Intentional traveler: Moving On...

The time had come for the end of our first week of travel. It took 4 days and 4 flights to meet our tour and it was well worth it. I hope you enjoyed reading about a little of the many things we did, but now we must leave our excellent guide and driver and hotel and move on...at 7:45 we boarded our bus to Dubrovnik. We were all on time and anxious to move on to the base trip. This will be a pretty short post as we drove through Montenegro to arrive at 5:30 pm.

We took the coast road and so did not mind at all that it was a very long transfer day. I took as many pictures as I could out the bus window. We did make a couple of 'potty stops.' The first was at a truck stop type of place that even had a grocery store. I bought a Coke Zero, no Diet Coke or Coke Light here, and looked at the scenery while others browsed the shop or had a snack.

Our mini bus that we have used all week had a trunk. Who knew?

At the border Llri took all the passports into the checkpoint and we passed the border relatively quickly.

This poor bus driver carried all his passengers passports to the kiosk only to be sent back. The large buses had tighter checks. Everyone had tot get off and take hole of their luggage for the dogs to sniff. We breezed through our entry into Montenegro.

Mountains were all around us and then we began to go down to the coast line. A rough edged and gravelly narrow road led to the shoreline. We were looking down at Dobro Vodo which was a perfect name. It means 'Good Water.'

First view of Dobro Vodo.

Catholic church with a unique design in the town of Budva.

We stopped for lunch at the beautiful Hotel Adrovic. First we had menus which were extensive and then the waiter realized that it was a fixed menu. So while we waited we all were good tourists and took photos. Our table was by a window overlooking St. Steven's Island. We returned to a delicious lunch which included green (arugula, Fred Chase!) salad served with no dressing. The custom here is do it yourself oil and vinegar. The main course included a very large portion of chicken schnitzel. Dessert was a crepe with a smooth yogurt, raspberry cream and fresh raspberries.

All of these apartments are for rent and will be totally full beginning May first for the summer season on the Adriatic Sea!

I ordered iced tea normal!

We had time so I decided that photos from the roof deck would be prettier!

After about 45 minutes we reached the place where we were to take the ferry. Crossing the river on the short boat ride saved about an hour and a half of driving time. gate closed and away we went. Luckily for us there was a ferry just ready to leave. We drove aboard and the

Ferries loading and unloading on the other side.


When you are loaded with buses, cars and trucks you ride low in the water!

We continued on our way to arrive in Dubrovnik in about another 45 minutes. As sad as we were to say good bye to our driver and guide we were that happy to be greeted by Tina who is our trip leader for the next 17 days! She seems very nice and very organized which I especially like. After getting our room keys and making sure our bags were delivered to our rooms the seven of us met her again in the lobby for a quick walk around of the expansive hotel property.

Complicated floor plan!

Yea deep and narrow tub!

Glad the desk, where I spend a lot of time, has a dark surface. Why? I forgot my mouse-pad!

She showed us where there were restaurants and a mini-mart since we are not in the city but some distance away. She identified the bus stops, there are two with one on either side of the area. There is the sister hotel down at the shore. If we walk through it's lobby we can access the beach front promenade for about a two mile stroll. Back up past fancier restaurants and playgrounds for the children we found the patio where she left us on our own. Elva and I chatted with some ladies from California and then watched the sunset before going in to our included dinner.

Tonight was buffet in the main dining room. Enormous. I believe there were ten or so set ups with different things all the way around them. Then along the walls everything from fruit, cheese and cold cuts, breads, rolls (yes separate from the breads), freshly cooking meats, and grilled vegetables. There was a scoop it yourself gelato station with six flavors and so many things that I wish that I had taken photos. We won't be eating in there again because it is super expensive. We are in a very 'touristic' area of an expensive country and on the cusp of the start of the season!