There are many places in Montenegro and in the region of Montenegro that can be explored by car. For example, a vacation on the coast of Montenegro can be wonderfully enriched by taking a day trip by car to Croatian Dubrovnik to explore the old city and swim in the Croatian Adriatic Sea - which we did over the weekend as part of an excursion program for our sister who came to visit us.
From Budva and Rafailovici, the distance to Dubrovnik is about 90 km - not a distance at all by Russian standards 🙂 You need to drive along the E65 highway - it is the main Adriatic route. You will have to go around the entire Bay of Kotor - you can’t go wrong here - from the side of Budva and Kotor there is one road along the coast. As you pass Herceg Novi, you will soon see the Debeli Breg sign - this is the border point of Montenegro with Croatia. In the summer, Russians do not need a visa to Croatia, so enter the border control without fear. If you are in a rented car, check with the company that issued you the car for the conditions for traveling abroad - customs will look at the documents for the car. After Montenegrin control, Croatian will follow, everything is about the same, and welcome to Croatia!
Having entered the territory of Croatia, we really enjoyed the trip for several minutes, until ... the road deteriorated terribly - more precisely, it turned into gravel, covered with rock, sometimes small, and sometimes very large - this joy lasted about 5 kilometers! We were driving at a speed of 20 km/h. It was Sunday in the yard, and the working equipment was idle - it seems that the Croats care little about the condition of their roads. However, on the way, we were amused by an oncoming rally in retro cars - poor Italians and French - we were afraid that their cars would simply fall apart!
Finally the sea appeared 🙂 The road improved. Beautiful 🙂 There are islands in the sea, the weather is excellent. The signs made it easy to find out where to go to get to Dubrovnik. We drove into Dubrovnik, followed the signs of Public Parking to a covered underground parking. Please note that in Croatia the currency is NOT the euro, but the kuna, the exchange rate is approximately 7.4 kuna per euro. We stood and thought, how much is it - 15 kn / hour ...? The parking attendant popularly explained to us that for 6 hours of parking we would be charged about 12 euros - this is the cost of a good dinner in Montenegro! Cheaper parking for only 10 kunas (=1.5 euros) on the roadside, while the machines for paying for parking are quite chaotic - you still need to find such a machine. We spat and drove to the underground parking ...
Our gaze opened the old city, passing a decent number of steps, we went down to the gate. Right at the gate there is paid parking for 30 kunas per hour (= 4.5 euros)! My heart immediately felt somehow warmer, even if we are not in the most expensive parking lot 🙂
No sooner had we entered the gate than boys and girls attacked us with offers of kayak tours, car rentals, excursions and other tourist services. Feels like the Russian south. The people are just dark - and this is in early June, when all guidebooks recommend coming for a relaxing holiday! The waiters stand and importunately invite all passers-by with the words “good restaurant, good food”. One thing must be said, everyone speaks more or less good English, in this Dubrovnik is significantly different from Montenegro. The old town of Dubrovnik, of course, is beautiful, it feels like it is 3 times larger than, for example, Budva or Kotor. It has a wide street where two cars could easily pass, but cars are, of course, prohibited from entering. There are cathedrals, palazzos and churches in the Italian Baroque style, definitely worth a look. True, the pleasure of the walk was greatly poisoned by the crowds of people. In the Old Town of Dubrovnik, in principle, euros are also accepted, but I believe that they will round up. Having exchanged euros for kunas at the exchange office in the Old Town, we left in search of peace and in the hope of managing our kunas most economically 🙂 In the Old Town, the smallest souvenirs cost from 4 (!) Euros, climbing the fortress wall 10 euros (!), entrances to any museums and places of interest, from 5 euros. Free, perhaps, you can get only in the cathedrals. We found a restaurant not far from the old city, where we decided to have a meal and finally go to the toilet 🙂 When asked “where is your toilet”, they heard the peremptory “you must pay” - I hear this for the first time in Europe, I just can’t imagine that they could say this in Montenegro . When the bartender found out that we wanted to eat, he noticeably softened and pointed to the toilet. As a result, the quality of food did not at all correspond to the prices in this establishment: ice cream 30 kunas (4.5 euros), coffee (I have not tried worse) 20 kunas, a glass of bottled juice 25 kunas (4 euros), lunch consisted of a packaged soup and a second (potato fries and chicken fillet) 65 kunas (=8 euros), beer 35 kunas (=5 euros).
While we were in Dubrovnik, there was a strong impression that the city was not worth its prices and that everyone was just trying to rob poor tourists who had been saving up for a vacation for a year. Where has it been seen - to climb the fortress wall, which is nothing special - 10 euros!!! (and we were indignant that the wall in Kotor was paid, 3 euros 🙂) In Montenegro, beer in the most luxurious restaurant costs 2.5 euros, and the service in Montenegro is much better for this money. Perhaps there is a service in Dubrovnik, but you will have to pay 3-4 times more for it than in neighboring Montenegro.
Tired of the heat and people, we decided to return to the car for swimsuits. At that moment, we decided to re-park anyway and save a few kunas for a normal meal 🙂 After driving a couple of kilometers towards the exit from the city, we found a road that no one needed without signs about paid parking, on a mountain - as it turned out, over St. Jacob's beach. After wandering, we found a descent - and finally, as the British say, they completely “enjoyed themselves”, drinking Croatian Ožujsko pivo in bottles of 0.33 for 20 kunas (2.5 euros), swimming in the warm sea and lying on the beach.
Forgive me for such a long history - there were so many impressions! I believe that in Dubrovnik you can have a more pleasant time, but during our first visit we did not really succeed. In a cafe on the beach, the waiter confirmed that Dubrovnik is overpriced, in other cities in Croatia it should be better. Will have to check 🙂
Perhaps next time we will be able to explore Croatia more thoroughly and visit the famous Plitvice lakeslocated in the interior of the country.
