Full house on Sunday

We were very excited to be welcoming our niece, her husband and two high school-aged children for a quick five-day visit aboard Sunday. A full house for us as we also had our daughter Hannah and son-in-law Pieter staying.

The family were arriving in the morning having caught an early flight from London and driven in a hire car from Dubrovnik Airport.

Very sensibly, my niece had booked a small apartment nearby- just in case the number of people aboard became too overwhelming (also she suffers from seasickness!)

The family had no sooner arrived and sorted out their cabins, than they were at the beach and in the water! My family are most definitely water people even though not all of them are sailors!

Our great niece is a natural sailor though – she absolutely loved being aboard Sunday and was soon steering the boat!

As well as an epic day out on the Bay of Kotor, with a sunset sail and mooring the boat in the marina at night, we had a swim in the morning every day.

One day we walked all the way to Herceg Novi and had a fabulous lunch in one of the cafes in the main Belavista square overlooking the pretty little white stone church of Michael the Archangel.

After lunch we had a quick look round the church and then climbed up the hillside towards the main road out of town to take a look at Kanli Kula Fortress, built by the Turks in 1539 and which is now used as a venue for concerts, opera and other productions. What a magnificent venue to watch a performance!

Early in its history, the fort was used a prison. On our wanderings around we discovered one of the dungeons which had been used to contain prisoners hundreds of years ago.

A painful reminder of their incarceration was etched into the stone walls. Some of this remarkable graffiti, painstakingly carved by inmates, was in Arabic script, other inscriptions were of ancient ships – thought to be the type of vessels that were around in the 16th and 17th Centuries. There were also Stars of David inscribed and messages in a variety of languages.

The sky was beginning to look quite threatening so we decided to walk down the many steps back to sea level in order to join the coastal path back to Lazure Marina – stopping first to buy freshly squeezed pomegranate juice to fortify us on the way.

During their time with us Hannah and Pieter celebrated their third wedding anniversary and to celebrate they booked into the stunning Lazure Hotel – formerly a quarantine station, built by in the 18th Century the Venetians and recently converted into a really stylish hotel.

The day before they checked in I mentioned to the receptionist that they were celebrating their wedding anniversary and she immediately said that she would try and upgrade them if she could.

Happily, that’s exactly what happened but not only did the hotel upgrade them but also left a card with a beautiful message, several packets of chocolates and other sweet treats and a bottle of bubbles! Such a fantastic gesture.

The next day, (niece and family’s last) we went for a really special lunch in a small garden restaurant called Leut not far from the marina.

The owner was a delightful host and we had a wonderful time.

Fortunately it was still warm enough to sit outside under the prolific vine. Inside the restaurant was more like a museum than a restaurant with its displays of old weaponry and other artefacts.

After lunch some of us decided to go for a visit to the lovely Lazure Spa. Hannah and Pieter were allowed for free as they were staying at the hotel and the rest of us were able to use it at a reduced rate as we were staying in the marina.

Later we all trooped up to have a look at Hannah and Pieter’s very luxurious and comfortable suite

All too soon it was time for our English guests to leave. We had such a lovely time together and considering the forecast had been for consistent heavy rain and high winds, we had great weather and has managed to pack in lots of enjoyable activities!