Everyone wakes up feeling better rested today, so we will drive to Montenegro today (with our passports). We still have time for breakfast at the kitchen table, which I love, but we get ready quickly and set out on today’s adventure!

The walk to our car is now very nice. Just a little bit is narrow, then it widens to a beautiful pathway overlooking the sea.

We have our passports today, and we are on the road early to have a full day in Montenegro!

The drive is beautiful, winding on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We notice several incredible yachts.

We have to wait in a line to get through border control leaving Croatia, but then the line to get into Montenegro is very slow. We wait at least 20 minutes to show our passports to the agent. Then he asks us for our car papers. We pull out our stack of car papers, and discover that none satisfy his requirements. He says, “no car papers, no Montenegro.” Blerg.

//Stefan: I didn’t want to go anyways.

We turn around, super disappointed, and head back toward Dubrovnik. We’ve driven at least 45 minutes south, and we want to make it worth it. We already went to Cavtat, so we try to figure out what else we can do now that we have the car and we’re out here. Stefan turns off the road at one of the few opportunities to do so. There’s a sign for the town of Gruda and for a fort. We will explore whatever may be found up in these mountains. Why not.

We first drive to Fort Sokol Grad. It’s a small old fort at the top of a narrow peak. It’s obviously been renovated to make it look so nice, but it’s still incredible that such a building still stands where a fort like this one has stood for centuries.

Some of the stairways are a bit treacherous, but we manage with the one parent to one child ratio. It’s very cool to walk around. There are 2-4 people up there with us during our stay, so extremely different from every place we’ve been the past week.

After about 30 minutes of exploring the fort, we take a water break in a canteen they have at top of the fort. The view is amazing.

//Stefan: “What is your finest cheapest wine”

We’re hungry, and TripAdvisor has one suggestion within a 20 minute drive. This is a very remote area. It’ll have to do. We drive 10 minutes through vineyards and other farmland to Konavoski Dvori, a beautiful little restaurant on a stream. It used to be an old mill and still has the water wheel in action. As you can imagine this place is wildly entertaining for the kids. And the sound of the rushing stream is calming to me. It’s a really nice setting. And the food is pretty good too. Not fantastic, but good. They have some dishes they cook in bells under embers for hours. Stefan’s lamb cooked under the bell is amazing. My veal is just alright.
All in all this is a fantastic place to eat. The environment and the service make up for the food being just okay.

We have an amazing local wine at lunch and ask our server if she knows any good wineries to visit. She says that this is actually her favorite one and it’s in Gruda. She gives us directions on a map, and we set off for the winery.

We drive all over the town until we finally find it. It’s a very strange-looking place. We are disappointed to discovery it closed on Sunday. Boo. I call another place our server recommended, and no one answers. Wineries must be closed on Sundays here. Oh well.

We just drive back to town, hoping we can score an amazing parking spot like yesterday. Because of the warning sign, which we really think says not to drive that way, our same parking spot is available again. Sweet!

We go home and change into swimsuits quickly. It’s 5pm, and we want to get in a swim before it gets too dark. The little cove near our house is bustling with activity. I love seeing a group of 8 older women playing cards in their swimsuits at a table they must keep stored down here for such occasions. I know there are a lot of tourists here, but it still manages to feel the most local of any place we’ve been this week.

After a short swim, we grab drinks and play cards up at the bar. A little Croatian 4 year old is very curious about our kids and eventually joins in on a game we are playing. It’s very cute.

On our walk home (so about 4 minutes after leaving the beach), we stop at a bar we imagine is brimming with young people in the evenings. The benches are old bathtubs and the tables are old washing machines. It’s colorful and fun. They make awesome smoothies for the kids too!
We make a quick dinner at home before putting the kids to bed. We were definitely disappointed this morning, but we really enjoyed exploring the untouched region around Dubrovnik today. We also really love this Airbnb, and it makes everything easier when we have a comfortable place to come home to.