Today was a quiet day in Missolonghi. The highlight of the day was Ovi helping me repair a broken shelf in François, and by helping I mean Ovi did 98% of the work while I stood by offering encouragement. The result is a much improved shelf with more carrying capacity than the old one.
After that we spent the afternoon in Cory and Ovi’s boat chatting away. In the evening we moved the conversation to the marina bar. The owner of the bar came over and joined in the conversation. We are learning that the Greek’s are great conversationalists and are quick to embrace strangers into their circle. We are really enjoying meeting complete strangers who are quick to strike up a conversation even when the language barrier is high, everyone seems to work thru it, and before long everyone is laughing and acting like old friends. It is incredibly charming.
Today we completed our mission from yesterday to visit the Missolonghi Salt Museum. Yesterday we walked the 2.5 miles out to the Salt Museum only to discover that it was closed on Tuesdays. The day ended well as we found a comfortable ocean front bar and relaxed and chatted for hours. But as we were walking back we decided we would head out to the museum again today.
Looking across the lagoon from the salt flats to the causeway that leads out to the ocean front islands that created the conditions for salt production in Missolonghi.
So at 10:30 we were heading out on the causeway thru the lagoons that make up the Missolonghi water front to the ocean front museum. When we did get to the museum we were not disappointed with our decision. Though small the museum is really well done. Great care has been taken in selecting the displays with a mixture of technical descriptions of the many salts in the world and the manufacturing process for salt, with more light displays showing all the products that contain salt and a collection of over 1500 salt shakers from around the world. There is a very touching video display highlighting three workers in the local salt mines describing their time working in the mines. These men were instrumental in the campaign to found the museum. At the end there was a note saying that none of them survived to see the opening of the museum. All four of us really enjoyed the museum, but what I think speaks to the quality of the museum, we each enjoyed a different display as our highlight from the visit. Though quite small this is one of the most memorable museums I have visited in a while. The museum was worth the 10 miles of walking it took to visit it.
These salt flats have ceased production and are now part of the museum.
After our long walk to the museum we decided we would return to our favorite bar in Missolonghi. We enjoyed the fried anchovies and french fries but reduced our beer consumption to one round. Finally after a couple of hours we headed back down the causeway to the marina to enjoy a couple of hours on board their boat chatting with Ovi and Cory.
These flamingos were just off the causeway. The lagoons here are homes to over thirty bird species including flamingos and pelicans.
Today we planned to visit the salt museum near town. Missolonghi has been a center of salt production for centuries, and the salt museum is very highly recommended. The four of us planned to meet up and walk out to the museum which is located on a spit of land connected by a two mile long causeway to the mainland. It was going to be about a 5 mile roundtrip, but there is a wide sidewalk and bike path along the causeway so we decided it would be worth it.
This small Orthodox church was located in a small fishing village near the entrance to the lagoon that Missolonghi is situated on.
The walk was long but Ovi and I were engrossed in our conversation so it did not seem that bad. At about the half way point we looked back and Cory and Ton had lagged about a quarter mile behind but we could here them laughing as they talked so we carried on without waiting.
The fishing fleet docked at the entrance to the Missolonghi Lagoon.
At the end of the causeway there is a small fishing village with a church and two pretty modern restaurants. We were quite a ways ahead of Cory and Ton so we popped into one of the restaurants to plan our lunch. Inside one of the staff told us the museum was closed on Tuesday. We both looked at each other and debated who was going to tell the wives that we had just walked 2.5 miles to a museum that was closed. When they arrived we dropped the news and they just laughed and said let’s have lunch. Three hours later we had finished our lunch and enjoyed a nice 2.5 mile stroll back to our homes in the marina.
We are going to head out to the salt museum again tomorrow. Hopefully the walk will be just as enjoyable as today.
We spent the day taking care of chores, including washing a huge load of laundry. After that was taken care of Cory and Ovi came over and we gave them a tour of François. As he is only 19 feet long that never takes much time.
Enjoying lunch on board Ovi and Cory’s boat.
Cory had us over for pumpkin soup for lunch. It was absolutely delicious and a favorite of Tons. We then chatted for an hour or so before heading into town with the thought of getting a beer.
We settled in at the busiest restaurant on the waterfront. Right after we sat down an absolutely spectacular sunset happened which we had the perfect seats to enjoy. It was one of the prettiest I have seen in a while, with a series of different red skies like I have only seen in the tropics.
Another sunset image. This one was the best of the trip with incredible reds.
We had a couple of pizzas and a really good artesinal beer. The walk back to the marina was good spirited with Cory and Ton lagging behind to chat while Ovi and I led the way also enjoying our conversation.
We have been in communication with our good friends and fellow Tiger owners Ovi and Cory for the entire trip to coordinate a meet up. In addition to being Tiger owners they also own a 40 foot sailboat that they have had in the Mediterranean for the last few years. Today we headed down the road to a small port city called Missolonghi where they are planning to keep their boat over the winter.
It is always great to meet friends when you are traveling as it is a chance to unwind, slow down and catch up on things. We arrived about 2 pm and except for a short break in the early evening to park François we ate and chatted until nearly 11pm.
We are not sure how long we are going to be here with them but the posts may be delayed as our priority is going to be good company, food and wine.
