A while back, Micah and I started working on a master plan to get both of our parents together on the same trip. Amazingly, it actually happened! We were all a little nervous because going on vacation together, especially for 2 weeks, can end people's friendships. But I must say, we all got along great and everything went very smoothly. I must also add, that traveling with 2 sets of grandparents and only 1 grand baby made life very easy on me and Micah! Thanks for all the help Grandparents!
We started our trip in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Nana and Papa (Gilbert's) were supposed to meet us in Frankfurt and fly to Croatia from there on the same flight as us. However, once we arrived in Frankfurt I turned on my phone to a message from Papa saying that their flight was canceled and delayed 24 hours!! So sadly, they ended up missing the entire day in Dubrovnik. We did our best to save something for their arrival on the following evening.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful old city surrounded by castle walls and on the coast. We all loved Dubrovnik and most of us felt it was our favorite city (we really didn't visit very many cities). It was a very lively city with lots of tourists and locals roaming the streets. We were there in the "shoulder" season and I can only imagine how crowded it would be in the peak season. The base of the old town is flat and easy to walk around but if you wanted to venture out much there were tons of stairs to tackle along the way. This occasionally made having a kid and a stroller not so fun!
Our first morning in Dubrovnik without my parents, we took a gondola up to Fort Lovrijenac over-looking the city. The fort itself wasn't much to look at or explore but the views were excellent! It's sad to think that this beautiful city was completely war torn and destroyed in 1991. But they have rebuilt and it was difficult to see any remains of the war.
When we finished taking in the views, we did a little walking tour of the town and just relaxed and took in the sights. We were patiently waiting for my parents to arrive so that we could walk the castle walls around the town. At last my parents arrived and we rushed them through the town to drop off their luggage and ran straight for the walls so that we could finish before they closed. We were so happy to finally have my parents with us! The wall walk is about 2 km with lots of steps but beautiful views all the way around. Micah of course had the task of carrying Jacob in the backpack carrier. I was tired from the walk without having to carry Jacob!
The following morning we picked up our rental car and headed off on a day trip to Montenegro. Montenegro is a tiny little country of about 670,000 residents. It is about 30 minutes south of Dubrovnik making it an easy days drive. Due to some delays in our trip, we made it into Montenegro a little later than I had planned. But because of that we were passing by a recommended restaurant at the right time for lunch. This restaurant was way off the beaten path and would never have been found if I didn't have a book that told us where to go but it ended up being up most of our favorite lunch. Our main destination in Montenegro was the town of Kotor but we made many stops along the way for some beautiful scenery.
Before arriving in Kotor, we stopped at another little town called Perast. Since it was Sunday and the off season, basically everything was closed. But we still stopped, read a little about the town, and took some pictures.
The Old Town of Kotor was beautiful. We entered the city through the old city gate which used to keep visitors out of the city. We seemed to arrive around the time that most of the cruise ship passengers were headed out which gave us a nice relaxing time in the town. We visited the Cathedral of St. Tryphon, St. Luke's Square, St. Nicholas' Church, and did some shopping. Kotor also has city walls that can be walked but it was only recommend if you were in "great shape". We enjoyed our time exploring this ancient town.
After exploring Kotor we decided to drive up into the mountains for a white knuckle drive (I think my knuckles were white, not Micah's) and a spectacular view.
Once when finished our mountain drive we headed back to Dubrovnik for the evening. This was our last evening in Dubrovnik. The next morning we were on our way to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. This city was in a major war in 1991-1995 with the city split between the Christians and the Muslims. Lets be honest, Bosnia isn't high on anyones list as a travel destination but it was an easy day trip from Croatia and allowed us to see another country and get a new perspective. The main drag of the city was extremely picturesque and beautiful. But don't let that fool you. Not even a block or two away were abandoned buildings, buildings with bullet holes everywhere, and buildings that had definitely taken direct hits from bombings.
From now on, I'll stick to the touristy stuff about Mostar. Upon arrival, we quickly checked into our beautiful historic hotel.
Then we started our city walk tour of mosques, churches, the old souq road, and the Stari Most (Old Bridge). The Old Bridge goes over the Neretva River which separates the two sides of the town. During the war the bridge was destroyed so technically it is the new old bridge. I think we all enjoyed the scenery and shopping of the main parts of the town and learning a little more about the history of Bosnia. However, we were all satisfied to really only spend one day in Mostar.
The next day we loaded up and headed out of Bosnia back to Croatia to continue our Croatian adventures.
