Montenegro

Kotor in Montenegro

I guess I should start with the journey to Montenegro. To get to there we had a 5 hour stop over in Belgrade, Serbia so we decided to take a bus into town and grab some dinner. Belgrade is not a city that I would recommend visiting but it may be that we were just not in the right area. It took us a while before we found somewhere nice to eat and when we did the food didn't come out very quickly and we missed the bus back to the airport. We did eventually flag down a taxi who got us back in time to get out of Serbia. Chon, however, loved Belgrade because they sold popcorn everywhere on the streets, despite seemingly being the only Asian in Serbia.

The only photo we have of Belgrade

The weather finally caught up with us in Montenegro. It rained a lot but despite the rain, Montenegro was the most stunning place we have visited. The country side is very green and filled with mountains and old medieval towns but it also has stunning mediterranean coastline with beautiful beaches with clear water. After a minor incident where Eva marched up to the wrong car hire company and insisted that we had booked one of their cars, we drove up into the mountains to an old Monastery built into a cliff face called Ostrog Monastery. It wasn't easy to find as the signs were few and far between and a thick fog didn't help not to mention that everyone we asked pointed in different directions telling us that it was only 3km away (must be their favourite number or something). The founder of the monastry is mummified in an open coffin there but is wrapped up in clothe. He is in a small cave like room and a priest is also there calling people forward to touch the body as it is believed that he has healing powers. The room was only big enough for a few people so I went in first to be confronted by a grown man kissing a mummified body whilst crying uncontrollably, which left me standing there awkwardly not knowing what I was supposed to do. I wasn't about to kiss anything in a coffin so I politely backed out of the room giving Chon space to go in but she was back out within seconds also with a dazed look on her face.

Ostrog Monastery

Mosaic in the cliff face at the monastery

A room where you can light candles

The mummified body was in this room and so was the priest, the sobbing man and me looking rather uncomfortable

We then drove to our hotel destination in the town of Kotor via a road that looked direct on the map but turned out to be the mountain pass. The road was very narrow and bumpy with a lot of pee in your pants moments especially when a car came the other way but Eva remained calm and did a great job getting us safely through. The upside of that route was that we found a village called Njegusi that is known for Montenegro's finest cheese and smoked ham and the wine was pretty good as well. Another big plus was the view of Kotor bay from the top of the mountains which left us all breathless ... me in particular as I was very concerned about the steep cliffs.

In the mountains taking a photo of ourselves not realizing that I was blocking out poor old Eva

Cows

A Montenergo farm

Still in the mountains with Kotor bay in the background

Kotor was a beautiful town with a medieval walled fortress surrounding the old part of the town. The fortress walls snaked high up into the mountain side at 260m above sea level and 1350 steps to reach it. It was well worth the climb even though the trail up was marked as high risk on the map. We then drove to another popular area in Montenegro called Budva, which has an ancient walled town right on the coastline. This part of Montenegro is peppered with amazing beaches which has been a popular destination for the rich and famous as well as many Russians for a long time now. We tried to visit an exclusive hotel/island at Sveti Stefan just 5km south of Budva where the rooms are between 800 and 5,000 euros a night but I got stopped at the bridge by security as my t-shirt and cargo pants gave me away as not being a guest of the hotel/island. We did a complete round trip of the bay of Kotor using a ferry service to get the car across the channel part of the bay that opens out to the sea. We stopped in a beautiful little town on the bay to wander around in and admire the village and it's surrounds.

Kotor and the fortress

One of the churches in the Kotor old town

The winding path up to the fortress

Kotor from the top

Part of the fortress walls

About to collapse after 1350 steps

Chon yelling out "I am the King of the World" but she meant Queen

Having a breather

Arty farty photo of Kotor

The fortress again with my man bag

View from a hole in the wall

Chon and I nervously sitting on the edge of a wall

I know I have said it before but this place is a must see in Europe. We would love to come back to Montenegro one day and we wish we had stayed a lot longer but we must continue on our journey and see more of Europe. Eva left us to go back to work in London but we will catch up with her again in Barcelona in just over two weeks time.

Coffee break in the town of Perast along Kotor bay

Islands in the bay

Local gogo mobile

On the ferry crossing

The halo is the fortress walls snaking up the mountain at night

Exclusive hotel/island at Sveti Stefan

Inside the walled town of Budva

Chon on the Budva wall

 

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