Meteora was on my list of places of visit to Greece, but while we were in Albania Mugi from the campground in Durres insisted we visit here. We are really glad we did as it is one of the most striking places we have ever been.
The combination of the natural beauty of the rocks and the man made beauty of the monasteries make this place special.
The columns of rocks in the valley would be incredible by themselves. I did some research on how they were formed. The answer was complicated, but what is special is that individual rocks like this are not that uncommon, but what is unusual about Meteora is that there are only a couple of other places where they are clustered together like this.
The landscape is inspiring and unlike anywhere else we have visited.
The rocks are awe inspiring and early on attracted spiritual people. There are caves in the limestone cliffs that attracted Chrisitian hermits early in the development of Christianity.
The rocks are dotted with caves that early on attracted hermits.
As time went on the hermits began to form into groups and found monasteries on top of the rocks. At the peak in the mid to late 1400’s there were over 26 monasteries perched on top of rock faces in the area.
At its peak there were 26 monasteries in the area.
Part of the reason was religious as the area does have a spiritual pull. The other reason was during the 1400’s this area was under a lot of pressure from the Ottoman Empire so the rock peaks gave security to the monks.
Most of these monasteries were not easily accessible by foot until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Many were only accessible by rope and pulley so the monks were quite isolated from the surrounding towns and valleys. The monasteries required incredible ingenuity and labor to complete.
This old picture shows how the monasteries had deliveries made before the roads and stairs were built.
Today we visited four of the six remaining monasteries. Now two of the monasteries have been converted to nunneries, so it is actually two nunneries and four monasteries. In modern times a good road runs thru the mountains and all of the monasteries have carved staircases to them so while it is still quite a climb to most of the monasteries they are very accessible. As a result they have become the second most visited tourist destination on mainland Greece.
These days they can all be accessed without riding in rickety baskets on pulleys pulled by a couple of monks, but they are a pretty good climb.
They are not very large but all include a chapel and living quarters. Our favorite one the Monastery of Varlaam had a couple of small but really well done museums on site. We were lucky to get into Varlaam as it is usually closed on Fridays but was open today because it is a Greek national holiday. Because everyone assumed it was closed when Ton and I got there we had the place nearly to ourselves. Ton had to buy a skirt to cover her pants. As you walk up there is a sign saying men cannot wear shorts and women cannot wear halter tops, shorts or pantaloons.
Ton in her new skirt/sarong to cover her unlady like pantaloons.
The views from the monasteries were incredible, but the chapels were also quite interesting. Ton was really fascinated by the icons in the chapels and found them quite beautiful.
Ton really enjoyed the style of the icons in the chapels in the monasteries.
Later in the day we visited the Holy Trinity Monastery which was used in the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only.” It is the smallest of the monasteries but the hardest climb.
Holy Trinity Monastery.
Meteora is a special place and we both really enjoyed it. One of the highlights was our bus driver, we were using a shuttle service provided by the town and had the same bus driver all day. On one of the legs we were the only ones on the bus and he waved us to the front seat so he could talk as he was squeezing thru incredibly narrow spaces. Today is Liberation Day in Greece so I asked who they were liberated from and he said the Turks, but after a few seconds he said no it was the Germans and Italians, he then laughed and said we’ve been liberated a lot so it can get confusing.
We had a fun conversation with our bus driver as he squeezed thru the parked cars on this twisty road.
We enjoyed our short stay on Corfu, but it was time to move on. We woke up early as we wanted to get the 10:30 ferry to the mainland, and Ton wanted to hit the Lidl on the way to the ferry terminal. Everything went as planned and we were the second vehicle on the ferry, which meant that at Igoumenitsa we were the last one off.
Arriving in Igoumenitsa.
On the way out of town Greta decided we were a cargo truck delivering something to the port and guided us to the port entrance for commercial deliveries. It was a high security area and we were clearly not going to get entrance. Fortunately there was a place to pull over while we sorted out our options. I was hoping someone would come out of the fortress like gates and give us some advice but no one did. I had decided our best option was to shoot down the one way road we had come up as there was not much traffic. While I was planning this maneuver, Ton noticed the barriers keeping us from getting to the outbound lanes were light plastic (they looked heavy from a distance), she cleared them out of the way (she is adapting nicely to the customs in the Balkans) so I could cut thru to the proper exit. After I crossed thru she put them back in place and we were on our way.
Standing next to our neighbors immense truck.
The rest of the drive was uneventful and we rolled into our campsite at the base of Meteora around 4pm. Our neighbor is an immense expeditionary vehicle probably worth a million dollars. It makes François look cute.
We revisited Corfu today to take in a couple of spots we missed yesterday and to try a couple of food places that looked interesting. As we were riding the bus in we were wondering how many cruise ships would be in port this morning. We were happy to see only one tied up, and the town was quieter than yesterday.
The streets were a bit quieter this morning when we arrived, good for us but not the merchants of Corfu.
The first stop we had planned for the day was a bakery we had seen walking around town yesterday. The problem was neither one of us could remember exactly where it was, or what its name was. We decided to take it as a challenge, and began the quest for the bakery. It was fun as we went up and down the main street looking for the alley we thought it was on. We weren’t having much luck and had covered quite a bit of the old town in the quest without success. We decided that if we were not trying so hard to find it we probably would have walked right up on it. After about 45 minutes we were contemplating giving up when there it was in front of us not 30 feet off the main street in town.
