Back On The Road Again!!

We have gotten sooooo used to sleeping in, so....today was a bit hard, given our need to get up early!! We had to catch the bus to get to the airport, where we were picking up our rental car, for our remaining week in the Dubrovnik area! Soooo exciting!! 

We picked up our little black Opel Corsa (Car) and learned that the little neighbouring country, of Montenegro, was only 15 km away, from the airport!! Woo Hoo!!! We decided to go because, 'what the heck??!'....why not drive to another European country for lunch, on a sunny day, in a new set of wheels!!!!??!

"Montenegro is a small Balkan country that boasts rugged mountains, medieval villages and a narrow strip of beaches along the Adriatic Sea." It is bordered by Croatia to the West, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the southeast. 

It was very easy crossing the border and very cool to have gotten our passports stamped with another European country!! 

We drove into the small city of Herceg-Novi, not knowing where to go or what to expect! We were lucky to find a parking spot, easily,  so, that, was a good sign! We hopped out and began walking.....which is our favorite way to explore!! We found our way to a quaint little shopping square with a farmers market in full swing, along with lots of inviting shops and restaurants! We picked up some fresh oranges, Tomatoes, olives and walnuts from the open air market...

Then, we boogied off to find an 'authentic' restaurant, for lunch! We chose a place called 'Kafana Pod Lozom'  and were recommended a few different 'traditional' dishes. I chose a dish called 'Beans with Ribs' and Lawrence chose something we did not really know the name of, but were assured that it was 'very delicious'! We also got a Greek Salad and a basket of bread. Well.....the food was wayyyyy too heavy and rich for us!.....The 'ribs' turned out to be 2 HUGE hunks of fatty back bacon, so really, I had homemade 'pork and beans' and Lawrence had a dish with a huge hunk of  pork skin layered under potatoes, cream and a copious amount of cheese, all baked together in a small casserole dish! 
 

We were very grateful for the fresh, crisp Greek Salad!!

We were a bit unnerved by the 4 inbred cats that gathered, at the next table (and the ground by our table), and stared longingly at us, while we ate! They were so pathetic and it was really quite awful, knowing that if we shared, they might start jumping on our table for more! They were quite ugly, with characteristics suggesting significant inbreeding! Poor little buttons!!

We then found our way to the beach and the walking path (promenade) that hosted many seaside shops, funky restaurants and amazing ocean scenery! We walked, shopped and stopped for dessert and coffee/tea at a place recommended on trip advisor, called 'Peter's Pie and Coffee'! I ordered a poppyseed pie, that was drizzled with orange sauce and Lawrence had lemon meringue pie! My dessert was soooooo incredibly good....it was one of my all time top 4 desserts, enjoyed in my (near) 56 years of life!! Amazing!!!!!!!!

Our walk through this pretty city and along its waterfront promenade was so enjoyable! A couple of things really stood out for us....how very lush and green the vegetation is and how everything is written in either Ukrainian or Russian (I could read the menues, signs etc., so I think it is actually Ukrainian!!)

Here are some pictures of what we saw and enjoyed in Herceg-Novi, this awesome Saturday in October...
 

We then, drove into Dubrovnik, found our way, easily, by car, to The Old Town.....picked up something we had ordered.....enjoyed a gelato and some people-watching then drove home to our cozy seaside apartment!! We are sure happy to be back on the road again....exploring and savouring our European adventure!!