Along The Adriatic Coast

Tired legs but full souls, we left Albania and travelled to Montenegro for a week of relaxation, great food and new adventures.

Our first stop was Stari Bar - a bit of an odd destination, which we chose for its proximity and also a specific hostel which looked to be perfect to decompress after the long hike . It was called 'The Grove'; an abandoned olive grove recently converted into a hostel, in a beautiful building alongside a stream and overlooked by the old town fortress of Stari Bar. It was ideal to chill there as we caught up on laundry, met other travellers and had a great homemade woodfired pizza night.

It was noticeably hotter at the lower altitude of sea level, and we immediately regretted taking the ‘scenic route’ up to explore the old town as we were dripping with sweat. It was an interesting, well-preserved area, but the highlight of the excursion was the ice cream at the end.

The main town of Bar is the final stop of the famous Belgrade-Bar train journey and has become a very popular place for Serbian travellers keen for a beach escape. This made it a very cost-efficient destination and a unique experience. We were outnumbered at Sutomore Beach, but loved this more local vibe surrounded with Montenegrins and Serbians, and returned the next day to go on a 10 euro boat trip up the Montenegrin coast to tick off more sights along the coast and up to Budva.

Taking the boat tour was a cool way to see different places, with plenty of swimming stops (we even went to ‘Hawaii’!). With the language barriers and English being the minority, the captain would write the next departure time on a whiteboard and hold it in front of every passenger’s face until they nodded that they agreed the time before letting us get off. It was quite funny, but actually a great idea as it would’ve been a pain to return by road if we missed the boat at each stop! We had a lovely couple of days in this area, it was super chilled and the perfect change of pace from hiking up to 20km a day!

We took the public bus up to Kotor, a stunning area similar in some ways to Milford Sound NZ, but with multiple cruise ships and easier accessibility by road, and a historic town centre. The roads were windy and Jelley felt ill, but as we rounded the corner and took in the view across the Bay of Kotor, we were blown away by the stunning views and it was all worth it. As with many of our travel destinations, we had thought ‘surely it won’t live up to the hype’, but on this crystal-clear day, it certainly did.

We were lucky to be staying at a beautiful small guesthouse in a more ‘suburban’ area of Kotor, a 45-minute walk along the waterfront from the town centre. It was the last 3 nights of the season before the guesthouse closed, and we had the place to ourselves! Complete with a small jetty, we could jump into the Bay of Kotor when we woke up every morning and every sunset, the water temperature perfect in contrast to the beating sun - it was still so hot in September!

Although a short taxi ride into town, we could never seem to arrange one and would drag our feet along the waterfront track to get into the old town centre. The city walls are well-preserved, and the narrow alleyways filled with cafes and shops were fun to explore. We had been recommended a hiking track and thought our legs may just be rested enough to take up the challenge on. The track zig-zagged up the steep hillside, offering magnificent views of the bay, before ducking into pine tree forest and then up to the peak, which many tourists are driven to on a steep road from town. Coffee with a view was a treat before the descent back down. We had heard that it was possible to enter the Kotor Fort walls through the ‘hole in the wall’ if entering from above, and it was an adventure climbing a ladder to then walk down through the city walls back to the old town centre. It felt good to be hiking again, but we were glad to be down early before the heat consumed us.

Our last night in Montenegro, Greer arranged a sunset boat tour out to "Our Lady of the Rocks", a manmade island initiated from shipwrecks and completed with a church, and the town of Perast. We accidentally gatecrashed wedding photos by the church and loved walking the cobble-stoned streets of Perast amongst those wealthy enough to be holidaying out here. After one last supper, then it was time to leave Montenegro and move on to Croatia.

With 3 of us and a border crossing, it was more cost and time efficient to arrange a private transfer than the public bus to get up to Dubrovnik. Our first driver to get to the border was a talkative Montenegrin with an extremely interesting life story. He had spent much of his working life as a sniper in the military and had worked both for and against the US troops in various wars (during the Syrian war, and during the Serbian defence of Kosovo). It was eye-opening to hear another perspective on the conflicts in the region, after our previous conversations with Kosovans and Albanians. The driver's goal now is to ensure his son has every opportunity to never have to join the military or go to war and is supporting his gaming and coding interests as an alternative avenue.

