Montenegro: Three Towns, One Day

LOCATION:

Kotor, Njugusi, and Budva, Montenegro

 

I have officially decided that when you don't know anything about a country, a good old fashioned tour bus is the way to go. Sure, the DIY version may be a little cheaper or seem more adventurous, but our twelve hour Montenegro tour was packed with information and stops that would have been nearly impossible to find on our own. While a little of what we learned was about the war in this region in the early '90s, I have added the subject to my list of things to look into when I get home - along with art history, the Kennedy family, and America's involvement in WWII. With all of the travel Erin and I have been doing, crossing the border into Montenegro was one of the only times we had to show our passports and even got stamped! Croatia is joining the EU in a few months but Montenegro is not, so border security is still pretty controlled.

 

Our first stop in Montenegro was Kotor. It is a other ancient walled city, but the walls in Kotor don't surround town - they go up into the mountains and are so old and overgrown, they are hard to spot! We had about an hour to explore and found a church with uneven bell towers, surprising squares, and lots of secret little stores and restaurants. We learned that most walled cities (especially those built under Venetian rule like Kotor) feature a lion holding a book. If the book is open, the wall was built during a peaceful time; if the book is closed, the wall was built during conflict.

See the walls? Hard to spot!

Two different size towers, I can't remember why though.

Pretty surprises around every corner!

A view of the wall, with black mountains (how Montenegro got its name) in the background.

The Bay of Kotor.

And the lion! Open book!

 

After Kotor we got back on the bus and drove for about an hour up into the mountains. Our guide warned us the roads were bad - but I didn't know "bad" means serpentine turns, no ledge, and only room for one car (or what felt like half of a big giant tour bus) at a time. There were actually numbers painted on each turn - we went 25 turns up the mountain. It was really foggy and hard to see the road, so we applauded our fearless driver for getting us to the mountain top safely.

The scary foggy road!

 

Our lunch stop was in the mountain village of Njugusi. It is famous for wool and its smoked ham (more like prosciutto) and cheese sandwiches, so it was a perfect lunch stop. An interesting fact - the town is so far up in the mountain and only accessible by the 25 turn road, so during a bad winter it becomes isolated and often loses power for months at the time - but apparently the few people that live there love the tranquility!

 

Yummy ham sandwich!

Those cabins are available to rent - not my style, though!

 

Our last stop (after we made our way down the winding twisty road) was the spectacular seaside town of Budva. Budva is very glamorous and is a favorite of some pretty big name celebrities like Madonna and Beyonce. It was also prominently featured in one of the more recent James Bond movies - Casino Royal, which I now want to re-watch! It was yet another walled city, but this time we were able to walk along the walls that seemed to be built right into the sea. The easy highlight of Budva, though, was the seaside walk to one of its beaches. It was so spectacular, I have put "return to Budva, pack swimsuit" on my life to-do list.

The walls, coming right out of the sea.

Lots of colorful surprises inside these walls as well.

Look, no hands on the wall!

The entire coast is prone to earthquakes, here is some evidence of damage.

This is the walk to the beach - unreal!

And here is the beach that awaits you around the corner.

The view of the walls, walking back towards the town.

This statue was on the walk - I thought it was so beautiful.

Erin imitates art.

Montenegro definitely took me by surprise, Budva in particular. For such a small country it has so much to offer - mountains, valleys, and the Adriatic Sea. This day trip has been one of the best of the past nine weeks, and I highly recommend Montenegro as a day trip from Dubrovnik, or a destination itself. Montenegro also marks my 23rd country visited in life, and the last new one I will get to add to my list before returning to the US. Hard to believe there is only one week remaining of my ten week journey - we take an overnight ferry to Italy tomorrow to work our way up the Mediterranean coast for a few days before heading home.

Thanks for a great 23rd, Montenegro!

 

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