My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
It is great to spend two nights in one place again. When we woke up this morning it was raining. We had a great breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Lazure.
The rain stopped and we walked the mile and a half down the coast to old town Herceg Novi.
When we got back from exploring old town we went for a short and refreshing swim.
For dinner we had appetizers and beer in the restaurant. We didn’t want a big dinner like last night but still I am very full.
When we arrived in Dubrovnik Duke booked the bus for today that would take us on to Montenegro and the seaside town of Herceg Novi. We decided to walk from our hotel in Dubrovnik to the bus station since it was a flat walk of a little more than a mile along the coast.
We left the hotel 55 minutes before our bus departure time so we would have time to spare and could have a leisurely walk. Unfortunately we soon discovered that the coast road was closed and we would have to climb up many stairs and go around the long way. We hurried and made it to the bus station with only 5 minutes to spare. Each of us was dripping with sweat but we made it!
The distance we had to travel today south along the coast was only about 40 miles. But everyone had to get off the bus at the border to go through Croatian exit control and then again a mile down the road at Montenegro entrance control. So all in all the trip took about 2 hours.
The hotel we are staying at in Herceg Novi is magnificent! We will be here two night. The setting is idyllic and as we arrived the sun came out even though the forecast was for rain. After checking in and taking a nap we went for a walk.
Then we went back, got our Kindles and read in the bar while having local beers.
We ate dinner outside at the restaurant in the hotel. we started with the Montenegro antipasto plate.
Then Duke had prawn pasta and I had beef short rib past. Each of them was excellent.
After dinner we walked out to the Marino to get a nice night view of the hotel.
We had a lovely relaxing day today. We had originally thought we might take the gondola to the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik but it was shrouded in clouds all day.
So instead we spent the morning reading and relaxing. In the afternoon we went for a walk over to an ocean viewpoint west of out hotel.
On the way back we walked through forest and then stopped at a grocery store to pick up snacks and water.
For dinner we ate at Peppers near our hotel. Duke and I both had the Pulled Pork Sloppy Joes. Duke says there is no such thing since a Sloppy Joe is made with ground beef. In any case our sandwiches were very good.
We woke up this morning as we were docking in Dubrovnik.
We got off the ferry and got in line for passport control. It looked like it was going to be a long wait.
But then an official came out and announce that the entrance to passport control would be in a different place, right in front of us! So we were the first people through passport control!
We walked to our hotel and since it was only 8:30 am, our room wasn’t ready. We left out bags and went in search of breakfast. We found a local spot. I ordered a continental breakfast and Duke ordered the croque monsieur. They really hit the spot.
After breakfast we walked into old town Dubrovnik. There were about a million people and there were lots of places advertising Game of Thrones souvenirs. Much of Game of Thrones was filmed here. In spite of all that, it was an interesting old town to explore.
We walked back to our hotel. The room still wasn’t ready so we had beers and relaxed for a bit until we could get into the room.
After a rest in our room we had a wonderful dinner at Orka, a nearby restaurant.
Today our first objective after breakfast was to get our laundry done and be back at our hotel in time to check out by 11. We accomplished it with no time to spare.
Then we went out to explore Bari. We visited the castle.
We walked a lot trying to figure out where to get the boarding passes for the ferry. Luckily we had a lot of time. According to my watch we walked over 7 miles today.
Around 4 we had an early dinner.
We were able to board the ferry at about 7:15.
Now we are in our stateroom. We watched Italy recede in the distance as we pulled out of Bari. We’ve taken pills for motion sickness just in case. There is no wifi on this ship so I will post this blog once we get to Dubrovnik.
We have had a very full and interesting almost three weeks in Italy. Our next stop is Dubrovnik, Croatia. The adventure continues!
As I get time and internet I am posting videos of our trip on our YouTube channel – Boomers Without Borders. Duke’s review of our rental car in Italy is here. And the video of us in Naples and Pompeii is here. I have created Google and Apple albums of all our photos. If you are interested let me know and I’ll give you access.
Marion's Blog 