Tuesday, 2013/09/03

In the morning we walk around in Split, which we already admired late at night. We take our breakfast in a cafe at the harbor overlooking the water and enjoying the morning sun.

We stroll through the streets and get some snack for the ride. Soon we start our today's ride. We have planned to ride quite a distance today.

F. just in time noticed that he forgot his travel guide in the cafe. So we ride a small detour with the motorcycles to the harbor. I wait at the motorcycles. I can reassure a politesse by saying that we are leaving immediately. Fortunately, F. found his travel guide, because it will provide us with a lot of informations and tips.

Throughout the day, my riding style is becoming more and more Italian or Mediterranean.

At some point we stop our fast ride at a place right on the beachfront. We want to take our snacks. We find a place under somevshady trees for the motorcycles and us. It is so hot that we get rid of our clothes except for the underpants, and one after the other have a swim. What a wonderful refreshment!

With underpants still a bit wet (in this heat a recommended cooling), we continue towards Dubrovnik. On the onward journey we have to cross a short strip of Bosnia-Herzogowina, about 6 kilometers, to travel into the southern part of Croatia.

In Dubrovnik we have another break.

When parking the motorcycles we come into conversation with a coloured English woman. She was traveling to Montenegro, which is also our destination for the evening, and she tells very excited about it. She would like to ride with us on motorbikes. I enjoy the wonderful British English, whose melody I like to hear and expressions like "mind-blowing".

With our clothes we trudge a steep staircase down to the center of Dubrovnik. Walking around in the motorcycle clothes is always a pretty sweaty affair in this glorious weather. We treat ourselves to a first water, which is probably the most expensive refreshment drink of our trip. We'll take a look around in Dubrovnik, but it's actually way too touristy and I'm really a bit disappointed.

Our destination is Kotor, which is located at the end of a fjord that leads quite far into the mainland. There we find a parking in the center and walk around to search a hotel recommended by the travel guide, the hotel / restaurant Rendez-vous. The people there are pretty nice and try there best. We get an acceptable room under the roof for the night, for 25 euros including breakfast and a carrier helps us transport the clothes from the motorcycles to the hotel, as we it's not allowed to enter the old town with vehicles. The porter rumbles other passengers with our luggage rather brusquely.

We have a quite delicious dinner in the restaurant of the hotel, which is on the small square in front of the hotel. There is also live music from a cafe in the neighborhood. Very pleasant atmosphere. Later we explore Kotor a bit. Beautifully located, a nice old town worth seeing, but there are also a lot of tourists from cruise ships, which are mainly in Kotor during daytime. Therefore, it is rather quiet and quite pleasant this evening and at night.