Day 1 - Herceg Novi, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia

I'm in the airport in Dubrovnik, about to take off for Zagreb. The flights all went off without a hitch to get here. Here's a shot of the Old town in Debrovnik from the plane...I'll tell you more about that in tomorrow's write up though.

We arrived in Croatia about 45 minites before Bill's plane touched down. We had planned to take a taxi into the center of town, but decided to rent a car instead. There are all these new rules in Croatia about car safety including you must wear a bright safety vest if changing a tire. Our car was missing said vest, so our new friend Anna brought one for us and thought we were nuts!! Here's Alison practicing for this, just in case!

From here, we crossed the border to Herceg Novi, Montenegro. The hills around us were all black and rocky in the distance (hence Montenegro)...but closer to the water, it is beautiful and green. The drive was so beautiful with little houses perched throughout the landscape. We parked the car once we arrived and walked to see what sights we could stumble upon. We really had no clue what we were looking for here. The first little alley to the water we found was a jackpot! There was a beautiful rocky beach with incredible views...and a restaurant where we could sit outside and have wine and yummy fresh greek salads and bread. Our waiter laughed at us as we tried to practice our hellos and thank yous in Montegeran and there were lots of kitties around looking for a snack too. From here, we walked along an area that I'm sure is loaded with tourists during the peak season. It was sort of a boardwalk with little shops selling cigarettes, candy, etc. There were lots of pretty landscapes of mountains, water and red roofed homes.

Then we saw a bunch of people gathered up taking pics...what were they looking at? It was a bunch of adorable pups that were about 6 weeks old...and mom and dad dog too! I swear, it is so universal!! Everyone was cooing and smiling at these little guys! Don't worry...I got pics ;)

From here, we walked back up 1000 stairs (ok, felt like 1000!) and headed back to our Croatian ride. We drove up the street looking for a place to buy an ornament (I passed up a magnet on the boardwalk, darn!), but no luck. We did "stumble" upon a castle though! We walked up another "few" stairs and came to a really cool plaza in the old town area. With a beautiful tiny, old church. From there we headed back to the Croatian border, as we really didn't want to deal with crossing in the dark!

We got tot enjoy a gorgeous sunset from the car as we drove along the Croatian coast. Once we arrived in Dubrovnik, we checked into the really nice Hilton. If you go, this is super convenient as it's just steps from the walled old town. This is really the highlight of of the city. That evening we set off to find a place to eat. We walked through old town and got to see all the churches, theater and shops in the twilight...made for some really beautiful pics!
We finally found a cute little pizzeria and had salad and mushroom pizza. There was a group of ladies that came in and sat next to us and all lit up...we think it was to run us off!! We just moved tables and continued to chow down! We turned in that evening and prepared for the next day exploring the old town.