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Which is pronounced show bets and as soon as I heard the name I was making all sorts of stupid jokes like we are going to be in show bets and there’s no bets like show bets but I got no reaction at all, so I don’t know if they didn’t think I was funny or didn’t get what I was saying at all. I admire the courage of stand up comics, it’s bad enough bombing in front of your own family. It is a 5 star campground in slovenia and I hadn’t even realized such a thing existed, it seems a contradiction in terms. It is pretty nice, between the swift running sava river and lake sobec, which we haven’t seen yet but there is a smaller lake, a pond, really, with a swimming area, an inflatable raft, a zip line, and a wading pool and playground for the toddlers, and there are a whole lot of toddlers. There’s also a restaurant, which I thought was too expensive, and a grocery store, so we got dinner there instead. Tomorrow we will see the lake, go for a short morning swim, and start the long drive back to Prague, which we estimate should take about 10 hours. It has been a hell of a trip. We have been lost in cities we had never been to before and seen breathtaking views of mountains, castles, islands, beaches, and sunsets over the sea. We’ve eaten some great food and had a few good laughs.  It will be good to get home, though.

Tonight’s blog will be a short one because we are camping again, in fact at the same campsite as we did on the way down, it’s a bit more crowded this time than last but the sand beach is still sandy and the clear blue waters of the Adriatic are still clear and still blue.  It is hot as sin but that’s the same everywhere so it’s barely worth a mention. After setting up camp and having a swim we went into the lovely town of ston and I made a pun about the town of ston being a town of stone and Sam, being both literal minded and rather humorless at least as far as his old dad is concerned, pointed out the fact that ston is highly unlikely to mean anything close to stone in any Slavic language. Now, I don’t know if the town is always like this or if there was some festival going on, because the place was packed, parking was not easy at all and when we got a table at our restaurant of choice they said it might be up to an hour before we were served, so we found a different choice. It was great but maybe shrimp local style wasn’t the best option. It was delicious, no doubt about that but a lot of work digging them out of their shells and messy because local style meant tomato sauce, but they did bring a finger bowl with a slice of lemon in it, so I was, and am, a happy camper.

It was a mostly uneventful  drive today from Ksamil, in Southern Albania, to the lovely town of Ulcinj in Montenegro, except for about a two hour wait at the border, which we suspect  was caused by  the border guards taking a three  hour  lunch.
The event I am blogging about  tonight was a small one, just the briefest of passing conversations, but it was significant in that it changed my opinion about an important topic: the correct name of the country I live in and love.
When the news first broke that the new official  name in English was to be  Czechia and not The Czech Republic I resisted it mightily.  I mean, who are they (really – who are they?  Who decides these things?  I don’t know.  Does anybody know?) and what gives them the right to go  messing with other people’s country’s names?
On the other hand, it was an astronomers’ conference in Prague that decided for the whole galaxy that Pluto wasn’t to be counted as a planet any more, so what goes around comes around, I guess.
I have argued against the new name on many an internet thread, and given many reasons.  Then, while getting gas this morning, the attendant who was pumping our gas (Yes, in that respect Albania is a bit like the U.S. of the 1960s.  It was a bit quaint and anachronistic, but  also nice) asked where we  were from and I said “The Czech Republic.”
“Ah,” he replied.  “Czechia.”  Well, I certainly wasn’t going to argue with the man while he was pumping our gas, and he was being polite, and he was not  wrong.  Also, Czechia is easier and you don’t get into arguments and have to keep reminding people to use the article and sounding like a damned pedant, and at least he’s not saying Czechoslovakia, so it’s all to the good.

Also, in the etymology of language, popular usage should be the only rule, and this obviously counts as popular usage.

So, I stand converted.  Czechia it is.

On our  last day here, the town of Ksamil  somewhat redeemed itself.  Although I still  think it’s overly  commercialized and  kind of tacky, and could do with  a good  clean-up, there were three  distinct  moments  today when  we saw quite different sides of it.  I might even  recommend it to others, with some conditions.
We were late getting  out of the house  this morning, I think we were all a bit worn out  from our trip  to Greece and the kids  didn’t even  get up  until 8.
After a morning at the  beach, the  little patch  of public beach, we went for lunch at a  place Sam chose, and it  was  one of the most  incredible  views  I have ever had in a restaurant, a panoramic view of the town and the sea and the islands.  Quite spectacular.  The food was O.K., I  had a pizza but also finished Helena’s Bulgarian salad, because  she  didn’t  like  the  cheese, which I thought  was delicious (it was a bit salty) and Sam’s seafood risotto, because he didn’t want the mussels.  After that,  we retired  to the apartment for a couple  of hours, and then  went to another beach, where the plan was to rent a paddle boat, if  it wasn’t too expensive.  It was 1,000 leks  for an hour (almost  everything costs 1,000 leks, which is  about 8 euros), which we decided was within our budget.  As soon as  we  got a bit away from shore, the town looked  very  different and the islands did not look so far  away  at all, and there are  quite a few of them and people were boating, and swimming, and diving from rocks, and  I even noticed quite a  few  hardy souls swimming between the islands and the shore.
So, I guess the thing with Ksamil is you can have a great time if you don’t mind spending 8 euros, several times a day, for everything you  want to do, and a bit more than that for meals.
Then we came home, showered again, and went out for dinner.  I was just looking  for someplace to have a coffee and a desert, but also  wanted to walk  around  town for a bit, Sam wanted a meal and didn’t want to do anything  at all, and Isabel made it  clear  that she’d  just as soon have stayed  in the apartment, and was  quite grumpy about it.  We settled on  a place called “Fast Food” which had the same view as the other place but this time at night, and Helena and I had small gyros, which were entirely big enough, and Sam  had a large.  If  we’d have  found that place  on  the  first night, we might never have gone anywhere else.  (much cheaper)
Tomorrow night we’ll be sleeping in  Montenegro.

Our plan  for today was to take a ferry  across to Corfu, just to be in a different country for a  day,  and we  all like boat rides.  But, when we found  out it was going to  be 290 euros for a family of four, we scrapped  that plan.   We decided just  to drive south to  Greece instead, as  we’re less than  two hours from the border.
I think it was a very good decision.  We swam  at two different  beaches, the second of which was  absolutely the classic beach you look for.  Free, sandy, not too  many people and most of them locals, showers  and changing rooms.  There was even a playground for the little ones, but our little ones are already quite a bit too  big for that.
We had a lovely Greek lunch after our swim at the first beach.  I  had shrimp,  the kids had souvlaki, and Helena had  a hamburger which was the only thing that  wasn’t very good.  The side  dishes – a Greek salad and a  plate of tzatziki – were excellent, although  the  tzatziki  was thicker, creamier, and less cucumberish than I remember from previous visits.  The price was  less than I thought  it would be and  they gave us  a free dessert, a plate  of  watermelon, because there’s always  room  for watermelon.
We made it back  to Ksamil before  dark  because  Helena didn’t want to drive at  night and we went out for waffles, because  nobody was hungry enough for  a full  meal.  Despite the  over-commercialization  of the beaches here, and the  fact  that some parts  of town look like a rubbish tip, there is a bustling main drag for tourists, and  our table  was right  next to the sidewalk.  An excellent spot for people  watching.