Blogs from Montenegro, Europe - page 18

K- It only takes about 4 hours to go all the way up the Montenegro coast from Albania to Croatia so we decided to base ourselves in Budvar, a beach town about half way up the country and do some day trips. My definition of luxury after a year of traveling is spending more than one night in a hotel (closely followed by a backpack of clean laundry) so the fact that we could spend 3 nights in one place immediately endeared Montenegro to me. We didn’t know much about Montenegro before we got there but found it have a lovely coastline and some small, walled cities which are common in this area. The photos pretty much speak for themselves. We did not explore the interior because we had just made it back from the Albanian ... read more

Yes, yes. I know what you're thinking, you've never heard of Budva right? Well, the truth is neither had I just a week ago! For the record I'm sure the guys are fabulous, but if you'll indulge me for a moment I'd like to comment briefly on the women. I arrived on New Year's Day in the middle of the heaving celebrations, with people flocking from all over the Balkans to ring in the new year in this picturesque Adriatic city. I stepped out for a stroll when the earth shook to it's very foundations. So then, what's the story morning glory? Oh that's it, suddenly it dawned on me that never before have I seen such beautiful women! Finally there's a city to rival St Petersburg, and the ladies promenade here like they've just stepped ... read more

Durmitor ja Tara-joen kanjoni Albaniasta palattuamme olikin sitten aika jättää Budvan kaupunki taakse ja jatkaa jälleen matkaa. Olimme nyt kolunneet lähistön merenrannat ja matka jatkuikin sisämaahan ja Montenegron vuoristoihin. Maassa on 5 kansallispuistoa jotka kaikki sijoittuvat tavalla tai toisella vuoristoisiin maisemiin – me olimme nyt matkalla niistä suurimpaan – Durmitoriin. Kun maassa kerran riittää vuoria on myös sopivien ajoreittien valinta aina vähän siitä kiinni, että minkä vuoren haluaa ylittää tai mitä laaksoa pitkin kiinnostaa ajella. Nyt reitti alkoi samaa tietä josta olimme edellisenä iltana palanneet ja suuntasimme kohden Podgoricaa. Matkan edetessä maisemat muuttuivat entistä mäkisemmiksi ja pian nousimmekin sitten jo oikein korkeaan vuoristoon. Majoituspaikkojen löytyminen ei ollut lainkaan varmaa vaikka olimmekin suunnistamassa kohden Durmitorin al... read more

Kotor is a short bus trip from Budva and is just spectacular. It sits on the northernmost point of a bay that stretches from near Budva almost to the Croatian border. Like Budva, there is a beautiful old town on the coast, but Kotor also has a fortress perched atop a mountain. Climbing to the fortress offers dramatic views of the city, the bay and the surrounding mountains. There were some brave locals near the top selling cold drinks. They must be in great shape hauling their coolers full of drinks up the mountain everyday. I hope they get a lot of customers to reward them for their efforts. ... read more

Severely hungover, I reluctantly forced myself out of my deep drunk sleep to go and catch the minibus outside of Ploce Gate to Montenegro. This doubtlessly put a bit of a dampener on my day which is why I generally don't drink much whilst travelling. But what was done was done - I had gone out in Dubrovnik the previous night and got hammered on buckets of vast volumes of intoxicating liquids. Oh well. The tour was going well from Dubrovnik to the border crossing with Montenegro - finding out little nuggets of information from the tour guide on the surroundings that passed us on our journey, for example, the best restaurant in the Balkans is supposedly in some woodland near the Montenegran border with a waiting list of something silly like 5 years. That is ... read more