One of the many places we looked where Rosie’s cafe was not located.
We ordered a sample of pastries and some Turkish coffee to wash it down. The pastries were interesting as all three of them used honey in place of sugar so were a little sticky and quite sweet. One of them reminded Ton of a desert they have in Thailand that she says they got from the Portuguese. The Turkish coffee was a nice complement to the sweetness of the pastries and I am glad I ordered it without sugar.
Our reward for persisting in looking for Rosies Cafe.
Our next planned stop was the Museum of Asian art. Ton had read that it was the best museum in Corfu. We spent about an hour and a half going thru the museum, and they had a very extensive collection of Chinese Pottery that took up a whole floor of the museum. They did a good job of showing the evolution of Chinese Pottery. My only complaint was that we both had a hard time reading the font on the display as it was both small and often located at floor level which meant bending over to see it. The museum itself was located in the old British Governor Generals Palace, and while the exterior was nothing spectacular as palaces go, the interior was well preserved and impressive.
The arch attached to the museum in the old British Governor Generals Palace.
The Governor Generals Palace makes up one side of the main square of town with a wall of impressive buildings making up one other side, unlike most towns in Europe where the main square is usually surrounded on all four side by buildings, this one is open on two sides which makes it look quite expansive, instead of being paved it is grassed and in the evening serves as the towns cricket pitch.
Kids playing cricket on the main square in Corfu.
Yesterday as we were walking by the waterfront we saw a restaurant offering a three course lunch that looked both a bargain and good to us. We decided to return today for lunch. Since we were looking at the sea we decided to go for fish and the meal was everything we had hoped for. The bar has now been set at a high level for both quality and value for our future stops in Greece.
Another view of the main square in Corfu.
As we were walking to the restaurant a giant cruise ship was just pulling into the town so we new the quiet streets we were enjoying were going to be ending soon. We were debating our next stops for the day when we both fell in love with the dressing served with our salad. It was made from Pomegranate, olive oil and vinegar and was delicious. Ton decided we needed some for François. Our waiter provided us directions to a grocery store where we could get some and our next quest for the day was on.
Coffee and gossip on the way to the grocery store.
The quest was a short one as the waiters directions were spot on, and the grocery store had the dressing in stock. As we were walking the crowds were building. We had thought earlier to try some more Corfu Beer Company beer as we were impressed with the beer yesterday. When we arrived at the pub we had planned on we were both full from our late lunch so instead headed back to François and called it a day.
We really liked Corfu beer, but decided to visit the church instead on our way home.
Corfu is one of the hot spots for tourism in Greece, but we were hoping it would be on the quiet side today as a lot of places are shutting down for the winter. Our campground is closing on Sunday until May 1. We looked at treating ourselves to a hotel here, but the one we were looking at is closing tomorrow so it was not available. What we didn’t count on was cruise ships.
There were a lot more people than we expected this morning.
When we arrived in town the place was rocking with tourists! It turns out that after we arrived on our ferry yesterday afternoon three cruise ships came into the port. The number of people were just short of overwhelming, so we decided to head into the non-tourist part of town to visit a soap factory Ton had read about.
Olive oil soap on racks curing before it is packaged for use.
Patounis Soap Company has been making olive oil based soap using the same process since 1850. They have a small factory off of the main street in Corfu and are open for visitors. While we were there a German family was also visiting and asked for a tour so we tagged along. We got an explanation of the process and got to see the soap in the molds before they are cut into individual cakes. The process had not changed much since 1850 and the bars are still hand stamped and cut, and packaged in brown paper with twine. We enjoyed seeing how they made the soap and purchased a few bars for ourselves and for gifts.
The soap being cut into individual bars by hand.
On our way back into the old town we stopped by a coffee shop for a short break and a pastry. After our short break we headed back into town, and it was empty as we had imagined it would be when we arrived. It turns out all three of the cruise ships were sailing about 4pm and everyone had gone back to their ships.
These guys certainly appreciated the crowds from the three ships more than we did.
Ton was very happy as she could move around taking photos and window shopping without fear of being trampled. We spent the next couple of hours just poking up and down streets and alleys looking at interesting shops and nice churches.
Corfu is known for its hand made leather sandals. This one was a good deal for €20 if it would fit your feet.
We have visited a lot of Catholic and Protestant Churches during our rounds in Europe, but this trip we have moved into lands belonging to the Orthodox church which we are not that familiar with. The difference in the style of the church, and the artwork is striking. The Orthodox churches seem to be smaller, and more austere than the western churches. I’m not completely sure about smaller because we have not visited a large city yet so the size may be a function of the size of the cities we have visited. The contrast is interesting between the western and eastern churches. The art work seems to be focused around images of saints in a fairly stylized manner.
Icons of various saints in the Cathedral in Corfu.
There are also painted metal icons which are often on display. I have noticed that in addition to lighting a candle in front of the icon people will actually kiss the image.
A metal icon in the Corfu Cathedral.
We ended our day by walking down to the edge of the water and having the local Corfu beer. Ton had a Red Ale and I had a Pilsner, they were both excellent. As we were sitting there the cruise liners all began to pass by on their way to their next destination.
Not a cruise liner, but the ferry we took from Igoumentsa yesterday on its way into port today.
