Dubrovnik to Montenegro to Albania

So, I had a visitor knock on my door first thing in the morning. It was my friend Craig who is working aboard a Princess cruise ship, which happened to be docked in Dubrovnik. We were able to chat and catch up a bit over breakfast. It was too short a reunion, but at least we got to see one another and what were the odds that we'd both end up in the same town on the same day? Such a small world!

After saying our goodbyes, the group piled into our bus and made our way to Montenegro, my 92nd country!!! Our first stop was Kotor, which was a walled city along the coast. We toured the small town, had lunch, and then made our way up to a panoramic stop where you can see the whole bay , and the view was truly spectacular!

We continued in the road to a small town where we stopped to sample local cheese and prosciutto, and then continued on to the town of Cetinje. We toured a museum and a monastery which had some amazing relics. It was an orthodox monastery and a practicing monk showed us around. We also were able to see their relics, which were the mummified hand of St. John the Baptist, and a splinter from the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

We continued our journey and finally made our way to Budva, where we stopped for the night. I'm glad we were only there for one night because it is owned almost entirely by Russians.

The next morning we were up and off to Albania (country 93!)! We stopped at the town of Kruja, which is where the Albanian hero Skanderbeg declared independence in the 1400s from the Ottoman Empire, and then visited the fortress where he defended Albania from them until it finally fell in 1478.

We also visited an ethnographic museum which was an old general's house from the 18th century that showed the way of life for people of that time. Afterwards we had a little time to shop in the old bazaar that specialized in local handicrafts. I got some placemats and a hand-painted wooden serving platter.

Then we went down to the most bizarre thing we've seen this trip: a statue of George W. Bush who visited Albania in 2007. He was the first US President to ever visit, so it was a big deal... He was here for all of 7 hours.

We then made our way to the capital, Tirana, where we will stay the next three nights! It will be good to explore this country because it truly has an interesting history which spans back to before the ancient Greeks.