First of all, still getting used to being in a New Year. Second of all and wow - we're at the 9th already. We started the New Year with a guerilla shopping expedition on the evening of the 2nd when we'd finally had enough of our 'character building' mattress. All the experts these days agree that some padding is actually good for the soul (stuff the character). We had thought it would involve a 2 hour plus return trip to IKEA to buy a mattress topper. As it turn...

It seems counter-intuitive, but time seems to travel faster for when we're in the slow-lane - go figure. It's almost impossible to believe we arrived way back on the evening of 16 December. Our stone villa is smack bang in the middle of a nature reserve (in fact the only dwelling in the nature reserve since you can't count the Ghost City of Monterano/Antica Monterano that dates back to the Bronze Age). Probably can't count the two Etruscan tombs next to the tra...

The time has come, and not a moment too soon... we can't keep up this 3 countries in the last 3 days routine for long (Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia). We finished packing this morning, lounged about the apartment because the 10 am 'chuck-out' passed with no-one around and eventually took our last 63 kunas in the world down to the same cafe we ate at on Day 1 - Presa. Just the next street over from the apartment and slightly off the Old Town beaten track, we were ...

Turns out the off-season was not playing favourites and we actually had to pony up for 4 seats instead of two to get our Bosnia day trip off the ground - Yay! And we don't say that often when needing to pay double - but it was actually a bargain - 1400 kunas for 4 seat 'group tour' just for the two of us - vs. 2200+ kunas for an actual private tour. We headed off bright and early (that's code for painfully early and not yet properly light - 7.30 am in fact). Ou...

The curse of the travel bug is sometimes, well, more travel. We had an excellent deal on accommodation and figured we could keep our selves busy in Dubrovnik for 10 days... but the lure of a couple of countries right next door seduced us. Today we headed off in a small group of 6 to visit Montenegro (literally 'Black Mountain'), beginning with a scenic drive around the Bay of Kotor and with stops in the walled city of Kotor, a quick look at the island of Sveti S...