An Adriatic AdVANture: Choose Your Own Adventure

Many moons ago I wrote about a prospective summer roadtrip, outlining the loosely made plans to travel around the Adriatic Sea. We did it and had a blast.

Now, with the prospect of a post-pandemic world (I've been optimistically proclaiming this since April 2020), it's time to dust off the old passports and start plotting. To pique some wanderlust, I took a jaunt down memory lane, reliving the seasides, the wine, the cheese, the misadventures and epic scenery of that summer.

This is a bit of a 'choose your own adventure' situation--Read in chronological order or click around the links. So where are we going first?!

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road!

• The Montenegrin Chapter
• The Croatian Chapter
• The Bosnian Chapter
• The Swiss Chapter
• The Italian Chapter 



The summer circuit!

An Adriatic AdVANture: The Montenegrin Chapter

At the birth of the planet the most beautiful encounter between land and sea must have been on the Montenegrin coast. -Lord Byron

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road!

After a quick visit to Canada, landing back in Albania for less than 12 hours, and working my inconvenient way into week three of a bout of guardia, we hit the road! Although there were a few mild moments of jetlag and indoor toilet-lust, we were beyond tickled to be in what has turned out to be our favourite European country, Montenegro! (I know I have proclaimed this at least a dozen times about different countries.)

We spent our first night in a dusty carpark overlooking the city of Ulcinj. As we indulged in a long lunch and seaside dips, the town had a lovely lazy vibe about it. Little did we know what we were in for that evening. We had struck the Montenegro Independence Day (Declaring independence in 2006, Montenegro is relatively juvenile)---which much like Canada Day ensured that the streets were packed, the music was bumping and the fireworks were popping off. It was a super crowded evening and the once vacant carpark was now jammed packed. Luckily the jetlag was very real. We put up the curtains and slept literally in the dead centre of the party. The next day we woke up to a much quieter New Year's Day-ish atmosphere. People were again chilling out on the beach and the Mediterranean vibes had been restored.

We then mozied up the coast to Petravac and properly setup camp for the first time since finishing the van. We rode our bikes, swam, ate fresh seafood and soaked up the campground for a few days.

Next up, we had our eyes set on Budva, but first thought we'd call-in on Sveti Stefan. In the past (1400's) Sveti Stefan was an island town just off the mainland. After a bunch of history, occupants and varied states of disrepair, it is presently a luxury resort with a connecting causeway. Sveti Stefan has been frequented by royalty and celebrities since the 1900's and is well beyond our price range. Even renting an umbrella and a couple of chairs was beyond our budget. Although access to the island resort is restricted to guests, the beaches, parks and beautiful village surrounding it are free for us commoners to gawk at and enjoy. We wandered around for awhile, had a beer and hit the trail for a night spent in Budva. 

Being just 20 minutes up the road from Sveti Stefan, it was no surprise that Budva was bursting with luxury yachts. With beachside carnivals, restaurants and bars leading to the beautiful walled city it was not hard to see why Budva was super busy with holiday-makers. A bit too bustling for our taste, we stayed only one night before heading onward to (one of) the City of Cats, Kotor. 

The Bay of Kotor, holy cow guys. As Tyler skillfully maneuvered the, at times single lane road which precariously hugged the shoreline of the bay, it quickly became clear that this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Lord Byron was not wrong. The Bay of Kotor is a large bay comprised of many smaller bays connected by narrow channels and home to multiple medieval towns. Throw in the Dinaric Alps and the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic Sea and you've got yourself a deadly combo. We spent our days biking, swimming, checking out the monasteries, eating at the grill bars and reveling in the beauty of our surroundings. 

In the depths of the bay's crook is the fortified city of Kotor, which is where I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday! Tyler did a great job to make it special, decorating the van and pulling gifts from the storage. We spent the evening in the city, wandering the streets, drinking wine and making the trek up the 1400 steps to the San Giovanni Fortress for stunning sunset views of the city and shimmering sea below below. It was perfect! 

For a journey that could have taken us under two hours, we had just spent over two weeks driving the coastline of Montenegro. If given more time, we would have happily continued to explore the country but alas, King's Landing was calling! Next stop Dubrovnik, Croatia!

....But first we had to cross the border into Croatia. After waiting in a long, slow line, we were asked to pullover for a vehicle inspection. Having previously experienced some scrutiny over our Albanian license plates, we were not phased. After an hour of waiting with no movement, we spotted a stern officer heading our way, snapping the old rubber gloves on looking as if he was ready to rip the van apart. Seeing this, we cheerfully slid the backdoor open to reveal the absolute party-pit of a van littered with balloons and pool floaties. Recoiling at this juvenile club-house of a situation, the wind seemed to have been knocked out of his sails. Scattered, he had a quick peek through my purse, asked if we smoke marijuana and bid us adieu.

