Montenegro and beyond

22/09/2014 Monday

The border crossing took longer than expected with the police taking a very special interest in our engine !! It didn't help that Cordy smashed the door of the camper into the customs post trying to open the bonnet for them!

Over the border we headed towards Ulcinj and the possiblty of camping at Valdanos a beach campsite. After a bit of a drive we headed down a steep path towards to sea. We came to a gate with a stop sign and two men in camouflage suits and with guns!!!

One of them explained that the campsite clsoed over 6 years ago and that the beach closes at 7 with everyone gone it was now around 5.30.

He directed us to the Velika plaza. This is a 12 k beech that has camping and nudism!!! Cordy not keen to wobble about !!!

Ended up at Safari camping. Full of Germans with a great restaurant so we went for a swim had a shower then headed to restaurant to be greeted by a Montnegran who was very helpful. 

Chose a mixed fish starter followed by a meat sharing platter with white then red wine. Perfect., Back home with Cordy sorting out emails and listening to music. Croatia tomorrow then home  .......................................

23/9/2014 Tuesday. 

Cordy woke up at 4 o'clock to the van rocking in a huge storm. Frightened of a tree blowing down and into us she woke Ian and demanded we move out of the danger area. Ian half asleep and still full of wine was not for moving so Cordy sat up for the whole of the one hour storm (it was really bad with lightning and gale force winds !!!) until it finally subsided and she rejoined Ian asleep at around 6 clock. 
Up later that expected again and set of around 10 am heading towards the bay of Kotar. The scenery got better and better until we arrived in the bay of kotar with a hugh traffic jam. we finally managed to park by the marina and set of into the old town to explore and find some lunch. 

Walking out the parking area into the marina to discover a huge cruise ship had docked.
The town was full of Americans. Quite a culture shock compared to what we had been used to in Albania. Had a little explore and then sat down to eat at a lovely little restaurant in the back streets with accordion playing. Salad and fried squid washed down with a couple of local draught lagers. Really lovely! Ian decided that we should take the 1350 steps up to the fortress on top of the town wall. it was a lovely walk with great views over kotor bay. 

Deciding on a different path on the way down we ended up back in the walled town and out onto the spring that surrounds the town wall. We went back to the van and were just about to head off when the guy next to us in an old vw golf tried to start his car and it did the click click of a flat battery, should we offer to help?? He got out of his cat pulled a set of jump leads and an old battery obviously very prepared we heaved a sigh of relief and got the engine started ready to go only to find he had not got his car started so out of the van 20 mins of pushing his car next to the van jump leads attached still no joy pushed him back into a parking space offered to drive him somewhere he said, no his son was on the way. So with Cordy driving and deciding not to take the ferry for a short cut we set off around the bay. What a fantastic drive along the sea shore with high mountains and cliffs all around. Panoramic views of a tall ship and the cruise boats one of which was just getting under way. It would be lovely to sail in these waters some day.

As we drove round we saw the narrow channel out of Kotor bay and the exit to the sea as well as the car ferry that cuts the corner off. It was lovely.

Driving on we came to the border and had to queue up for a while as the Montenegrans were very slow and we also had various cyclists and van drivers pushing in. There was the by now obligatory female customs officer mincing around with epaulets. They stamped our passports That means in and out for Montenegro. We drove on to the Croatian border where we were very well received and Cordelia was complemented on her name by the charming young customs officer.

As the map did not cover this section of Croatia (what is that all about???) we didn't know where we were at all. We soon found the airport that because of its size and location we couldn't believe was the right one.

We argued slightly about it and the need for DATA to help the situation. We carried on to find the Camping Maskovicha in Sebrena. Met our host Danielle who is an older blond lady but quite nice. Put her into a panic about our vague requirements for parking so agreed it would be best if we just go to the airport tomorrow. Took a walk to the beach. It was lovely except for the huge construction site for a hotel??? that is going on. Also trying to sort out what is happening with Joe tomorrow on phone didn't help. 
Stopped to book a table in a restaurant and ended up just sitting down and having a lovely meal of mixed seafood platter to share. It was great food and we stuffed our faces once again. 

Back to the camper we were cold so put the fire on and poured another drink..................

24/9/2014 Wednesday going home day

Woke up at around 7.30 made a cup of tea and used the milk that Ian had brought from the aeroplane. The up and out of bed for around 8 o'clock, spent the next two hours cleaning the van stripping beds cleaning the fridge etc etc pretty boring stuff but always seems to take forever. Had a shower paid and said our goodbye to Danielle and headed towards the airport, noticing that Ian was getting that stressed about parking the camper thing going. Arrived at the airport in plenty of time and looked for the parking, drove into the parking and stopped at the pricing to see that it was going to cost 29 euros a day. This seemed a lot so we backed out and Ian stopped to ask at a taxi rank if there was any cheaper parking. About 5 men seemed to surround Ian and talk scratched there heads and point. Ian came back to the camper saying that the only parking was the parking we had just left, disappointed and wanting to have one last ditched attempt we headed over to the other side of the airport in the hope of finding more parking, Ian ended up needing to reverse and as we did we were approached by a young man asking us if we were looking for parking! Yes was our reply. He wanted 10 euro a day we said 7 and he said OK. We followed him to a nearby village to a car park at the rear of what he said was his apartment. It was very nice. He gave us his card www.bingo-rent.com. His name was Pero Dupcic. We parked up loaded our bags in his car then headed back to the airport. Another sketchy parking experience!!!!!

He said he could rent us a boat if we wanted and that seemed a nice idea to me. We'll know how nice he is when we return to collect the camper.

Flight home was uneventful and a bit Yorkshire as we were on Jet2.com. Thanks go to Frank who was bang on time and collected us to bring us back to Park Cottage. What next?????