Dubrovnik, Croatia: A Gem on the Coast

After two months of traveling we have adjusted to the sun's cycle.  We are awake with the first light, which at our current latitude is about 5am.  Also, our packing and breakfast routine is finely tuned at this point, too, so we are on the road before 7am on most mornings.  And such was the case when we left the campground at Shkodra on a misty morning after a humid night that finally culminated in an overnight rainstorm, rolling out before most of the other campers even made the ritualistic march to the toilets.  Within a couple of hours we said goodbye to Albania and hello to Montenegro.

Montenegro, the fifth country we have entered on this trip so far.  We spent a total of two days there before moving into Croatia.

It was a quiet Sunday morning, and we had to cross a headland before coming to the coast, riding by farmstands selling fresh picked cherries, the first of the season that were a red blush rather than deep red.  By mid-morning the clouds lifted and we had stellar views. 

Along the Montenegro coast there is some kind of building boom going on.  It was a stressful day of dump trucks and other construction vehicles passing us on the coastal highway, even on this Sunday.  Hotels and multi-story vacation apartments were being built in the most scenic coves with beaches.  Construction was a full tilt, even on a Sunday. 

We actually camped our first night in Montenegro near a beach where there was supposed to be a campground, but there was nothing but a closed reception office when we arrived.  So we cooked our dinner next to a soccer field and watched the local kids practice.  When darkness fell we found what looked to be a graded section of new highway, not yet paved and only a flimsy wooden gate blocking the entrance.  So we followed it far enough to be out of sight and set up our tent.  The next morning we were just packing up when the security guard drove by.  He greeted us heartily and motioned that all was ok. With bikes and a tent no one really sees us as a threat, I guess.

The morning we left our stealth camp on the graded road, it rained lightly on and off for the first couple of hours.  Our goal was to visit the old town of Kotor, located on the shore of a deep bay.  A major highway goes form the coast to this town, through a 1.6 kilometer-long tunnel.  Not for bikes, though, so we went up and over a steep ridge to drop into the town. 

What should have been spectacular views during our descent into Kotor was instead heavy clouds shrouding the mountains.

Kotor is now a popular tourist destination, and many visitors come by cruise ship, like the one just pulling in to find a parking space.   

The portion of the town within the ancient walls is mostly shops and eating establishments.  But take a few side streets and a view that could have been from centuries ago presents itself.

We explored a bit of Kotor, and then continued along the road that goes along the shore of the gulf for about 60 kilometers.  Unfortunately, the clouds hung with us most of the day.

After a second night in Montenegro in a lovely wooded campground, we were back on the main coastal highway and in line to cross the border into Croatia.

Welcome to Croatia!  At this very southern end of the country, there is very little land between the coast and some impressive mountain ridges which the border to Montenegro follows.

We biked north along the coast on the main highway, on the way to Dubrovnik.  The first 30 kilometers were great.  But once we got to the airport south of the city, the roads became super busy -- mostly tour buses that would barely give us a couple feet of space as they passed.  We were a bit frazzled at the end of the day.

There was a turnout and steps leading to the overlook of the old city of Dubrovnik.  Something the tour buses don't stop for!  One can continue past where we are standing to get to the top of the high ridge, or take a gondola up there from the old city.

The walled city of old Dubrovnik is beautiful.  Again, a mecca for tourists with all the shops and restaurants, but the setting and layout of the old city is unique.  The fortress walls are intact, and there is a path on top of the wall that you can access and walk the whole perimeter of the city.  Look one way and you see all the red-tiled roofs of the buildings, look the other and see the azure blue Adriatic Sea.

As a tourist wandering through the city, it is difficult to see evidence of its troubling recent history.  In 1991 the city was attacked during the Yugoslav Wars, and held under siege for seven months.  Artillery shells damaged 56 percent of the buildings to some degree and killed 114 civilians.  Ten million dollars were spent to restore the city.

I have been having a hard time, as we travel through these countries that have emerged so recently from war and genocide in the 1990's, to understand how it must have been, and how difficult it was to recover. What was I doing in 1991?  Working on my career, acquiring stuff, only vaguely aware of the bad news of things happening in this part of the world.  I have such respect for these people and the nations that have emerged from the hate.

A heavy downpour greeted us just as we arrived in the old town.

After an hour or so, the heavy clouds began to break up.

Looking north from the top of the wall path.

And the view towards the south.  Look closely, and you can see the cafe at the base of the wall on top of the rocks.  Might not be so nice on a stormy day.

Doing the wall walk.

The fortress walls, big and strong, keeping the cars out of the old city.

A mixture of old and new red tiles, many replaced as a result of the shelling during the siege.