We walked across the border and into our next car, this driver noticeably less chatty, and continued up the coast to the famous town of Dubrovnik. Tourism has exploded in Dubrovnik in the past decade due in large part to the popular series Game of Thrones which was filmed in the historic forted city. None of us had really been into GOT, so these references were lost on us, but it was easy to see why this is a popular spot! After a few weeks in the Balkans, we found everything in Dubrovnik to be extremely expensive, and although it was the tail-end of the tourist season, it was very busy with multiple cruise ships in port.

The weather was hit and miss during our time in Dubrovnik, with huge thunderstorms forecast which rarely eventuated into anything more than heavy rains. Our first morning was spent doing a free walking tour around the old town, which was really informative and we had an excellent guide (who was of course an extra in the filming of GOT). One fun fact we took away was that the concept of ‘quarantine’ first initiated in Dubrovnik, as merchants and sailors travelling to the city would be required to isolate for 40 days prior to entering the city walls in the 14th century to prevent diseases entering this community. With prices rising globally as tourism-reliant destinations try to recoup lost income after covid, the cost of living increasing, and the popularity of Dubrovnik at an all-time high, the price to walk around the city walls had increased to 35 euros per person, which we couldn’t justify and decided to explore by foot below instead.

Greer & Jelley jumped on a slightly over-priced ferry to spend the afternoon at the lush green island of Lokrum. It was a well-established uninhabited island with gardens, confident peacocks, paved walking paths and rocky swimming spots, and a nice chilled activity away from the bustle of Dubrovnik. Luke stayed on the mainland and found another impressive beach to spend the afternoon swimming and people-watching.

The next day, Jelley was swayed by the rain and stayed in to catch up on some life admin, while Luke & Greer gambled against the forecast and hiked up to the lookout, where many take a cable car up to. They were lucky to get amazing views, and a fresh perspective on the city from above.

The final stop for us in Croatia was the island of Korcula. While we had considered island-hopping up to Split, time was against us as we had to navigate a tricky flight route to get to our next destination in just 4 days (Egypt !!). It was Greer’s last day in Croatia before returning to London to continue her job search and settle down in her new hometown. Greer took the early morning ferry over to Korcula with us, a 2-hour ride, and we were instantly impressed with the island. We spend the day swimming in a couple of stunning local beaches, eating great food and ice cream, before ending it with a sunset drink on top of an old fortress tower. We had spent 3 wonderful weeks together with Greer and we're stoked she could travel with us for so long in this incredible region!

Luke & Jelley had 3 nights on the island, and it was incredible. Our accommodation was an apartment below a lovely local couple in a smaller suburb of Korcula and came with bicycles for us to take exploring. The bike ride was nearly cut short early when Jelley sliced her leg open on the pedal, and then got a flat tire, but luckily our host came to the rescue with a replacement bike and we were on our way! We biked east towards the Lombarda region, famous for its vineyards and beaches, and we found our first beach of the trip with real sand!! All had been pebbly or stony in Montenegro and Croatia to date, and it was such a welcome feeling with the soft, grainy sand between our toes. It had been some time since our last ‘date day’ just the two of us, and it was really special to have this quality time together again.

The next day, we decided to take an adventure across the island to go to Proizd, voted Croatia’s most beautiful island in 2007 (and still very beautiful now in 2022!). A bit of a long mission to get there, walking into the bus depot, bussing across the island then finding the 1 ferry departure during off-peak season, but well worth it when we arrived! Uninhabited, this island has 1 cafe and 5 rocky beaches, 2 of which are nudist beaches (lol). The range of blue colours, from bright sapphire to translucent turquoise are what makes the spot so beautiful. It truly looked like something out of a postcard. Another brilliant day spent swimming, relaxing and topped off by an excellent pizza, and our time along the Adriatic Coast had come to an end.

A long couple of days of travel were ahead of us (turns out it’s not super easy to get from Dubrovnik to Cairo), but every moment waiting at a transport depot or on a plane/bus/uber was worth it, as we were a moment close to reuniting with Jelley’s Mum & Grandma in Egypt! They were well into their dream Holy Lands trip through Israel, Jordan Egypt and Turkey, and we were so excited to be meeting up with them for 10 days in Egypt together. This was a moment we’d dreamt of since leaving NZ and it was finally happening! We can’t wait to share the stories of our big adventure with Mum & Grandma in Cairo and along the Nile.

Until Then,

- A Kiwi and A Cali

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