We start the day with all breakfast and a beautiful sea view.

Today we're headed to Croatia but first we need to go explore the old town of Kotor and visit the cat museum. Most museums we've noticed don't open until 10am and with just a short 10 minute walk to the old town we've got plenty of time for souvenir shopping and just wandering the old streets.

The kids have been taxing at times, mostly general sibling squabbling but interestingly they've not asked for TV or screen time or to buy much since we started the trip. I think they may have forgotten we have actually given them some money. Robert chooses to get a bracelet and Liliya a necklace, I spot all the tat I remember either buying or wanting myself as a child. Anyone remember giant pencils you could never sharpen or those jewellery boxes covered in shells 😁. I actually get a matching bracelet with Robert and apparently we now have king crab powers when we bump them together.

Luckily as we're hear at a weekend the farmers market is on with loads of fresh looking fruit, Robert eyes up a watermelon that we'll collect on the way back.

We get to the cat museum for 10am only to find it's still closed so we take the kids for ice cream whilst we wait. It turns out the best looking ice cream stand isn't going to be ready for another 15 minutes but the kids can't wait so we go find another. 10.30 and still the museum is closed, we decide to explore the other side of the old town and by the time we return at 10.50 it's finally open. It's only 1€ entry and the money goes towards food for all the street cats. The collection is full of art work featuring cats, it could be adverts, newspaper articles, stamps, coins, postcards and more.

After we're done, the first ice cream stall is now open so Al and I get our turn. I opt for a yogurt with orange sauce, Robert says I've hit the jackpot 😍.

We manage to leave Kotor earlier than planned after a quick lunch and cool off in sea which is also good given what we've heard the border can be like.

As we start driving all around the bay of Kotor it's lovely but the sat nav time to destination keeps rising rather than falling.

As we approach the red line google informs us of an alternative route saving 23 minutes. Yes please and off we go but it's not long until we're told to turn right only to be met with a no entry sign. A couple of cars ahead and just ignored it so we figured we would too since the sign wasn't very clear and we could see cars parked in the direction we were heading. We did come across other cars coming towards us but no one seems to be concerned that we were there and there were no one way signs on the riad now we were on it. We turned another corner then came to a much narrower section of road and a truck heading towards us, flashbacks from yesterday were now on my mind. We pulled in early so there was plenty of space for maneuvering but then 2 cars behind us screwed things up by pulling in front of us!! We stood our ground and a few cars and minutes later things were cleared but I was still worried as we didn't know how long the road went on for. A bit further on we had to pull in again to let traffic come through and this time I knew I had to take action. I got out of the car and stood in the road up ahead after all the traffic had passed to make sure as we set off to get through we wouldn't end up blocked again. A small truck did start driving towards me but seemed accepting of the fact I was asking him to wait. Another minute or so and we were back at the road it had taken us off which did save us quite some time. The next diversion was by far the best however, all of a sudden it was taking us back towards the coast which didn't feel right at all so I open my maps app only to find there was another smaller border crossing not too far from the main one. We could not believe our luck! 10 minutes later and once again a poor excuse for a border and we were in Croatia.

It was another 30 mins to our campsite just south of Dubrovnik and as it was only 3pm we had time to enjoy a relaxing late afternoon at the beach.

The kids loved being in the sea, I managed to get a cheeky cocktail, they found several pieces of sea glass and enjoyed building rock castles.

After a few hours we walk back to the van have our home cooked food along with treats for the kids from the local bakery and Robert finds a new little lizard friend.