Cavtat, Croatia

September 2010

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On the Friday, it was time for a coach trip to another country, neighbouring Montenegro (or Crna Gora), which means "black mountain".  The horse shoe shape of Croatia, and the strange, separated nature of the part of the country in which Dubrovnik lies, meant that Montenegro only just borders.  Look:

So we headed by coach along the coast and across the border, with one of the border guards getting a little agitated at a Chinese girl's attempt to take photos (despite being specifically told not to).  We were not, however, requested to display our passports (we couldn't get on the coach without them).  Whilst Croatia had seemed fairly hilly from our stay so far, it was nothing compared to Montenegro, whose rolling hills and mountains were often plastered with green.

Our trip involved travelling round the Bay of Kotor, a winding bay on the Adriatic Sea, which is made up of a number of smaller bays.  You can see it right at the bottom of the map shown at the top.  It made for extremely picturesque scenery.  Our first stop was a small town called Perast (pictured above) and a boat journey across to an island called Gospa od Skrpjela (or Our Lady of the Rock).  Here we can see it from across the water.

This island is pretty unique in that it is man made.  As the story goes, centuries ago seamen found the icon of Mary and Jesus on the rock in the sea (um, yeah).  Anyway, upon returning from each successful voyage, they laid a rock in the bay and, over time, an islet gradually emerged (this custom is still followed).  They then built a church (naturally) on the islet in 1452, and here is that church.

Upon arrival, there was a rush for the toilets, with Schoey leading the charge.  Go Lynne!

Meanwhile, I checked out the surrounding area.  Phew, eh.  It was so idyllic, Lynne speculated that it would become more of a built-up area if people got wind of it.  In actual fact, we later discovered, property prices in Perast are apparently such that only the elite can afford them.  And Michael Douglas, we discovered.  (Lynne was of the opinion that everywhere we go on holiday, a trace of either Michael Douglas or Roman Abramovich (or both) can be found.  She's not wrong.)

Eventually it was our turn for a tour of the inside of the church, which was given by an entertaining guy from nearby Perast who felt pressure to say everything that he wanted to say on each subject in the time available before the next tour came through.  He knew plenty and, consequently, it was a fun tour.  Here is a shot of the interior of the church, with intricate paintings decorating the walls and ceilings.

Another legend was recounted by our effervescent host in which a lady constructed the following artwork using her own hair, an exercise which took so long she was able (or forced) to use grey hairs towards the end.

At that point, my camera was stolen.  Luckily, it was by someone who offered to take our photograph.  This is a fairly unusual shot in that we are both smiling normally and not gurning in any way.  A collector's item almost.  In the background to the left is St George's Island, a natural islet a short distance from where we were.

After the sublime idyll of Perast and Our Lady of the Rock, it was time to move on to the busier Kotor, a town surrounded by a city wall built by the Venetian Empire.

And that will do for now.  You've had quite a big update there considering that I have been distracted by the Ryder Cup.

Now then, where was I?  Oh yes, our Montenegro trip.  The grand buildings were dramatically backdropped (yes, that's a word) by the hillside.

Back outside the town walls, the scenery had an almost surreal feel to it.

It's difficult to make out in detail but, up the side of that hill, there is a long staircase (our guide for the day mentioned, I think, over 1,000 steps - needless to say, with less than an hour to kill and a pregnant woman in tow, we did not attempt this).

As may have been previously mentioned, there were a lot of cats in Croatia, and this was mirrored in Montenegro.  It wasn't clear which cat the scooter belonged to, but they were unwilling to give us a demonstration.  The one on the right was certainly in the lead for weeniest cat that we'd seen.

This town was much busier than Perast, as evidenced by the humongous cruise ship in port.

Finally, we headed to Budva (mmm, Budvar), a coastal resort teeming with tourists.  Contrasting with somewhere like Cavtat, Budva had its equal in stunning scenery, but that scenery was filled with people and boats and things.  Lynne went for a wander at one point and found it reminiscent, in her mind, of Blackpool.  Still, we purchased a sun lounger and settled back to enjoy the surroundings.

Of course, I couldn't resist going for a swim (that's not me, by the way), but didn't have the time or inclination for parasurfing or whatever it is (see the red flying thing in the top right).

We drove back west and drove on board a ferry to skip across the water.  There was just enough room for us to squeeze on.

Whilst on the ferry, it was another chance to get some good photos.

We had a more leisurely Saturday, strolling down at lunchtime to catch a game of water polo.  Unfortunately, it was a very one-sided match - we didn't see a single goal from the team shooting away from us (they didn't get many chances, but fluffed those they did), whereas we saw plenty from the team shooting towards us.  It could easily have been 20-0 - not much of a contest.  Anyway, here is one of those goals, shot from the right, with the ball currently hiding behind the post before it nestles into the back of the net.

We set sail for Dubrovnik, noticing that it was starting to get a little cloudier, with the clouds hanging stubbornly on the hills.

Once there, it was time to brave The Wall, by which I mean the city walls surrounding Dubrovnik, and the key to its historic centuries of survival.  Here is the view back down to the harbour.

Viewing from higher up offered a striking image of the myriad of identically clad roofs.

Lynne didn't fancy all of the climbs available.  She was with bump after all.

In order to keep the page size down, I will cover the rest of the wall on page 3.