalty shoot-out that they won.
Breakfast
Wednesday 4, and a lazy day. Following breakfast, which was outside in front of the marina, we took a short walk around the block then settled onto loungers next to the outdoor pool.
After a light lunch we took a longer walk along the waterfront to the south. It was baking in the sun.
Another afternoon by the pool
After another hour next to the pool we went back to the Library Bar for a cocktail before dinner at .
An early run
Thursday 5, I managed to get up for a 7.2km run along the waterfront to both the north and south.
A short distance from the hotel were these two submarines.
Tammay's birthday breakfast
It was very kind of the hotel to give Tammay a cake, even if it was a little early in the day.
Boats boats boats!
How I met your mother fans will know.
Super yachts spotted in the marina: Golden Odyssey (124m in length costing $300m and owned by Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia), Amadea (104m in length) and Tango (78m in length costing $150m and owned by Viktor Vekselberg, Russia’s 4th richest man).
More yachts
And these were some of the smaller yachts in the marina!
Byblos for dinner
We had dinner at Byblos a Lebanese restaurant opposite the hotel. The food was good.
Friday 6, after breakfast we made the drive to Kotor but ended up spending about 70 minutes stuck in traffic. It was very hot which was probably the reason why we didn’t see very many cats wandering around the town.
Regent Hotel, Porto Montenegro
We spent the afternoon by the outdoor pool, trying to ignore the construction noise from the neighbouring building.
Regent Hotel, Porto Montenegro
We had dinner at Al Posto Giusto, an Italian restaurant opposite the hotel and next to Byblos, the food was not great.
On the plus side, our hotel was beautifully lit at night!
Saturday 7 and an early start saw us on the road back to Dubrovnik by 7:30. Rather than driving all the way around the Bay of Kotor we took the 5 minute Kamenari-Lepetane ferry.
No sooner had we arrived at the ferry terminal I was driving onboard, barely giving Tammay time to buy a ticket!
It was quite an easy drive back to Dubrovnik Airport with only short queues at the borders. Dropping off the car was also swift and with the departure terminal just 100m away we were soon checked in and sitting in the lounge. Despite having boarding complete 30mins before our scheduled departure time the plane had to wait at the gate for an hour.
I hadn't been feeling 100% all morning but thus far I'd been managing. During the flight back to the UK I started feeling a whole lot worse. Shortly before landing I broke out in a cold sweat and started feeling very sick. Breathing deeply helped a little. I managed to just about hold things together and as we landed and made our way home I thankfully gradually improved.