During the night there was very heavy rain and we experienced an impressive thunderstorm with cacophonous bangs sufficient to rattle our hotel building. At breakfast we discussed sightseeing plans in light of the possibility of further rain.
It was decided to do a stroll around the high city wall starting at the Kampana Tower and Citadel. On reaching the wall top we were amazed to see a massive cruise ship docked just across the road. The vessel had a hundred cabins along the port side at each of seven levels. One assumes that there was the same on the starboard side plus many more within the middle.
Archway, Kotor, Montenegro
Altar inside church, Kotor, Montenegro
Our walk terminated at the Bembo Bastian close to the point where we had our evening meal two night’s ago.
As the rain started we headed for the maritime museum and spent the next hour exploring the three floors of exhibits. The museum had a diverse collection of displays with the more interesting ones being the models of ships, the collection of navigation equipment, marine artillery and many large oil paintings depicting famous naval battles and their commanders.
Maritime Museum, Kotor, Montenegro
Artefacts, Maritime Museum, Kotor, Montenegro
At 11:00 in partial sunshine we checked out of our hotel and boarded our bus for the four-hour trip to Dubrovnik in Croatia.
Our driver Petja had heard from his colleagues that there was around about a two hour delay at the Montenegro/Croatia border at the main highway border crossing so he cunningly took a minor road where there was no delay at all. This minor border control point is not supposed to have access for buses but Petja gave the customs people some bottles of fruit juice and they let us through without question.
As we approached Dubrovnik we stopped at a lookout point over-looking the famous city below. The sight was very impressive with the busy harbour, the nearby islands and the ancient part of the city surrounded by its high wall.
View of Dubrovnik old town, Croatia
After checking into out hotel, which was three kilometres from the old city, we boarded a bus and headed into central Dubrovnik.
The scene in the centre was chaotic with thousands of tourists all milling around, some with umbrellas still up although it wasn’t raining and others pushing and shoving in a desire to get to their tourist destination.
Orlando's Column, Dubrovnik old town, Croatia
Tower, Dubrovnik old town, Croatia
Rector's Palace, Dubrovnik old town, Croatia
City Wall, Dubrovnik old town, Croatia
We eventually reached a less crowded area inside the city wall and visited an ATM and then purchased a ‘Dubrovnik Day Pass’ which we’ll use tomorrow. After an orientation walk within the city wall for an hour we adjourned for some (quite expensive) beers and observed the crowd which was still at very high density levels as the cruise ships don’t normally depart until around 18:00.
We then had a pleasant evening meal before returning to our hotel to plan for tomorrow’s early visit in order to avoid the huge crowds!