Author: Nicole (Page 13 of 44)

We discovered Siesta, a local bar in Tivat run by father Ano and son Karlo. They have great burgers and we always like finding a local place to hang during the season. They have darts, so all the cruisers come on Monday afternoons.

I had wondered why we couldn’t order food after 6 pm, and learned that Ano (the chef) left every day at that time to get to Palmon Bay, a resort on the other side of the bay, where he plays piano. After talking further, he invited us to come along one night.

What an unexpected treat! During winter, he’s set up in the lounge just outside the restaurant. We were the first ones to sit, but soon the lounge was completely full as people came out of the restaurant and stopped for a final drink before heading back to their rooms. Ano played everything from Autumn Leaves (a personal favorite), to Herbie Hancock, to Billy Joel, and everything in between. His voice is just as good as his playing. We can’t wait to come back next spring or summer with the boat, when he’ll be playing on the rooftop terrace each night!

Merelle sent a note: She & Gary were going to drive to Dubrovnik to pick up a new head sail and would we like to come along? We had plenty of boat chores to do before leaving for the season, but after a quick check of the calendar (yay, we had been out of the Schengen zone for 90 days), but of course we were going!

The drive from Tivat isn’t bad, a little over two hours along meandering roads. The forecast of pouring rain turned out to be light showers that let up when we arrived. We had a great time meeting John and May, who run a yacht consulting business in Croatia (and who had found the sail). Really looking forward to next year when they come to the marina to give a presentation about tips and tricks for cruising in Croatia). Gary and Merelle had the jib loaded into the car trunk, and off we went.

Despite the chilly weather, we were thrilled to be in Dubrovnik post high season when all the crowds were gone. The old town is massive, far bigger than Kotor and Budva, and we only had a taste of it.

Several films have been shot here including several iconic scenes of the series Game Of Thrones. Being as popular as it was, there were lots of Game of Thrones merchandise shops here . More importantly there was a really good ice cream shop and I could indulge in a scoop of pistachio bliss. We can’t wait to come back and explore more next year.

This part of the eastern Mediterranean is slowly becoming famous for their wines. Fellow cruiser George had mentioned a winery up in the hills behind Herceg Novi, but we never got around to exploring it when we were anchored there. I happened to google it and was able to make a reservation for the next day, as the weather looked fabulous and we had a car at our disposal.

The winery was founded by locals who lived abroad in London and developed a taste for old world wines. They came home, bought the land, and planted old world grapes, just enough to provide wine for friends and family. The land was particularly well suited – on the side of a hill with plenty of sun (records in the local museum showed that vineyards had existed there since the 1300’s).

It was a success and Savina wines were born. The wines did so well that they were able to open as a commercial winery, though they have kept production small and export nothing further than Dubrovnik in neighboring Croatia. Several years ago the local monastery allowed them to plant more vines, and now the monastery has wine to consume and sell. (Interesting fact: Because the monastery is Orthodox, the labels for the wines sold there are custom printed in the Cyrillic alphabet).

Trip isn’t normally a fan of white wines, but the Chardonnay (French, lightly oaked, no butter) was delightful. Our absolute favorite, though, was their Cabernet Sauvignon, and at $20 a bottle we can splurge every once in a while.

Jenny and AJ, other cruisers in the marina who we recently met, happened to pass by and joined us for the tasting. We tortured the winery’s cat by playing with him and petting him, but denying him a taste of our charcuterie board.

After basking in the sun with a spectacular view of the bay, good wine and good company, it was time to head back. To save an hours drive along the water, for 4€ we boarded a car ferry that took us across in less than 5 minutes!

The bay here is most famously known for Tivat (home of the fabulous Porto Montenegro) and Kotor (with its fortress walls and stone-lined old town). We rented a car to get out and see a little bit more of the bay and we were not disappointed.

Perast was one of our main goals. Though the town is located right on the bay, there’s nowhere close to anchor and it’s a bit of a walk from Risan, so we never explored it when we were sailing up here. It was a long drive as there’s only one road around the bay and speed is limited to 50 kph max. However, I was remembering how to drive stick shift after 8 years and the local drivers are a bit unpredictable, so I was happy to take it slow.

For a town that can be walked through in under an hour, it packs a punch with history. Settled in Neolithic times and formally founded by the Illyrians, it came into its own courtesy of protection from and free trade with Venice in the 18th century. The fortress walls that had been constructed in the 1300s were now joined by twenty baroque palaces and seventeen churches (a few of each remain, the palaces now high end resorts or restaurants).

