SmaviesAdventures

Montenegro With rising black mountains and deep blue bays Montenegro was a place which was full of stunning views for us. We got on the bus from beautiful Dubrovnik and took the winding coastal road down towards the Montenegrin border. The border was a bit long as we had to all get off the bus for both borders. Upon crossing the border we hit quite a lot of rain and this gave our first glimpse of Montenegro a very sinister and gloomy look. This said it didn't ruin the experience but rather added to it. Kotor While in Kotor we stayed in the old town and this gloomy effect really made it feel like we were immersed in some old medieval town with it's white walls and cobbled streets. Kotor itself is an old Venetian fortress leftover from the Albanian kingdom of the aforementioned empire. To be honest it was all a bit much during the day as many cruise ships offload in Kotor so the whole town is teeming with tourists. During the evening however the town is very relaxed a

Dominant Dubrovnik  This is the place is the sight of the Game of thrones series and because of this much of the tourism is based off of the GOT franchise. Walking down the old higgledy-piggledy streets you are bound to bump into a tour or two. Unfortunately for us having never watched GOT it's rather lost on us. Still, we enjoyed wandering around the choice of shops, which seem to be developing in to nice homemade boutiques and products made by local artists rather an upwards step from the novelty touristic shops. Though we did thoroughly enjoy a wonder round the Christmas shop. Oddly still stuffed full of people at this time of year, and yes they were being hand made in the back of the shop. We watched a woman ice and glitter her baubles. The Christmas Shop is on my phone, so here's a picture of Andrew picking a nose... You can get quite lost in the lanes as there are so many of them inside the old town which is a beautiful, red roofed, white stoned walled fortr

Beautiful Bosnia I didn't really know what to expect when we were going to Bosnia. We'd made our way up the coast from Split before cutting across the Bosnian border. The journey there was beautiful winding our way along the blue sea past lots of little villages and farms. On the way to Mostar there were two border crossings (one from Croatia and one from Bosnia). The whole journey was rather long, mostly taken up by the border crossings. Upon arriving in Mostar we were even more unsure of what to expect as we felt very uneasy on our arrival, there were a few beggars around the bus station, the main road that we had to follow was being dug up in it's entirety, and several of the buildings were riddled with bullet holes. We were slightly convinced we'd come to the wrong place. However whilst walking down the broken road we saw many glimpses of the Old Town that had undergone much restoration in the early 2000s. Large photo to show the divide Context To pro

We have been in Split for a few days now. I think we can honestly say that we love it here. We're still adjusting to the idea of long term travel. It's a little bit scary being freelance and travelling as well. But we're doing ok, we've had some good food as well. I would show you pictures but we ate them before we thought about it... On a postcard No sunburn yet, a few showers of rain, we're both well. Food has been good, lovely tomatoes in our pasta, some pancake and coffee today (gorgeous apricot jam) And yesterday had some Croatian food of a kind of kebab with a roasted red pepper and onion sauce in a flat bread and a hot chicken salad sandwich. Diocletian's Palace This place is great, it's a massive Roman Palace built for Diocletian's retirement in the year 305 AD. After Split fell to the Slavs it became a sort of Byzantine commune and has stayed sort of autonomous throughout the various other invasions (Venetians, French, Austria-Hung

Before we begin our travels we have taken some time to go and visit our family and friends. But aside from seeing great people we've also seen some great places. Gloucester On Thursday we went to see my friend Seb at Gloucester. The cathedral there is currently undergoing some renovation works thanks to some extra funding which they have received. This has made some of the work more interactive (we even got to pretend to be Bishops) and also gives the chance to visit the whispering gallery which the monks would have used to walk around the cathedral at a raised level. Gloucester is also home to John Stafford Smith, a Gloucester man who wrote the American national anthem. Durdle Door On the Friday we all went to Durdle Door, which is on the Jurassic Coastline in Dorset. Olivia was very disappointed to find out that there were no dinosaurs...  Durdle door is a massive hole that came through a headland on this coastline in the Lulworth Estate. The name is in t