When we arrived at the campground we had a message from Delta Airlines. Our flight home is a KLM flight from Athens to Amsterdam, and a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Portland. KLM has decided to rebook us on a flight from Athens to Amsterdam that leaves 30 hours after our flight from Amsterdam to Portland. We called Delta and the lady explained that KLM will probably fix it, but until 10 days before our departure Delta can’t do anything to rebook us. She said just to watch for updates and hopefully KLM will come up with a better alternative that does not involve time travel. If they haven’t before November 3 we can then give Delta a call and they will fix it. Ton and I laughed and decided to enjoy ourselves and see what happens.
The folks at KLM must have had one too many of these before deciding on our current travel itinerary.
Once again we are feeling like we are running out of time and having to pass on places that we want to visit. Corfu was one of the places in Greece that Ton really wanted to visit. When she lived in England a long time ago she remembered a TV show she really liked that was set in Corfu so here we are.
On the ferry to Corfu.
Getting here was a bit of an adventure. Corfu is an off shore island and requires a ferry to get here. We were looking at options for the ferry and the best place looked like Igoumenitsa in Greece. It was about 200 miles, but google had it at over 5 hours driving time for cars. Talking to Albanians they mentioned an alternative which was a ferry from Sarande in Albania to Corfu. Some on line research showed one ferry a day leaving at 4 pm but since there is a time zone change it would also arrive at 4pm. The problem the website was unclear about the price for François. It showed a price for campers (in Europe that usually means trailers) and passenger vans, but not motorhomes. Ton and I had a lot of discussion about what to do and finally we decided to head to the ferry terminal in Sarande.
We eventually survived and made it to a ferry.
The initial drive to Sarande was unexpectedly easy. The road had been recently upgraded, and we covered the first 150 km’s much faster than we anticipated. We were both congratulating ourselves on our good decision when Greta Garmin told us to exit our good road. First we saw a sign indicating Sarande, then right behind a sign with a big ! and 10% grade. I could see it switchbacking up the mountain in front of us and thought the last 35km’s were going to be a little more challenge.
Not what you want to see on your GPS when your driving a RV, even a small one like François. Notice the speed limit is listed as 70kph (about 45 mph), also notice I am going 22kph (about 15mph).
While the road was a little rough and very steep, we really had no big adventures in the hour it took us to cover the 35km’s. The real adventure began in Sarande. I had programmed the ferry terminal into Greta, but I told Ton to watch for signs for the ferry terminal as the roads into the ferry terminals are usually pretty wide to accommodate truck traffic. But as we got nearer and nearer to the terminal there were no signs for the ferry, just busier urban roads. Finally we got to a road marked one way, but also with a do not enter sign for trucks and busses. We are neither but my alarm bells were going off.
When we met this guy we were on a “wide” stretch of road.
The road itself was one lane wide and plenty wide enough for François if the good people of Sarande had any self discipline. The problem was that about every 50 yards would be some uncaring person double parked and reducing the lane to about 7.5 feet, we were just squeezing thru with inches to spare on both sides, between the trees and light poles on my side and the inconsiderate person on Tons side. I think it was the most stressful kilometer I have driven here. There are no pictures because we were both too busy trying to not scrape François.
When we finally reached the ferry company they told us we were too tall for their boat, they could have listed the height restriction on their website it would have saved us a lot of effort. So we were off to Igoumanista. After back tracking and squeezing down the same road again we were off to Greece, and the drive was easy. At the border we seemed to bother the Greek Immigration guy as he was engrossed in a Soccer game, so he stamped our passports and moved us on quite quickly.
A ferry, not ours.
We made it to Igouminista where we had our choice of ferries, and were loaded and underway 15 minutes after we arrived. We have settled into a big campground that is due to close at the end of the week for the winter, there is one other couple on site. Tomorrow we will be off to see Corfu.
We spent a great deal of yesterday tapping on Matt and Mugi’s knowledge of the area for ideas of places to go. One of the places they really recommended was a winery that allowed RV’s to stay on site. We love these agrotourism places and will often go out of our way to stay at them so we decided that we would stop here today.
Matt and Mugi our hosts at Scoturk Camping in Durres. We are going to run into them again in the future.
We said our goodbyes to Matt and Mugi as well as Ashley and Paul, and headed down the road to the winery. It was a short trip and we ended up pulling in to the winery well before noon. They were expecting us as Matt had called ahead. After we got settled in we headed up to the restaurant on site for a Sunday lunch. The food is mostly from the farm that the winery sits on or is locally sourced. We were guided thru our choices by a very knowledgeable and attentive waiter. The meal was excellent and the dishes seemed to be a good representation of local cuisine. After lunch we took a quick walk around the winery before settling in for a nap.
Albacina winery our destination for today, a great agrotourism site.
When we first sat down we were the only customer, but as the day went on the restaurant was very busy with Albanian families having Sunday lunch. We enjoyed watching the coming and going of what was often three generations of a family, and in one case four generations. We have seen these multi-generation meals on weekends throughout the mediterranean countries, it is something we really admire and hope we can emulate one day.
Turkeys and chickens inside the vineyards. We had a delicious plate of chicken legs for lunch, later Ton asked if our chicken had once been out in the vineyard, I only shrugged.
