Virpazar and Skadarsko Lake

Only a 60 km jump to our next stop at a small fishing village, Virpazar, on the lake at Skadarsko Jezero National Park.  

We walked into the village from our apartment where we found the tourist information center. A pleasant guy there helped us, we bought a park map and back out to the street where we met the infamous Alexander. Ferda had read about a hustler named Alexander in reviews for the village. A hustler that was full of information and advice that would make him a buck. Needless to say we quickly got rid of him. 

We ate a good traditional lunch -roasted lamb and potatos- in a local restaurant with good and famous local red wine, Crmnica. 

After lunch we walked to the next village 5 km away, Godinje, that we had been told was pretty – nothing there really but it was a good walk looking over the lake!

Kotor

From Dubrovnik, Croatia we drove to our next stop, Kotor, Montenegro on 16th of October. Actually not a long drive – only 150 km but slow going for a great part. The coasts of Croatia and Montenegro are beautiful due to the glacial activity during the last ice age. There are bays, inlets and harbors one after the other. Kotor is at the end of one of those inlets and large cruise ships dock at the jetty – deep water! The entire area is mountainous and very rugged. There is little land that is useless for anything other than scenery.

Kotor wasn’t as crowded as Dubrovnik – not as “touristy” either though that seems to be about the only income generator around. Hard to farm when there is nothing but hillside and rocks to do it on.

There was a nice little shopping center where we had dinner and stocked up for the next day. We now knew where we had to go the next morning and that it was best to leave the car at the apartment and walk back to the old city.

A few words often seen here are stari, most and grad - we determined the meanings as old, bridge and town.

The next morning we started up the steps to the old Kotor Fortress (also called St John’s Fortress)  – steep going but some rather heavy old folks were even making it up the hill! It was about a 220 meter climb The sights are fantastic in all directions. Part way up there is an old church where someone was selling refreshments and had many customers.

At the top we had a fantastic view in all directions. There were more old ruins in a valley between the fortress and the hill side which continued on up another 300 meters. Those were not easy to get to and I believe it was discouraged.

After returning to the old city we found a nice eatery and enjoyed lunch. 

In the afternoon we visited Dukley European Art Center, a big building hosting international artists from around the world. For some period of time the artists live and work in that building and also exhibit their works there. An interesting and impressive collection of contemporary art.  

Dubrovnik - Old City

Last night we bought Dubrovnik city cards on line. It allows free entrance to some museums and galleries and free pass to walk along the famous city walls as well as to use the city bus free. In the morning we took the city bus and shortly we were at the gate of the old town.

The place was packed with tourists even in late October – It would be a torture to see it in the summer months! Much of the old city and city walls have been restored – narrow streets and all. The only thing over sized were the cathedrals.

We entered through the Pile gate and started looking for the museums and galleries on the list. Walking along the narrow streets it is a bit problematic to spot the exact places of the attractions because of getting poor GPS signal.  

We started with House of Marin Drzic, a Croat playwright. Maybe he is a Shakespeare of Croatia but if you know nothing about him you don't get excited with the copies of his plays or depictions of the characters in his plays or quotations from his speeches. So we had a quick look around and have a look at a sculpture exhibition of an artist on another floor which wasn't much to our taste.

The second stop was at Rupe Ethnographic Museum in which there was an exhibition entitled "Ottoman Pottery from the Depths of Adriatic". It presents valuable archaeological finds retrieved from a merchant ship which sunk in the end of 16th century near a Croatian island. The ship was carrying oriental goods intended for the European market, mainly pottery from Iznik (Nicaea) in Turkey. We were impressed with the objects exhibited as well as the underwater work to excavate them.

We went to Natural History Museum in which there were some stuffed fish and birds. It wasn't impressive at all and definitely needs some investment.

Another museum we saw was the Maritime Museum in which lots of model ships of all kinds displayed. It was quite interesting for people in general.

Rector's Palace was not a big one but still interesting and fascinating, especially the architecture.

The city walls were an hour long walk to go all around. They offer great views of the old city and surrounding area and by itself it's also a good walk. This was the highlight of our old city tour.

Towards the end of our city wall walk rain started. We could manage to finish the walk without getting wet and find a good place to wait until the end of the rain, a nice bar right across the Cathedral. We had our dark beer watching the impressive architecture of the building and listening to the classic guitar performance of a musician.

We did find that a beer costing 22 Kuna in Split cost 28 in Lapad -a nice residential area of Dubrovnik that we stayed- and 38 in the old city Dubrovnik – tourist prices for sure!

To go home it was easy – jump on a #6 bus and be sure to get off at the right stop. The bus is the only practical way to go to the old city due to an extreme shortage of parking places and high charges for parking lots.