Blogs from Kotor, Montenegro, Europe - page 3

Today we docked in Kotor and joined with six other passengers to take a tour of Montenegro. We learnt Montenegro borders Croatia and Bosnia to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east, and Albania to the south. To the west of Montenegro is the Adriatic Sea. Tourism had suffered greatly from Yugoslavia's tragic civil war in the 1990s. In recent years, along with the stabilized situation in the region, tourism in Montenegro has begun to recover and it is certainly a beautiful country to visit. We drove to the old town of Budva, where we walked through the cobbled streets. We continued up to former Montenegrin capital Cetinje a small town with unique cultural heritage, famous Monastery, court, royal theatre, and an excessive amount of embassies. Winding up the mountain to Njegusi, along ... read more

After visiting Budva, we went to Kotor. In Ljuta, a small town 5 km from Kotor, we had reserved a room at Alex Guesthouse. It was quite pleasant there, the room was nice, the bathroom and kitchen clean and free parking. The host was friendly but her English was very poor and she seemed a bit retarded. She told us that we were their only guests, but there were 2 other couples and she told us to take a bus to Kotor from the stop at the supermarket that was 3 km away... In the end we managed to get a (completely crowded) bus from Ljuta to Kotor, but it was quite late and we had missed the sunset that is supposed to be very beautiful from the fortress up in the mountains. Never mind, we ... read more

As you can tell....I'm way behind on the blog but we are so busy and having so much fun ...Who has time. And actually T-Mobile service is great for face timing and texting but not doing the blog. But I'll get caught up in the next few days. Leaving Montenegro now and a sea day tomorrow. The we are in Malta for 2 days. Later for now but know we are safe and having a blast....... read more

I believe I always wanted to travel. My family had a very old atlas in the house and even as a child I loved to thumb through the pages and look at the colorful maps displayed inside. The book was huge and had heavy covers and thick paper that made a distinct sound when you turned it. Pastel pink, green and purple countries filled the pages. Thin black lines connected the cities and different size dots indicated the relative populations of each. Rivers and lakes were marked by a wonderful shade of light blue. Creating journeys along the roads or waterways to the most intriguing sounding places was an interesting pastime. I remember writing down the names of the countries or cities that sounded the most exotic. I knew nothing about the places other than their ... read more

The drive from Dubrovnik to Kotor Montenegro is a short one, but it involves a change in worlds. Croatia is blessed with a beautiful coast extending for hundreds of miles of shoreline, including islands. The bounteous sun is almost ever-present, and tourists are plentiful. As a result, they have had the money to invest in their infrastructure and it shows. Roads are well-constructed and well-maintained. Hotels are everywhere, and restaurants plentiful. Almost everyone speaks English, a virtual necessity in the tourist trade. The parliamentary government is apparently well-organized, and the population is relatively homogeneous. Croatia has emerged from the break-up of the old Yugoslavia and the resulting civil war with a bright future, realizable now. As far as I can tell, the same is true for Slovenia, although we did not see as much there. It ... read more