Lunch was so good, we decided to go back up to the restaurant in the evening to try a couple of new Albanian dishes that had seemed interesting at lunch. Once again we really enjoyed the dishes and the preparation. Up to today we had not had great luck with our food in Albania, but Albacina showed us what great food there is in this very interesting country. As we were sitting there the sun set below us to cap off a great relaxing day.
Sunset during our second meal at the winery.
The past couple of nights we have been sleeping in an urban environment with a busy nightlife. Tonight the only noise we heard when we went to sleep were the crickets chirping in the field.
Last night we decided to stay another day and relax with our new friends at the camp ground. We had made some loose plans to go to a restaurant recommended by Matt and Mugi. It turns out that Paul and Ashley had also decided to extend a day for the same reason. So at breakfast we decided we would head to lunch with them.
The view would have been great except for the haze.
To get there required a taxi so with the help of Matt and the coffee shop at the corner we located someone to take us there and back. When we arrived the views of the city were great though unfortunately it was a bit hazy. The restaurant turned out to be huge and doubled as a wedding venue and horse arena. There was a lot going on.
One of the brides and her bridesmaids.
Unfortunately the food was a little underwhelming, and for the first time since we arrived in the Balkans the portions were quite small. We enjoyed talking to Paul and Ashley about their experiences touring in their van. We had been following pretty parallel tracks thru the Balkans and it turns out we had stayed at several of the same sites. They are hikers so they spent more time on trails and national parks than we did, but otherwise we had very similar interests.
A street scene from Durres.
After we returned from our disappointing lunch Ashley announced she was still hungry so we sat down at the coffee shop next to the campground and split a couple of pieces of cheesecake and a pizza. They are headed home on Tuesday from Tirana and have arranged to park in a campground near there. It was interesting to compare their experience in shipping an American registered RV to Europe and touring vs ours of purchasing a European one and using that. There are plusses and minuses to both, but after talking to them we are satisfied with our decision to purchase here.
The night before we had gotten a thorough briefing on the town from Matt and Mugi the owners of the camp site on how to use the transit system and what to see in Durres. Scott and Ashley from Massachusetts volunteered a good restaurant for lunch. This place has a nice feel as all of the campers have abandoned their RV’s and instead cluster around a group of tables under an awning with Matt and Mugi presiding over the place and Mugi feeding everyone tea and snacks. Because of that everyone chats and has fun together, and we have had more interaction with our fellow campers here than at any other place we have stayed in Europe.
Sunset from our campsite Scoturk Camping.
Durres has been a port city since before the Greeks so it has a long history. At various times it has been Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Venetian. The ride to town was easy, when we tried to hand the driver our 80 Leak he just waved us on the bus. It turns out Albanian busses still have conductors who manually collect the fares, something we have not seen anywhere else in over 20 years.
There were a group of mostly older gentlemen holding an impromptu chess tournament in one of the parks downtown.
The downtown was bustling with people. The shops were mostly local businesses. There is very little left of the older buildings as they were mostly torn down during the communist era. There are a couple of Roman era ruins in the town. The biggest one is a 2nd century amphitheater that was uncovered in the last 60 years. It includes a church that was added when the city was converted to Christianity. There were some interesting mosaics in the church.
Byzantine era mosaics in the church at the amphitheater in Durres.
The main mosques in town are also new as the older Ottoman era mosques were torn down under the communists. While a few of the women wore head coverings the majority of the women were stylishly dressed in copies of the latest Italian fashions. The town had a very secular feel to it.
This building and pier were left over communist era buildings probably built as tourist attractions then, and definitely tourist attractions now. They bore a close resemblance to the buildings we saw in Bari.
The waterfront promenade was very nice but quiet in the shoulder season. We had lunch in an upscale restaurant where we were the only customers and after a little more walking headed back to the campground. When we arrived at the campground Matt, Mugi, Paul and Ashley were sitting around so everyone brought interesting alcohol we had all gathered on our travels and we all sat and talked until after sunset. It was a great end to a good day.
We had a sleep in for the morning, and after a nice breakfast headed into Bar. Bar is interesting as the old town is far inland and the town is now centered on the port and waterfront. Unlike other towns Bar is not on the tourist map, and does not have much of an old town to attract people. The harbor is primarily focused on commercial shipping and while it is well protected it is not scenic. In a coastline of beautiful scenic cities, Bar is definitely blue collar.
We had a good time today watching the workers in the Marina hoisting boats in out of the water.
A lot of the town infrastructure seems to still be from development during the communist era. There are a lot of concrete block apartments, and a couple of communist brutalist buildings that were probably built as attractions, but now seem ungainly and strange. It would be interesting to look back on the opening to see what the intent of these buildings were.
This building has a prominent position in the city. It is concrete block circular building resembling a sombrero. We couldn’t figure what it was built to be originally. Now it has a grocery store and some nondescript shops on the lower floors. The upper floors appear to be empty.
In the afternoon Tito picked us up and took us about 30km down the coast to Ulcinj which is an old fortress built on top of another spectacular harbor. We enjoyed the walk around town and the fort but Tito was disappointed when the museum of the fort was closed because he wanted to walk us thru it.
Looking down the coast from the walls in Ulcinj.
