{"id":10344,"date":"2023-08-20T22:14:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T22:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=10344"},"modified":"2023-08-20T22:15:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T22:15:03","slug":"weeknotes-233234-montenegro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/08\/20\/weeknotes-233234-montenegro\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeknotes #233\u2013234 \u2014 Montenegro"},"content":{"rendered":"
The first \u2018double helping\u2019 of weeknotes for a very long time. This year our summer holiday started and finished on consecutive Wednesdays, which made it difficult to grab the few weekend hours that I need to be able to cobble these notes together. On reflection, this is probably a good thing as it makes more sense to cover the whole holiday in one post.<\/p>\n

Our destination was the small Balkan country of Montenegro<\/a>, part of the former Yugoslavia<\/a>. With a population of only 602,000 people, it\u2019s a relatively tiny place. The country isn\u2019t (yet) part of the European Union but they use the Euro<\/a>, a consequence of hyperinflation of their former official currency.<\/p>\n

\"Our

Our home for the week, Topla Bay<\/p><\/div>\n

We travelled with our close friends, the same ones that we holidayed with last year<\/a>. The journey started with a 5am taxi from home to Gatwick Airport<\/a>, which despite being \u2018just around the M25\u2019, always feels like it gets further away every time I go there. We\u2019d booked a local taxi to take the eight of the 12 of us that live in Berkhamsted as it seemed like a bargain. I felt like an idiot when it turned out that I had misheard the cost on the phone.<\/p>\n

Each family had booked a package trip with British Airways, flying into Dubrovnik in Croatia and then being driven across the border into Montenegro. We had read that the border crossing could take up to six hours at the busiest times; thankfully we hardly had to wait at all before we got to the other side. We were staying at the all-inclusive Iberostar Herceg Novi<\/a>, named after the local municipality as well as the town facing us across the bay.<\/p>\n

\"The

The town of Herceg Novi across the bay<\/p><\/div>\n

The hotel itself was good. It bills itself as \u2018four star\u2019, but star ratings are often dubious<\/a> and I thought this was being a little generous. One of the reasons we booked was the relatively low cost compared to neighbouring destinations; it was definitely good value for money.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel

Hotel swimming pool at night<\/p><\/div>\n

The location is incredible; photos of the beautiful, mountainous landscape around where we stayed will never do it justice. We got very used to wandering up and down the stairs between the facilities and our hotel rooms. The hotel had everything you would expect, with a decent swimming pool, a \u2018beach\u2019 area with sun loungers and private area for sea swimming, a buffet restaurant, a small number of bars \u2014 including a beautifully-situated rooftop bar that was ideal for looking over the bay at night \u2014 and a coffee house. But the drinks were quite lacklustre, with odd-tasting cola, and wine dispensed through red, white and rose taps. Towards the end of the holiday we started going to the little shop located outside of the hotel to buy decent beer, with and without alcohol.<\/p>\n

\"The

The town of Herceg Novi from the hotel<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Looking

Looking directly out across the bay from the hotel<\/p><\/div>\n

One of our first challenges was trying to get the shower to work. We could get the water flowing out of the tap into the bath, but couldn\u2019t see how to divert it to the shower head. After both my wife and I puzzled over it for twenty minutes or so, our friend popped into see if he could work it out. But the mystery remained. The only option left was to call the front desk to see if they could get someone to come and fix it. Ten minutes later, a maintenance guy showed up. He walked into the room, saw the tap and said \u201cAh yes! Everyone calls about this. It\u2019s the only one in the hotel like it.\u201d And then he showed us how to use it. It seems that our holiday brains were not equipped for the lateral thinking that was required:<\/p>\n