Today is Day 33. Which means we're half-way through our journey. It's all going to go so quickly now... That's what happens with second halves...

But for sure we'll make the most of it while it lasts.

To which end, on the evening of Boxing Day, our last full day in Dubrovnik, we made our final descent to the old town, enjoyed our last views of the old streets lit by Christmas lights, and devoured our last bucket of prikle (those delicious little doughnut things):




Dubrovnik saw us off with a fabulous sunrise yesterday:




I will very much miss Dubrovnik's bells, which have literally measured out our time here...

We took an Uber to the bus station. And, of course, as we'd left plenty of time, nothing went wrong. The payment didn't suddenly reverse itself; the driver didn't get lost; the car showed up on time. So we had a good 90 minutes to kill in the little waiting room at the bus station:



I guess now is an appropriate moment to reflect on whether Christmas is a good time to visit Dubrovnik. On balance, yes. We didn't come across anything that could be described as crowds of tourists, even in the heart of the old town. The only time it was crowded was Christmas Eve, when it was crowded with locals, which is a whole different kettle of fish. We've also had fabulous weather, with lots of sunshine (actually a little too hot at times, when you're more geared up for winter, and you're climbing one of the city's ubiquitous hills). I'm not sure how typical those temperatures are for the time of year. On the negative side, the Christmas Market is hard to escape. There was music until 2330 on three nights of the five we stayed, clearly audible at the top of our hill.

Anyway, back to the bus journey to Kotor. It was definitely better than the journey to Banja Luka (now the yardstick for awfulness). But we ended up 45 minutes late (we were 20 minutes late starting, and lost more time on the road); it was overly hot again (although there were curtains to fend off the sun); and the vehicle was a bit ramshackle, with lots of seatbacks stuck eternally in the recline position.

On a brighter note, the border was very easy. You're dealt with as a busload, so no-one has the chance to wander off and get lost. The processing went quite quickly, and on the Montenegrin side there was a friendly cat to greet us. And yay, it's another new country!

Another plus was that the route was spectacularly scenic again. Along huge valleys, and then by the side of the sea, working your way round an incredibly indented bit of coast:







Our apartment here is in the heart of the walled old town. The building where it is situated (the Bizanti palace) dates back to the 14th century, and our pad looks out over a cobbled square (which is cafe-filled, but the double windows shut the noise out nicely):












This town has had an action-packed history. According to Britannica, "Kotor was founded by the ancient Romans as Acruvium. In the 10th century it was an autonomous city ruled from Byzantium, and from 1186 to 1371 it was a free city of medieval Serbia. It was Venetian and Hungarian for brief periods, an independent republic from 1395 to 1420, and Venetian again until 1797. The town suffered periodic damage from Turkish assaults and from earthquakes. Between 1807 and 1814 it was occupied by France. The French period was followed by Austrian domination until 1918, when Slav sailors in the Austro-Hungarian navy mutinied at Kotor and the town was incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (from 1929 to 2003 Yugoslavia)." Phew...

Today we did a quick amble through the old town. This is definitely tourist territory. More so than Dubrovnik even, because it's a smaller space, and therefore more concentrated. Apparently, when the cruise boats arrive, it's bedlam here. But there are no cruise boats at the moment, and first thing in the morning, you get a chance to take some photos, when everything is quiet and pale. It's a labyrinth of narrow alleys, staircases, and squares:











It's also nice to walk around the inlet -- to Muo in one direction, and to Dobrota in the other. You get fabulous views both ways:









An unparalleled treat for our return journey was a piece of krempita (a bit like a vanilla slice, but with three layers of flaky pastry, sandwiching custard, cream, and fruit):


The spot where we're eating it here was our second attempted location. Nigel had a cheese-and-ham thing as a starter, and when we sat down to consume that, we were joined by a very, very persistent little cat. The idea of tackling krempita with his little paws poking into everything seemed a bad one, so we moved further down the inlet to a spot with fewer felines.

There have been a couple of other culinary hits in the short time we've been here. Two excellent cheeses (very different, very tasty) that we hit upon by accident:


And a couple of wine successes too. Everyone knows Merlot, but they do a good one here. Much more specifically Montenegrin is the Krstac, a very drinkable white:


So, a very good few days. Awesome even.