Our next planned stop was a seafood restaurant recommended by our friends Cory and Ovi in Ulcinj, but it was also closed. Tito than said he knew a great restaurant on top of a mountain overlooking Bar, that had both good food and a spectacular view of Bar and the coat line. The drive up was an adventure as most of the time the road was a single track with either walls or a steep drop off on one side. Every time we met another vehicle someone had to give way or back up. I enjoyed the ride mostly because it wasn’t me dealing with the problems. Unfortunately when we arrived at the restaurant it was also closed. In the end we returned to the same restaurant as last night to enjoy another excellent and low cost meal.
Tito and I enjoying our meal and a couple of beers.
Today was about taking care of two bits of business, we needed to see if we could get our Carte Grise from France, and find a place to look at François’ headlights. Tito had arranged to pick us up at 3pm to take us around town so I had the morning to get things figured out.
At first it was a frustrating start as we were having a hard time with the internet which made it tough to call France. We eventually worked the internet out and after a couple of emails and phone calls we learned that our Carte Grise was still being processed but they could provide us with an official document telling the border guards that it was not our fault we had a copy but the French Governments. It seemed just weird and French enough to be true so we are going to proceed with our two new documents.
I also spent the morning trying to figure out what was going on with François’ headlights. I could not get them to work and most of the evidence pointed to a bad switch which would require a part. More research showed that the only Fiat dealer in Montenegro was in Podgorica which is about 80 kilometers from here. There was one mechanics shop in Bar that specialized in Italian Cars and had good reviews so our plan was to take it by tomorrow.
When Tito came at 3 I told him about our plan for the lights and he recommended we go by now to make sure he could take us tomorrow. He also said he could explain the problem to them in Serbo-Croat in case they did not speak English. When we arrived weirdly the guy did not speak either Serbo-Croat or English, but only Italian. This did not phase Tito who seamlessly switched to Italian and explained the problem. After some tinkering around it turns out that somehow both low beam light bulbs had burned out simultaneously, so the fix was easy.
What had started as a potentially frustrating and hectic day turned out to be relatively easy. The day ended with Tito taking us to a very good and inexpensive restaurant where we all enjoyed a good meal with some excellent local wine.
We added our 6th country of the trip today. We are now parked in the marina in Bar Montenegro with a nice view of most of the Montenegrin Navy (4 ships). Our second border crossing was not as uneventful as the first, but it is our fault.
We are supposed to be traveling with a document for François called a Carte Grise. Our original Carte Grise went missing during Covid and the location we use for storing François changed so we needed to modify our Societe Civile and after that was complete change the address on the Carte Grise to reflect the new address. For a lot of reasons the documents were not ready when we arrived. We discussed our options with Eurocampingcar and decided to go with copies, it was not ideal but we thought with explanation the copies would work.
Our first stop in Montenegro was Kotor.
The first border crossing in Croatia was a non-event as they did not even look at our passports or vehicle documents. Today in Montenegro we pulled up to a very quiet border crossing and handed the guard our passports, and he asked for the vehicle documents. He typed our passport information in, and then looked at the documents and said: “Montenegro requires original documents”. There was a pause while he looked at me, then he stamped our passports and handed back our documents and our copies and repeated “Montenegro requires original documents.”; but pointed into Montenegro. I asked may we enter, and he replied “Have a good day.” So we are in Montenegro trying to track down our original documents from Eurocampingcar, before we go to Albania.
The border crossing was slightly tense but it was worth it to be rewarded with views like this.
The other issue from yesterday was every time we entered a tunnel Ton would tell me to turn on the headlights as it was very dark, and every time I would look at the dash and the little headlights on icon was shining brightly. When we arrived in Bar for the night we moved into our spot after dark and Ton was right the headlights are not on despite the nicely lit icons, the running lights work, the high beams work, but the low beams don’t. So we will be spending some time trying to iron that out.
We enjoyed today, because tomorrow is going to be a work day and not one for visiting.
In between the drama we visited Kotor. Kotor is on an incredible body of water that looks a lot like a Fjord, but is technically not a Fjord but a flooded river valley. Still it is beautiful and Ton enjoyed the views while I was busy driving a very twisty, but wide road. As we pulled into Kotor it looked very interesting but we knew it was going to be crowded because there was a giant cruise ship looming over the town.
Up close these things are immense. We guessed that this would hold around 4000 people.
Kotor had the most impressive ruins of an immense wall and fort running up a nearly vertical mountainside. It was quite a feat of engineering when they built it. The town walls connect to the mountainside walls. We walked the town walls, and while it is possible to climb to the top, we passed on the opportunity.
Part of the city walls going up to the mountain above the city.
Kotor has a thriving cat population and has latched onto that as a tourist trade opportunity. The cats are cute and act like it is their town and we are lucky we let them use it. Everywhere we have visited in the Balkans the town and campground cats have been well treated. Since we are now cat people thanks to our sons cat Dottie we have enjoyed watching them play and beg for food with a dignity that only a cat can muster, while they are asking for food they make it clear that it is our privilege to feed them.
The town has embraced their cat population as a way to sell merchandise.
Kotor was the first city we have visited in Europe that is primarily Orthodox Christian. We took a look inside to get an impression of the difference in the art and layout of the churches. Our initial impression is that the art work is a little more austere and stylized than in Catholic and Protestant churches.
The altar of the Orthodox church in Kotor, most of the art is from the 1990’s after the fall of the communist government.