There are three statues of famous locals in the town center. One of them was Trip’s namesake, it turns out he was a famous local painter. Trip was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t one of the other statues, that of Marko Martinovic, an extraordinary local ship’s captain.

Volatile is the word that comes to mind as how best to describe the weather here in Autumn. Our first month here was almost non-stop, sun-filled days (an unusual experience that all of the eastern Med was experiencing). Now, the more typical turbulent fall weather has arrived and I am so glad to be tightly tied down in our berth. Winds of up to 48 knots have blown through along with torrential bouts of rain. Lightning strikes light up the entire bay. Weather comes from multiple directions during the day so you have to be prepared. But in between the storms we have the most magical skies at dusk…..

We are not going to suffer for want of fresh fruits and veggies this winter season. I took fellow cruiser Kristy to one of the local Tivat produce markets. It’s in a dank and dark underground basement-like area, which doesn’t look nice but it means that vendors & customers can come regardless of weather conditions. They set up their goods every day except Saturday. I’ve been going to the same woman who kindly always tucks a couple of extra apples in my bag after I pay. Shopping on a daily basis isn’t a chore when these are the conditions.

We didn’t have the chance to explore the coast of Montenegro as we had to come straight into the bay of Tivat to clear-in a month ago, so we decided to hop a bus one day and head over (it would have taken a day to get there by boat, but only an hour by bus).

Budva, at 2,500 years old, is one of the oldest towns on the Adriatic coast. Founded by the Illyrians, it has undergone Greek, Roman, Serbian, Ottoman, French, Austrian, and Venetian rule, all of which are apparent in the Stari Grad (old town). Budva is actually a huge modern city, but we don’t have much use for casinos, fancy hotels, and ritzy beach bars, so we focused on the old town which is manageable in an afternoon.

The old city is right on the waters edge, surrounded by typical high stone walls and includes a citadel and a few churches. It’s like a maze wandering through the streets. We were very much reminded of Kotor, though hipsters have definitely moved into Budva, judging by the trendy little shops.

Though there were plenty of tourists, we pretty much had the citadel and the local history museum to ourselves . It’s evident that the season is coming to a close, and we were lucky not to be fighting the crowds.

Budva suffered a lot of damage in 1979 from an earthquake, but you wouldn’t know it from the detailed rebuilding that preserved the original structures.

We love the Buddha Bar music collections, but have never actually been to one of the bars in person. Little did we know Porto Montenegro has their own right next to the marina. I can only imagine how crowded this place must be during the summer, but at the end of the season the place was nearly empty and we had it all to ourselves for a couple of gin & tonics at the end of the day.

When we first came into the marina, a marinero helped us pick up the slime lines that run from cleats on our stern to chains and anchor points on the sea bed. He also helped us tie off our bow to cleats on the dock. That, combined with plenty of fenders on either side of us, should lock us into position for the season. However, a week later with moderate gusts into the 20’s one night, the boat was moving back and forth way too much for our liking. Knowing that Montenegro routinely experiences much higher winds in the form of the ‘bora’ that blows from the north/northeast, we needed a tighter tie down.

Trip contacted the office and two marineros came immediately. They used our winches to get even more of the slime lines out of the water. They used a trick of standing on the bow lines to make the boat slide forward, and then quickly take in the slack. Trip added chafe guard and snubbers to protect the lines. We also added spring lines.

We slept through the next storm (gusts in the 30s, maybe 40s), snug as a bug this time.

We were also happy to later learn how responsive the marineros are. The marina had already sent out an email blast asking boat owners to take precautions for the upcoming storm. Trip notified them of a neighbors boat that was swinging in the wind (the owner had flown back to the UK), and they came over immediately to better secure the boat. Things like that make me much more confident about leaving the boat this winter.

We are in a part of the world that many friends and family still say ‘Where??’, and go look it up on Google maps. But one of them happened to stop here on a cruise up the Adriatic Sea! Trip’s cousin Britt and friends made a stop in Kotor (which is only a ten minute drive from here). We took a bus over while they were doing a walking tour of the old town, and then we all piled in taxis so that they could see Tivat. We had a fabulous lunch on the waterfront, strolled past the mega yachts in the marina, showed them Kalyra, and then just sat and relaxed with cocktails. It was much too short a visit, but I love that the Salander family keeps finding us in some of the more uncommon places in the world (Mark [Britt’s brother] and his wife Minda were with us a year ago in the Azores – another place that invites ‘Where??’).