Dover, England

For the late May Bank Holiday, we took a day trip to Dover.

The village of Dover isn't anything to write home about, the main attraction is the White Cliffs of Dover.

The White Cliffs of Dover are the cliffs that form part of the English coastline facing the narrowest part of the English Channel and France. On a clear day, it is said that you can see the white cliffs from France.

We took a high speed train from Kings Cross to the Dover Priory station making it to Dover in a little over an hour arriving just before noon.

We walked from the port of Dover to the Dover lighthouse ensuring that we got to see all the views of the cliffs.

Elaphite Islands (Lopud), Croatia

We spent the second half of our Croatia holiday on the isle of Lopud, part of the Elaphite Islands north of Dubrovnik.

Lopud can only be reached by boat or ferry and no cars are allowed on the island. We took the ferry from Dubrovnik's port and it took us about an hour to reach Lopud's port.

We had the best room at the hotel - the top corner room - the view was outstanding. We decided that this trip was our trip to splurge.

We arrived in Lopud in the evening. After we checked in at the hotel, we headed out to dinner. There are only a handful of restaurants on the island which made choosing a dinner spot easy. Our waiter the first night recommended our dishes. We couldn't really understand everything he was saying except for that he promised it would be good. It turned out that we ordered the island's specialty - fish stew. It was not stew in the traditional sense but rather a large pot of various cooked fish in a light sauce. And our waiter did not disappoint, it was delicious!

The next day, our plan was the beach. The beach that the island is known for is Sunj Beach. It is a gorgeous, shallow, sandy beach that is lined on both sides by forested cliffs. Sunj Beach is located on the opposite end of the island from the port, village and our hotel. To get to the beach one has to hike 1.5 miles across the island. Locals wait half-way to give rides in golf-cart taxi's but we decided to hike the whole way on our first venture. 

That night we had dinner at another restaurant along the bay.

The next day was Shane's birthday! We decided to go for a hike around the island before heading back to Sunj Beach. Half-way through the hike, after I had to hop over a snake, we were tempted to turn back - too much wildlife - but we were almost to the top point of the island so we powered through. We made it to the fortress at the top and we're sure glad that we did!

For Shane's birthday dinner, we dined at the another restaurant in the village and sat at a table directly on the bay. 

The next day, we headed back to the beach. This time opting for the 'taxi' ride on the golf cart. The weather was perfect and we stayed at the beach most of the day. A lot of sailboats and yachts drop anchor in the Sunj Beach bay during the day and take mini-boats up to the beach to eat at the beach bar and wad in shallow water. It was fun to people-watch those who came and went during the day and admire the sailboat/yacht lifestyle! We spent the afternoon in the hotel spa - as if we hadn't relaxed enough!

On our last day, we stayed near the hotel as we had an airport shuttle via boat/car that evening. We spent half the time at the pebble beach swimming in the Adriatic Sea and the remainder of our time at the pool.

We had a great time in Lopud! It was nice to get out of the touristy cities and relax on the beach.

Kotor, Montenegro

After leaving Dubrovnik, and before heading to a small island in Croatia, we decided to take a day trip to Montenegro. We were close, so we figured why not?

We picked up our rental car early in the morning in hopes of getting to the border before it got too crowded. Neither of us have driven a car since we arrived in London, and considering my recent track record of totaling cars (none of which were my fault!), we thought it best that Shane drove. After ensuring that we had all the required paperwork to cross the border and hitting a curb on the way out of the parking lot, we were off!

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the border. We took the scenic route along the Croatian coast. It was beautiful. Crossing the border into Montenegro went relatively smooth - we couldn't understand a thing that the officer was saying but we handed him everything that we had and he let us through. After crossing the border, we continued our drive along the Bay of Kotor. 

The Bay of Kotor is breathtaking. The pictures we took don't do it justice, especially since the weather wasn't the best, but we thoroughly enjoyed our drive and could not get enough of the views. We stopped in a small fishing village, Perast, that was located on the north side of the Bay before making our way to Kotor. 

After our quick stop, we continued our drive along the Bay to Kotor. Kotor is walled city, similar to Dubrovnik, but on a much smaller scale with the exception of the walls. The walls that surround Kotor climb the mountainside directly behind and above the Old Town. 

After spending the afternoon in Kotor, we headed back to Croatia. Border control wasn't as easy the second time around, granted we couldn't understand a thing that the border security patrol was saying but he was definitely yelling and did not seem the least bit happy that we were Americans.

We would have loved to spend more time in Montenegro but were happy with the time that we had. 

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Shane and I didn't take a honeymoon after the wedding, since we didn't have enough time to take off before the move to London. So we planned our honeymoon once we were settled in London and decided on Croatia in May.

We compromised (because that is what marriage is all about, right?) and spent half our of time as tourists in a city and the remainder of our time relaxing on the beach.

The first stop on our holiday was Dubrovnik (or for Game of Thrones fans, King's Landing). Dubrovnik is a seaport city located in the southern most part of the Croatia. The Old Town Dubrovnik is surrounded by city walls and has remained surprisingly well intact despite the recent war in 1991. 

We arrived in Dubrovnik mid-day on Saturday. Shane choose our accommodations purely for the balcony and it's amazing view of the Old Town. Our driver chuckled when he dropped us off wishing us luck on the climb. He wasn't kidding ... from the Old Town to our flat we had to climb three (extremely long) flights of stairs, not including the flight of stairs to exit the Old Town, and two hills. We decided it gave us a good excuse to eat and drink all we wanted during our stay!

On our first day, we strolled leisurely through the Old Town to get a feel for the city. Our favorite part about the city was the the narrow alleyways off the main street that housed various shops, restaurants and sobe's (apartments). 

 After strolling through the Old Town, we decided to grab a drink at a bar we stumbled upon right outside the city walls - on the cliffs! To get to the bar, you had to walk through this small hole in the wall, and once through, tables were scattered on the rocks. It quickly became our favorite bar in Dubrovnik!

On our second day, we walked the city walls. The city walls run approximately two kilometers around the city. Even though we walked the walls in the morning, it still got pretty toasty. We stopped half-way for some fresh juice - a carrot, beet, orange, pear, apple, strawberry, pomegranate mixture - it was delicious and gave us the pick-up we needed to finish the walk. Walking the city walls was by far our favorite activity in Dubrovnik.

After walking the walls, we grabbed some lunch and then headed to Banje Beach. Unfortunately, there were no sunbeds left on the beach so we resorted to finding a spot on the rocks. The rocks were not exactly comfortable so we did not last long but were happy to experience the beach for a bit.

That night we had our best meal, and best meal with a view, in Dubrovnik. We found the place because Jay-Z and Bey dined at this establishment. If it's good enough for Jay-Z and Bey, it's good enough for us (especially when the pound is strong!). 

On our last day in Dubrovnik, we took the cable car to the top of Mtn Srd. There is the option to climb to top of Mtn Srd but Shane decided that we had done enough climbing to get to our flat. Plus, the climb along the path is at your own risk...with one of the risk being potential landmines from the recent war. Napolean built a fortress at the top of Mtn Srd in the 1800s and a portion of the fortress still remains.

After we headed back down the mountain, we went into the Old Town again and did a wine tasting at D'Vino's Wine Bar. Croatian wines aren't half bad!

We dined in the Old Town that night in a cute tavern off one of the alleyways.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Dubrovnik and were glad that we stayed outside of the Old Town despite our climb. The Old Town sees a lot of tourists during the day so it was nice to be able to escape for a bit!