We enjoyed Kotor it is less developed as a tourist destination and feels more “authentic”. But it has recently hit a lot of lists as the new hot destination in the Adriatic, so already most of the storefronts are now set up to meet the needs of tourists and not the locals. It feels like a mini-Dubrovnik which is not all bad.
The main square in Kotor.
We are now parked in the Marina in Bar, Montenegro. Our friends Cory and Ovi kept their boat here during Covid and recommended that we stay here, they even introduced us to a friend of theirs who set us up with our own space with electricity. After we arrived Tito met us at the marina and directed us to our spot. As he was on duty for the night we got to spend a couple of hours talking to him.
The weather channel got it right. After one more absolute downpour last night from about 9pm to midnight, the storm we have been in for the last 8 days broke and today while it was not bright and sunny was dry.
After two days of being cooped up in François we were ready to get out. The bus ride into town was simple and cheap, and the instructions on how to get off from the campground were easy to follow. Ride the bus until there are no more cars on the road and get off. The old town in Ljubljana is pedestrian only.
We think it was a political rally as there were speakers and a little bit of light chanting. But it seemed pretty good spirited.
We arrived to find a pretty sizable political rally going on in the main square of the town. There were 30 or so Slovene cops standing around watching and looking a bit bored. We decided to check out another part of town and come back to the square when the rally broke up.
The Ljubljanica River near the center of the city. It is a great place for an afternoon stroll.
We strolled down the Ljubljanica River for about half a mile on both sides. It is lined with cafes and nice buildings that were part of a riverfront renovation in the 1800’s. The work was done mostly by one guy and he did a great job. There are frequent bridges to cross back and forth from one bank to the other. So if you see something interesting on the other side you never have to go more than a couple of hundred yards to find a bridge to cross over. In a continent of great cafe scenes, Ljubjana more than holds its own.
One of the many bridges across the river. You can see that all of the rain over the last week has the river running fast and turbulent.
After our initial stroll we decided it was time to try a coffee in one of the cafes. Ton had picked out a small cafe called Čokl. We found it next to the funicular up to the castle. We each asked for an Americano and received a thick aromatic espresso with a tiny thimble of hot water that we could add ourselves. It was delicious. As we were leaving there was a Slovenian couple waiting to grab our table and they confirmed that this was the best coffee in town and a real bargain at €1.60.
The funicular up to the castle. Our coffee shop was on the street to the funicular. We really recommend it.
Across the street from the coffee shop was the Saturday Market. We enjoyed poking around in the different sections of the market for awhile, though in the end we did not buy anything.
European open air markets are always a treat. This was a large one.
By now the political rally had broken up so we headed back to the main square via the Dragon Bridge which was completed in 1901 despite there being a prominent engraving on the bridge saying 1888. I overheard a guide saying it was the first steel reinforced concrete bridge in the old Austro-Hungarian empire and was built here as an experiment as no one would care if it collapsed in Ljublajana, but it would be a scandal if it collapsed in Vienna.
One of the dragons on the Dragons bridge.
When we returned to the main square the rally had indeed broken up and the police and crowd had moved on. But we decided the square was kind of a bore without the rally so we moved on also.
We found this street containing the old synagogue for the town. It was one of Tons favorite photos for the day.
By now we had been up and down the river a couple of times so we headed to the restaurant Ton had picked out last night. It is called Druga Violina which translates to Second Violin. They had a simple set price menu where you picked from one of three very reasonably priced multi-course meals. When you sit down there is a sign on your table telling you to please be patient as they employ developmentally disabled people as servers. We really enjoyed our meal and decided it may have been the best value meal we have had in Europe.
Everything you see on the table plus a desert cost less than €20.
After lunch we walked down the main shopping street and out to a park. By then we had a few miles under our belt so we headed back to the campground for the night.
A local brewery chasing the non-Slovenian beer crowd finally helped us to crack the pronunciation of Ljubljana.
We really enjoyed our day here and I think Ljubljana would be a good place to relax and take a break for a few days as it is easy to get around and has a nice laid back vibe that we both enjoyed.
One of Ton’s favorite photos of the day. Ljubljana has a nice laid back vibe that we really enjoyed.We’re not sure where this tradition started but we now see these locks on a bridge in every city we visit in Europe.
As you can see from the photo at the top of post there has been a lot rain in the last few days. Last night we were talking about what to do today as the forecast called for more rain, particularly in the afternoon. Ton pointed out that we were here for 60 days so we did not need to go out and get soaked. So this morning we slept in. We will head into Ljubljana proper tomorrow.
Another view of the Sava River near our campground. It is high and running really fast.
We finally got up and moving about around 11am, and of course the sun was out, and it hadn’t rained in a few hours. We decided to head over to the nearest grocery so we could see what Slovenia had to offer for food. We were walking down a busy suburban street when Ton saw a couple of apple trees below us on a steep hill. We were talking about them when we heard a voice talking to us in Slovenian from the middle of the tree. It turned out to be an old gentleman who had climbed up the hill and was gathering some apples. He spoke to us in Slovenian, and Ton spoke to him in English, finally sign language prevailed and she got him to pose for a nice picture.
This old gentleman was a good sport and posed for Ton as he was picking apples. The bank the trees are on is quite steep.
While we shopping in the grocery store Ton asked if they had any lactose free milk. Of course I have no idea what Lactose or free is in Slovenian, but one of the grocery store workers heard the question and volunteered that they did and took us to the milk where she explained all of the different options. We ended up buying a couple of liters. She then said if we had any more questions please come find her.
