http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Montenegro en-us Mon, 09 Nov 09 23:56:20 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 09 23:56:20 +0000 The trip from Dubrovnik to Tirana was a 4 step 2 day trip along the coast of Montenegro to the Albanian border and then south to Tirana.We left Dubrovnik very conveniently by cab when the cabbie offered a good price. The Croatian coastline south of Dub was more of the same small coves and turquoise sea. This day the squalls kept coming from the south. The cabbie pointed out the lack farms or fa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Ulcinj/blog-444865.html Kortor is a beautiful little seaside town. I spent most of the day climbing the steep and narrow steps of the village within the fortress. There were some amazing views. You find such simplicity in their lifestyle. Its so nice not to hear cars or walk around hordes of people. Its so peaceful. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/blog-442521.html Rachel my friend from Seattle had suggested I go to Montenegro. I was so glad I did. As you can see its amazing. I stayed at Sammy's Guesthouse. Sammy and his family are amazing. They will cook special meals for you take you on tours around the island by boat and offer you unlimited glasses of their homemade grappa. Beware its strong. Sammy had lived in Germany and opted for a more simpler l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Budva/blog-442511.html I left Kotor in the rain forgetting to visit the Basilica of Saint Nicholas and also forgetting to take any pictures of rain and gloom. This time the views from the bus were broader of the wider sea not of closedin bays. This time the bus driver really excelled adding smoking to his multitasks of phoning and driving. It was another modern bus unlike the one next to it at the bus station http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Ulcinj/Ulcinj/blog-442080.html Montenegro Kosovo Sept. 25th Sept. 30th 2009 After finally getting off the beach in Dubrovnik we were to head to the capitol of Montenegro Podgorica. These plans changed once we heard about a little place called Kotor on the coast. Not wanting to miss what was supposed to be a really nice town we decided to make a stop there on our way to Podgorica and we were not disappointed. Kotor is http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/blog-441952.html After a good sleep in my womblike deepsea room on board Marco Polo I had a Balkan breakfast of cold meats and cornflakes at 6am. The early mists were thinning as Croatia drew near to all but lift when we were close enough to see her trademark orange tiled roofs. Sailing in between the close greenandgrey hills was a lovely experience. Even the previous evening's singers were silenced. I set o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/Kotor/blog-441441.html We were quietly chuffed to leave Bosnia by something approaching a normal border crossing However it was not without incident as we discovered we had to pay a ten euro ecotax and we had no euro however after much umming and ahhhing we were allowed to pay with pounds only after the Montenegrins had confirmed it was actually real currency we were trying to give them and then they even gave us http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/blog-437892.html it's my first trip abroad and i like kotor so much. i was here via a work camp named let it be clean. yes we cleaned kotor. we worked 5 hours per day we collected garbage cleaned school buildings playgardens etc. but it was my best holiday. i spent my best 15 days in kotor because we went on the beach every afternoon and to the old town everynight. also we visited budva peras risan cetinj http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/blog-434554.html Continuing our Kickass travel in Western Balkans we headed for The Wild Beauty of Montenegro.Coming from Dubrovnik Croatia the Bay of Kotor started simply enough looking just like any other bay but as we progressed through bay after bay and the surrounding mountains got steeper and steeper the beauty got amazing extraordinary as we closed up towards Kotor.The Bay of Kotor is often described http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/blog-433008.html It took about 4 buses but I eventually got to Kotor a beautiful port town that is a preserved museum town. It is a walled city that as soon as you walk in you feel like you have been taken back a couple of hundred years. Of course the hundreds of extremely wealthy Russian and Serbian tourists soon ruin that dream. I stayed in a hostel within the town and spent most of my time walking around en http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/Kotor/blog-431667.html WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST 2009The easy jet queue was enormous and it took me about an hour and a half to check in drop bags and get through security which left me almost no time to top up my mobile phone and get some money changed and dig out my kunas from two weeks ago.I was asleep before the plane took off donrsquot even think I saw the security demo. Woke up with about half hour flight time to g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/blog-429391.html Kotor and Dubrovnik day 1213 July 9 July 10This time we had a private bus and travelled in style complete with red and blue disco lights that came on through the tunnels. It was only a 45 minute journey to Kotor and I wondered why we didnrsquot just do it as a day trip but on arrival I was glad we were to stay in this town. Kotor is set on the edge of a fjord with spectacular bluegreen wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/Kotor/blog-426440.html Ostrag Monastery Budva days 911 July 6 July 8Leaving Sarajevo we took a bus to our next destination Ostrag Monastery. The road from Sarajevo through the nearby mountains was very narrow with some lovely sheer drops but this of course meant great views. Especially initially we were on a narrow country road with not much passing room for the oncoming traffic. You can see why this area is s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Budva/blog-426436.html So after our weekend in Dubrovnik we got our hire car and headed for the Montenegro border. The border crossing was easy enough although the sun pounding down did make the car turn into a bit of a sauna Some 40 minutes saw us leave Croatia and enter Montenegro. I am guessing that most people don't know too much about Montenegro the second newest country in the world and I am happy to admit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/blog-422681.html My first blog entry...first but coming from the beautiful place. It is absolutely stunning didn't know that such a small country has a beautiful coast. Montenegro used to be a part of Serbia but Montenegrians became independent officially last year. I would recommend it to everybody who enjoy beautiful coast lots of fun night fun....and beautiful people. Will be back here surely. Herceg Novi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/blog-421892.html Une semaine de traverse dans les Balkans autant dire que l on a aval les km d'asphalte en voiture. Environs 3000 km en une semaine. C'est pas de tout repos avant d'entamer le priple en Russie mais dans ce roadtrip on voit du pays en tout cas.Je me retrouve embarqu avec deux VIE Volontariat Internationnal en Entreprise Julien que je connais depuis l'poque Faurecia et Laura que je dcouv http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Budva/blog-421733.html DAY 104What can we say about the 12 hour bus ride from Belgrade Serbia to Kotor Montenegro other than we now have 101 ways to sleep on a bus seat. Angie's favorite one is to stretch our with her legs going across the aisle resting in the empty seat. No one needed the aisle anyway until the stops. Francine's most comfortable way to sleep was to curl up facing the seats and her head on her bl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/Kotor/blog-421444.html Been many places I'd rather describe personally since I might be slightly disabled with defining the options for the access to this blog. In any case I'm having a chance to spend a night at a 3 star hotel and although it stinks in the restroom I'm still taking a great pleasure for such a comfort is truthfully a rarity for me these days. I suppose the last time I've updated this page was in Rimin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Podgorica/blog-420469.html Les balkans en DyaneSoixante ans d'ge des milliers de km au compteur trois chevaux sous le capaux et quatre franais pour une dcapotable citrone qui fut un jour un sommet de technologie automobile il parait ....Dans un tel vhicule soigneusement dcor aux couleurs des pays traverss nous ne manquons pas de succiter l'tonnoment des habitants. Garagistes et douaniers tous nous saluent en r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/Kotor/blog-418789.html Well I am sorry to report that the weather in Budva wasn't all that much better than the weather in Ostrog and Budva really wasn't the most exciting place on the planet. It was raining in the morning so that put the damper on any plans to get out onto the water and have some fun on the water. Instead we had to shelter in cafes and drink tea and coffee and check the internet until the rain showers http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/Kotor/blog-413074.html