DAY 46

Friday 26 August 2011

Just after leaving Lapad we stopped for breakfast with a spectacular view of Dubrovnik from a few miles straight up from the city. Curving along the coastal roads was harrowing at times because of the flimsy-looking guard rail that was the only thing between the road and a sheer drop miles down.

Looking back on Dubrovnik

We wanted one last dip in the Adriatic in Croatia, so we drove down a long country road to Camp Monika (thinking of Dian's sister Monica, of course). Instead of continuing to the actual camp, we pulled into a parking area where we saw a family eating their breakfast next to a van similar to ours, except theirs was adorned with photo-stickers of family friends all around the top part of the van. We met the Dutch family of Mories, Isabel, Miro and Goya and found out they were also traveling for a year... to CHINA! (Bhutan, to be exact.) Since our paths were the same for the next few days and since we were going through some mountainous terrain we thought a "caravan" would be a good idea, so off we went to our 12th country, Montenegro. The huge lake was stunningly surrounded by the majestic "black mountains."

Preparing for spaghetti dinner

When we passed through the border and had our passports stamped we were relieved to see that we weren't on the other side where the line stretched down a steep mountainside for at least a mile. Navigating can be tough even with good maps and GPS so it was especially pleasant to just follow the Dutch van. With two boys, aged 10 and 8, it was important to them to dunk in the sea as soon as possible so we found a beach, only to be informed we were on a "private beach" (by two feet) designated by a string in the sand. So we moved over two feet. No international incident. We drove more and later found a tiny camp on the beach and had spaghetti a la Mories amongst 400-year-old olive trees, and lemon, pomegranate and grape arbors.

Montenegro