We have a challenge we have done since we arrived on our first trip to Europe. When shopping for wine in grocery stores we have a €2.99 limit on what we buy. Most of the time we get a very serviceable local wine, and occasionally a really good wine. Today we found a very nice Slovenian wine for €2.20 with the bonus that it was 1 liter instead of the normal .75 liters. It went really well with our French sausages from Costco and our Tabouleh from Auchan in France.
Our €2.20 liter of Slovenian wine. We bought it because we liked the label. It is delicious.
Actually the rain did not kick in in earnest until about 4 o’clock, so I felt bad. But once it did it really rained so I felt a little better.
The rainy weather continues to be an issue. Most of our trips during shoulder season we have pretty good weather, but alas not on this trip. Last night we were trying to make plans. We thought about spending a few days in Slovenia, but from what we read, outside of Ljubljana, most of the best activity is nature oriented. Unfortunately it is supposed to carry on raining for another four or five days, so hiking in parks and along beautiful lakes did not have much appeal. So Slovenia is going to have to wait for a future trip to get more of our attention.
We decided to continue heading south with a planned two day stop in Ljubljana as it is supposed to be a pretty city. As we were packing up in Salzburg the sun came out, and for the first half of our trip down the Austrian Autobahn we had good weather and spectacular views. A little bit of optimism about the weather crept into our discussion, until about an hour before crossing into Slovenia the skies opened up again.
The neighbors moved to another site when they returned from town due to the standing water on their spot.
By the time we pulled into the campground for the day, it was pouring heavily with occasional claps of thunder. The heaviest rain we have seen during this week of rain. Any thoughts of getting out and exploring today were dashed. Instead we hunkered down and did some planning for Croatia, and trying to figure out how to pronounce Ljubljana. As we were chatting we realized that Slovenia is our 4th country in 5 days.
We had decided we were going into Salzburg today no matter the weather. The weather was bad as it rained nearly all day and it was pretty cool. Looking on the good side it never rained hard, just kind of drizzled all day.
It was so cool and wet that even the horses had their Gore-tex on!
Salzburg besides being a pretty city is known for two things, Mozart and the “Sound of Music.” Everywhere you go as a tourist you are offered opportunities to experience both of them. We of course joined in, focusing mostly on Mozart.
The statue of Mozart in Mozart square, though we did learn it was not very historically accurate as he was actually left handed and quite short.Mozart’s birth home. It is now a museum dedicated to him.
During the peak of Salzburg’s wealth from the salt mines that gave its name it belonged to the Vatican as an independent city. As a result it has a great many churches for a city of its size. We walked around and took in the exterior of most of them, but didn’t bother to go inside any of them. We often debate paying the admission fees when they are in place for the churches. It is obvious that the maintenance costs for these great buildings must be extraordinary, but we have been in so many now that we usually don’t bother going in when it costs money.
The cathedral in Salzburg reflecting the Italian influence of the Vatican which controlled the city for much of its history. Another of the churches at the end of the very posh shopping street that goes thru town.
The highlight of the day was lunch. Ton had told me that she missed German dumplings so I had picked out a restaurant that was famous (on Trip Advisor!) for its huge bread dumplings. When we arrived they seated us at a table for 8 and said they would be seating another group with us. Luckily for us they were two lovely couples, and a very well behaved dog. I was confused at first because some of their conversation was in German, and then they would switch to proper British accented English. It turns out the older of the two couples were an English-Austrian couple, and the other couple was their daughter who had grown up in England but married a German and lived in Munich. So we had the best of all worlds as they could coach us thru the food and the beer. We had a great time talking to them and helping celebrate the fathers birthday. The food was good, the beer was good, and the company was great. The perfect formula for a memorable meal.
The interior of the restaurant we had our lunch in.
During the conversation they learned Ton was from Thailand, and they laughed and said their dog was originally from Thailand. They had gone on vacation there and the dog was a street dog that hung around the apartment they were using as their base. Over the couple of weeks they were visiting they fell in love with the dog and figured out how to bring her home with them. Her name is now Lucky (actually the German equivalent of lucky that I’ve already forgot.) Ton was tickled to meet another Thai at our lunch, even if she couldn’t talk.
Ton was really taken with this sculpture on the outside of the Cathedral. It was entitled the Cloak of Conscience.
As we were walking around we saw several works of art that we really enjoyed. They varied from the very serious and moving to whimsical and cute.
These two sculptures were part of a series. They were entitled the Man on a Ball, and the Women in a Wall.
We had spent our entire day on the rich side of the river so after lunch we crossed over to the working class side of the river. Historically the ruling class lived on one side of the river, and the workers lived on the other side of the Salzach River. So the side with all of the monuments feels quiet and touristy, and the working class side now feels modern and bustling.
The river today divides the historical preserved side of the city from the modern commercial side.
Our last stop was the gardens that surround the town hall. It was a little late in the year, but there were still some flowers looking a little worst for wear.
Part of the Mirabell Gardens.
Our last stop was the Gnome Gardens. Their were originally 21 Gnomes carved out of stone and placed in the gardens in the 1600’s. In the early 1800’s they were sold off to individuals. The city has been trying to reacquire them and at this point has managed to regain 18.
