A Week in Montenegro

Europe » Croatia » Dalmatia » Dubrovnik
October 25th 2012

Published: October 25th 2012

Day 5

The next morning we were up and out and homeward bound. Well, not completely homeward, our final destination was Dubrovnik. To get there we had to return the hire car to Herceg Novi, get the cross border bus, negotiate our way from the bus station into Dubrovnik and then find our lodgings. Easy. And so it was. The car we dropped off in a car park right next to the car hire place; we then walked up the hill into Herceg Novi and had a spot of lunch in the Trg Nikole Durkovica square and finally headed to a café on Njegoseva, which has wonderful views of the water, and rested there for a while before heading up a further hill to the bus station. We bought our tickets off the most surly woman - she finished off her long conversation with another woman in the booth before eventually looking at us to tell us we were at the wrong window. We duly moved to another window to be served. Once we’d got our tickets we had to wait as the bus was a little late, but it was fine and soon we were en route and heading to Dubrovnik.

We got a taxi from the bus station to the Pile gate (loads of taxis waiting there). It was surprisingly easy to find our room. To get in was another matter. A woman sitting in a café near to the room got my attention and explained that the landlady was away and that she would call her. She did so and I was told she would turn up shortly. Which she did. Our landlady was great. Every sentence was ended with the word ‘darlinck’. “Is the room alright darlinck?”, “I take krone or euro darlinck”, “no problem darlinck”. She shouted at the builders outside our room and we got the impression that she took no nonsense. The room was basic, especially after the luxuries of Montenegro. The room was also more expensive than Montenegro, but hey, it was Dubrovnik old town where the tourist rate of inflation is always much higher and we weren’t going to pay anymore.

We’d been to Dubrovnik before on a previous road trip so knew what to expect, but it was still lovely. We drifted around enjoying the windy streets, enjoyed the atmosphere, and even better, we’d arrived when the tourists were starting to head off. After a long day we decided we needed a drink, so found a bar on the rocks outside of the town walls. We just sat there looking at the sea. Probably we should have been somewhere admiring the architecture, but the sea is always beguiling and as we were heading back to the UK we knew that we wouldn’t have the sun and sea combination for a long time. We eventually hauled ourselves up and found a restaurant for dinner by the harbour. After a mediocre meal we headed to a jazz bar (Troubadur) that we had frequented last time we were in town. It spills along the street and the music is great. It doesn’t take cards to I had to schlep off to find a cash machine at one point, but it’s worth it. We plonked ourselves down and congratulated ourselves on a marvellous holiday, completed without mishap and in the sun. Ah the sun. Just as we were feeling absolute contentment – with a bottle of wine - the brooding guy sitting by himself in the corner sauntered over to the jazz band and started to play the bongos frenetically. Our appreciation turned into awe when he started to play the bongos with his elbows. Superb, what an excellent finish to our holiday. Bongos with elbows, you can’t top that really.

Stayed at: Rooms Vicelic on Antuninska

Ate at: Lokanda Peskarija (dinner)

Drank at: Buza and the Troubadur (Dubrovnik)

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