From Edinburgh, Scotland we flew to Dubrovnik, Croatia for a two-night stay (9/11-9/13). We’ve spent time in Dubrovnik before, walking the walls of the medieval town, sampling the food and the culture. So this was just a brief return to a place we love on our way to a new destination, Montenegro.
Why Montenegro for a month? We’ve been traveling since February (7 months), and we wanted to slow the pace a bit. To settle down for four weeks, preferably in a place less busy and less expensive after all this expensive time in the UK. Sara found us a great Air BnB in Dobrota, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) outside of Kotor, so it’s quiet here. We can take a bus to Kotor, or just walk it, to join the tourist crowds in Kotor, or we can stay “home” to relax, read a book, (Evan – play my guitar), or work on this blog (we are SO far behind.)
Our flat is above the family home, and our wonderful hostess is the daughter, Marina. She’s been so helpful, arranging for Sara to visit a local dentist, and giving us rides down to Kotor on her way to work in the morning.
Our two-bedroom apartment is comfortable and well-appointed, and we have this marvelous terrace overlooking Kotor Bay. We sit out here every morning, watching the boats, from huge cruise ships and the yachts of the wealthy to sailboats, speedboats, and even kayaks.
Visiting the Old Town of Kotor: These towns along the Adriatic Sea are lovely. They’re built with white stone, both the buildings and the narrow streets, creating a lovely pedestrian walk that takes you way back in time. Today, of course, they are tourist Meccas full of restaurants and cafes, high-end shopping, museums, souvenir shops and buskers. We love just sitting at a café, along some busy square, listening to a talented busker, or just watching the people stroll by.
Our Favorite spot in Kotor: By a Franciscan Monastery is a very small square where we love to stop for coffee and listen to music.
The Violinist from Moscow: There’s a young busker with his boom-box background support, who plays the violin so beautifully to a range of music, from Italian favorites and opera to movie themes from The Godfather to the Game of Thrones. He’s a very accomplished violinist, a real treat for tourists, many of whom stop to listen and admire for a few moments while others ignore him and walk on by.
At Sara’s suggestion one day, as he was taking a break, I complimented him on his music and offered to buy him a drink. He accepted, and then he joined us at our table to visit for a while. Nerses was actually here for the season from Russia, where he lives in Moscow. As a busker in busy Kotor, he can take in 100 Euros a day. Although his English was far better than our Russian, we relied on Google Translate to assist our discussion. He really wants to learn English and visit the USA one day. We really enjoyed visiting with Nerses and wished him well for his ambitions. For now, with the tourist season here ending, he and his wife plan to return to Moscow next week. In Moscow he hopes his connections will help him land a place in the orchestra.
Visiting Perast: A short bus ride from our place in Dobrota took us to Perast, another old Venetian style town on the bay. Like Kotor, Perast is built along the water below a steep and rocky mountainside. Perast is much smaller than Kotor with no harbor for cruise ships, so the tourist groups here come on buses. The main road/walkway is right along the water, with restaurants, cafes and shops across the road from the waterfront with its small beach areas for swimming and docking for boats. It’s late September, so there are fewer tourists. As the day progressed, we saw a few more tour groups who arrived on buses.
Islands in the Bay: Very near Perast, two small islands sit in the bay: St. George’s Island and Our Lady of the Rocks. For 5 euros a piece, we took the ten-minute boat ride out to the islands. St. Georges’s Island, home to a small monastery, looks lovely with a single building surrounded by tall Cedar trees. But we could not land and visit the privately owned monastery. But we tourists did land on Our Lady of the Rocks, which is actually a man-made island. The legend goes back to the mid 15th century when sailors discovered an icon of the Madonna & Child in the water. This started a tradition of sailors dropping rocks, and even derelict boats, in the water, that eventually created an island in the bay. Even today, locals drop rocks into the sea contributing to the island’s base. The island features a Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rocks, a small museum and a giftshop. The island fills up with tourists, carried there from Perast on many boats. It’s lovely, but very much a tourist attraction built on a historical site.
Making Friends: On our brief boat ride, we struck up a conversation with a couple from England. Normally we avoid political discussions during travel, but these folks were interested in how we felt about our former president, Trump. My first comment is usually, “I’m so embarrassed.” It was soon apparent that we’re on the same page, so as we stepped off the boat, James offered to buy us a beer and continue our chat. We did so and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Helen and James. Beyond grumbling about American politics, we also talked about brighter subjects, our travels, our families, and our retirement priorities.
The Great Montenegro Tour: We wanted to see more of Montenegro than just Kotor and our place in Dobrota. So we joined all-day ride with about 16 of us in a small bus/large van. We stopped for photos as we climbed the mountains. From the highest point, at the mausoleum of Peter II Petrovic Njegos, a revered king, we could view south to Skadar Lake and Albania, then east to Kosovo and Serbia, then north to Bosnia and Croatia. Later we enjoyed a traditional lunch followed by a boat ride on the River of Crnojevic, where some took a brief swim. We also visited the former capital of the country, Cetinje (until 1946). Montenegro, (translates to Black Mountain), is a small, very mountainous country. Driving anywhere involves navigating narrow roads, up and down steep mountainsides, with countless switchbacks. We learned to hold our breath and trust our driver.
Another day of exploration: Our super-helpful Air BnB host, Marina, let us ride with her to Tivat, where she works. In a few days, we’ll do that again when she drops us off at the airport for our flight to Venice. After exploring Tivat, we took a bus to Budva, on the Adriatic coast.
Tivat is a small town on the Bay of Kotor. It doesn’t welcome cruise ships as Kotor does, but it has an airport and several marinas along the bay. Marina (our host) works for Porto Montenegro, a private company that’s building a huge modern community along the waterfront. It’s a high-end place, as one would guess from the beautiful yachts in the marinas. Before heading off to work, Marina recommended a path for our visit. Sara and I walked the waterfront admiring the yachts on our right and the buildings, shops and cafes on our left. We stopped to enjoy the waterfront with tea and cappuccino, and then moved on, through town and up to the bus station.
Budva is a larger town, a result of lots of recent growth and a reputation as a great place for nightlife, a real “party town.” It’s right on the beautiful Adriatic Sea. We arrived at the bus station a little before noon and with help from the local TI, found a route down to the Old Town. We loved Budva’s Old Town, quite a bit smaller than Kotor’s, but lovely and full of character. We were amazed at the number of pizzerias there were. We skipped the big restaurant meal and enjoyed a few slices of pizza instead. Then we spent our time exploring and photographing the Old Town and the beaches to the north. When our sunny day turned rainy, we took shelter near the beach for coffee and tea under the Astoria’s umbrellas. Proceeding cautiously through the occasional rain, we made our way back to the bus station for the ride back to Kotor.
On our month-long stay: We’re still tourists, but we really enjoyed this longer stay. For some days, we just stayed “home,” working on this Blog, reading and relaxing, with just short walks out to get groceries or to enjoy dinner at a nearby restaurant along the water. On other days we would take an early ride to Kotor with Mirana and spend the day enjoying this fascinating and beautiful medieval city. It was a great month in Montenegro.