Checkmate.

An Adriatic AdVANture: The Croatian Chapter

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road

I'm going to start with a very unpopular opinion. 

Croatia is over-rated. 

There I said it. 

Yes, it has the goods to back-up its resounding reputation; Gorgeous coastline, sparkling turquoise sea, fairytale villages, amazing food and wine (gahhh here I go talking myself back into a full-on endorsement). BUT compared to its southernly neighbours (Montenegro and Albania), who share the EXACT SAME COASTLINE, it is crowded and expensive. 

So, after crossing the Montenegrin border our first call of port was Dubrovnik. As one cannot visit Dubrovnik without acknowledging the obvious dragon in the room, evidence of Kings Landing was everywhere.

We are the average Game of Thrones fans. No, we haven't read the books but we know the main characters and their houses, and understand most pop culture references. If you yell 'HODOR' at us, we'll hold the door. So did we join any GoT tours? No. But did we take some pleasure in swimming at Blackwater Bay? Yes. Did we happen to eat lunch on the Jesuit staircase- No SHAME here.

Otherwise, being a super hot day, we meandered through the city walls, scurrying from one scrap of shade to the next and were thankful we decided to pack our swimsuits for a periodic swim. How often can you say that you have swam off the walls of a medieval castle? 

From Dubrovnik onwards was just one gorgeous coastal town after the next. With our very loose plans consisting of sticking to the coastline and doing a bit of island hopping, the Croatian days dripped by the way of scenic drives, lazy bike rides, frequent swims and seaside lunches. 

It was slow going when we had to pullover to enjoy the all views!

Waking up to ferry over to Korcula for pastries and coffee

Driving through Drace and quickly realizing we were in wine country--Which has always been our favourite of countries to visit.

Whenever we mention that we visited Croatia, often the response is, "Oh! Didn't you just love Split?" To which we sort of agree and quickly move the convo along in a different direction. You see, the travel-stars aligned for us in Split, and we were lucky enough to be meeting our friend Meagan for a one-night only reunion. To say that we were gearing up for a big night was an understatement. Little did we know we were about to co-star in movie sequel The Hangover: Lost in Croatia.

Tyler and I had parked the van a couple kms outside the city and biked in to meet our friend. From there a series of tragicomedic events unfolded that resulted in one of our most ridiculous night ever. Upon arriving in the city, we decided our best plan of action was to lock our bikes to a nondescript fence for safe keeping, but made absolutely no note as to the location. Next, we met Meg, had a dance party, wandered around the city and got so twist-turned around, we didn't know which way was up. At some point in the night we said farewell to Meg... and unknowingly to each other as well. For some lost amount of time Tyler found himself having a solo gigglefest in a virtual reality room, while I aimlessly wandered through a dog show flexing my knowledge of puppy pedigree. 

Finally, by some miracle Ty and I found each other and our bikes, and were set to cycle back to our beachside park-up for the night...when I looked over my shoulder and POOF! Tyler was gone again. Hours later, after each taking our own routes home, we eventually found each other. We spent the subsequent day napping in the shade outside a McDonalds...only to emerge every couple hours for a bag of burgers and a tray of hot fudge sundaes. If you know, you know.

Before it all went awry

The downward spiral from being swindled on a wheel of cheese, to the questionable dance moves and the last we saw of Tyler.

We finally emerged from our McD's fog, and geared up to make the trek to Krka National Park. Somehow we mustered the will to complete a hike around the park and revelled in the refreshingly cool water at the basin of the waterfalls. That night was definitely an early and quiet night at camp!

Pause for a Bosnian interlude

We popped over to the Island of Brac, and got willingly stuck in Bol for many nights.

Camping in Seline, we found ourselves parked-up next to a lovely Romanian couple, who after getting to chatting offered us some of their raki (as one does in the Balkans). What is raki? Well it's liquor usually made from plums or grapes, everyone's uncle makes the best, and it often comes out of a reused Fanta bottle--So, it's essentially moonshine. We've sampled our fair share of raki, but boy-howdy! After two shots of the Romanians' hooch, it was seemingly lights out. Altho not entirely so, as we awoke the next morning to a somewhat suspicious crime scene of a pasta meal strewn about, van door wide open and a vague memory of someone singing Shania karaoke (ok, it was probably/definitely me).

