Montenegro Land of Mountains

Montenegro

Montenegro has only been recognized as a county since 2008. We were told they had a referendum to become independent from Serbia and no one expected it to pass. And then it did and they have been having to figure out how to support themselves ever since. Now they have a much longer history than that, and were their own kingdom at one time. But, like with much of the history of this part of the world, its complicated and too long for a blog post.

We spent three nights in Kotor old town which is a walled city, a maze of narrow streets with no cars. We stayed at Pallazo Druzco which was by far our best lodging yet. This 600 year old guest house had every detail down to create and atmosphere of the Montenegrin past including an antique radio in your room playing traditional Montenegrin music. Even more important than the beautiful room were the hosts who were kind and helpful. So much better than an AirBnB or hotel where you are all alone. And there was a shared kitchen for guests to use.

You can see the old radio in the background. The water was lemon and mint refreshed daily.

The bed above and where I sat to write in the mornings below.

We began by exploring on our own in the town and the area. We visited another nearby town with famous islands off shore, one with  a monestay and one with a church. We climbed to the top of the castle for veiws of the bay below and lights of the city at sunset. Our guest house told us how to go the back way so we didn’t have to pay the entrance few. What they didn’t mention was you have to enter through a window in the castle wall about five feet off the ground! Luckily Dave was there to give me a boost.

No story about Kotor would be complete with out talking about cats. There are well feed looking cats everywhere and you see locals being kind to them. The story goes there were too many rats at some point and the government told every family they had to have a cat. The rat situation improved. There is even a cat museum, which we visited.

Above view from the path up to the top of the castle ruins, below the ruins.

Then we took an all day tour. The guide was excellent, funny and smart and the other tour guests were great. We saw amazing views from narrow one lane windy roads, visited the tallest Mausoleum in the world, swam in the river and visited the old capital. We saw and earned how they make prosciutto, the geography, history and culture. It was a really great tour. Oh and Dave went on a zip line!

Inside the mausoleum above, ceiling of solid gold tiles donated by the Italian government .

Above entrance to the mosoleum  and below me with the entrance statues guarding the king inside.. This is a communism era monument.

View of Kotor bay from the top of a UNESCO heritage road. Below Dave getting ready to zip line over a deep George.

Our second stop in Montenegro was not as fun. We went to Ulcinj which, although we stayed in a very friendly hostel, was not our cup of tea. It is a coastal vacation town that reminded us of the over built, unplanned towns of the New Jersey shore, but with an Eastern European flavor. This may have been colored by the fact that Dave and I both got really sick. Here’s how you know you have a good travel companion, as I alluded to in the last post, they will spend several night time episodes with you in the bathroom as you both expel everything possible from your bodies. The next day we recovered and the following day we left for Albania.