Turns out there are lots of places to explore without tons of people in Croatia

After we had spent the last couple weeks cruising the Croatian coastline, we arrived at our final stop, Pula. At first Pula presented itself as yet another picturesque seaside town where everyone lounged on the beach by day, and wandered the town by night eating gelato. However, as time wore on and we ventured further and further on our bikes, more revealed itself. First, Pula has one of the best preserved Roman amphitheatres. Structurally, very much like the colosseum in Rome, the Pula arena does not have throngs of people crawling about, doesn't cost a bunch of money to visit, and is wide open for exploration. It was pretty sweet to quietly have our morning espresso unbothered amongst the ruins.

After a couple days with our feet up, it was time to get moving again.

What's your favourite flavour of gelati? I sway towards pistachio, chocolate, maybe a refreshing lemon or coconut.

Next, as we were cycling back towards our van, we haphazardly came across an abandoned naval base including tons of house, government-esque buildings, and even a hospital. It was as if everyone just didn't come home one day. Bits of former domestic life strewn about, tons of refuse from present-day squatters, and nature reclaiming the space made it a neat place to explore, imagine and wonder about. 

Ok, ok, so you might have noticed that this post is rife with pictures of our time in Croatia...and as it turns out, after going through the photos and reliving the beauty, adventure, food, scenery and general quaint grandeur of the country, it is aptly-rated (perhaps even under-rated!?). Croatia is so so beautiful, the coastlines and towns are spectacular, and if wanting to get off the beaten path, there are plenty of places to enjoy the natural beauty without throngs of people. 

So, yes, Croatia is amazing, it's worth every kuna ($$), and we would 100% love to visit again. And the only reason we weren't more forlorn to be moving on from this fabulous country is that we were off to Switzerland to meet our bestest frau, bask in the freshness of the Alps and eat our weight in cheese and chocolate!

Annnddd just because I don't want the last picture on this post to be of an abandoned building...here's one more snap of our van somewhere in Croatia.

An Adriatic AdVANture: The Bosnian Chapter

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road

**Disclaimer: I always struggle to write about our travels and vacations in destinations with heavy history. How to share our enjoyment while making efforts to not be completely oblivious to a country's past? My solution--Keep it brief on both accounts.

 

We took a very brief pause in the Croatian Chapter of our journey to pop into Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

I was intrigued by Bosnia. As a kid I had heard about the Bosnian War in the '90's, but knew next to nothing about the war or the country. So what do we do...Hit up Wikipedia and then go down a dark internet rabbit-hole that leaves one with more questions than we started. So likely getting it wrong, here is the most brief of run-downs; 

Like most Balkan countries, Bosnia has had its share of trials, tribulations and reorganizations. Although its history began in the stone-ages, let's just note those who have played a role in the shaping of the culture and demographic make-up starting with the Illyrians, Celts, then of course the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, Communists, Nazis, an ongoing Croatian/Serbian tug-of-war, ever-going civil unrest, cultural genocide, and finally the most recent Bosnian war officially concluding in 1995. In no way are we making light of any of this heavy history, as present evidence of the turbulent past was undeniable. Bullet holes in building walls, tattered propaganda posters still pasted about and first-hand accounts of living through deadly conflict served as a reminder. 

BUT just like other countries of the region, wow--Beautiful geography, delicious food and the most welcoming people. The Balkans always give a true feeling of being invited into someone's family home (which you probably will be, because that's just the way things are done). 

Mostar: The town made known to us by pictures of the interesting Mostar Bridge or Stari Most. Having stood for 420 years, until destroyed in 1993 during the most recent of wars, we were there to check out the replica, built in 2004. Sure the bridge was neat, and we held our breath while we watched teenagers dive off it to the river below, but to be honest, the now-made-for-tourists town didn't thrill us all that much (being that we weren't on the hunt for Balkan-esque knick knacks and paddy whacks). We had a quick stroll and then headed on our way down the road to the nearby village of Blagaj.

Blagaj: Here we stayed in a campground on the banks of the Buna river, and had a lazy evening. We checked out the Dervish House--A Islamic monastery beautifully tucked into the cliffs where the river begins. Formerly for those who have accepted material poverty, there was almost nothing inside but the traditional rugs and divans of the Ottoman era. 

Kravica Waterfalls: The next morning the sun was shining and we headed off to splash around in the Kravica Waterfalls. The waterfalls were pretty out of this world! We spent hours climbing rocks, swimming across the lagoon and getting up close and personal with all the falling water (hold onto your bathers!).

As our visit to Bosnia was very brief, only checking out a few places, all of which were less than 50 km from the Croatian border. Though, what was a mere glimpse was enough to inspire a full-on deep dive in the future.

....Until then, we were about to stumble our way into (and out) of Croatian wine country!