Montenegro 2011
So back in 2011 I took two of my work colleagues and my old car, and we went to find adventure in the southern Europe.
While I normally opt to spent time in the cooler climate, the trip was worth the sweat and sunburns. ;) Described, at that time, as the cheaper version of Croatia, was indeed an affordable place to visit (which was a factor). We had a tent, but in the end it was cheap enought to rent rooms for most of our trip, which was nice. All the coastal area was pretty much used to tourists. When we went north, to do some hiking, it was visibly less crowded (yay!).
Day 1
We started our trip with a loong ride. We chose route through Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and finally Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was an adventure in itself. As it was 2011 and phone navigation was not really a widespread thing at a time, and we didn't have dedicated device, we went somewhat blind into this lovely country. I searched for maps on the internet, but they were limited in details. I printed some beforehand, just to have some overall view where the bigger cities are located.
What was.. interesting (?), but also sad at the same time, that you could very clearly see signs of the military conflicts, latest being the Bosnian war (1992-1995), which I vaguely remember going on when I was much younger. A lot of houses still had bullet holes in the building elevations.
We decided to have a stop in Sarajevo. It was very easy to get to it, we spend a little time going around city centre, then it was time to continue our travel, as we wanted to arrive in the evening in Montengro. We actually spent a bit more time in Bosnia then we anticipated as we got lost after leaving Sarajevo. Instead of going directly South, we ended going more East and found ourselves in the more mountainous area near the Serbian and Montenegro border.
We took the "road less travelled". :) After a while, driving through small villages, we found ourselves in even better situation because we were running low on gas and we haven't seen any gas station for quite some time. We reached a moment when we were driving on fumes and the sun was getting low. What a great way to start a trip!
We stopped in one village, tried to communicate with some local farmer. We were actually successfull, he gave us some gas, unfortunately it was a 89 or 90 octane benzin, I guess from lawn mower, or something similar (engine in the car was supposed to run on 95 or 98). We weren't sure if it was safe to use it, so we decided to leave it as a last resort. We thanked the generous guy and drove for a little while longer. Then we stopped and actually were able to catch, in the middle of nowhere, someone to tow us to the gas station. It turned out it was just few kilometers ahead and we would have made it by ourselves. :)
With full tank, we happily resumed our journey just to get a speeding ticket after another few kilometers. I guess we were too happy, too relieved at that point and a bit careless. We paid with cash and continued our trip. Very late in the evening, after it was already dark (I think it was already after 10pm), we finally made it to the border and were also successfull in finding a place to stay for the night (very cheap one as well) in Herzeg Novi. So after all, we made it! :)
Here are few shots from the road and from Sarajevo.
Day 2
Our second day was dedicated to sightseeing Herceg Novi. We planned to visit all coastal places in the first week, going from North to South, then go to mainland for the second week.
Herceg-Novi? Absolutely lovely city, looks much like Croatia. I enjoyed the palms, the buildings (architecture) and the sea. :) We actually had to walk a bit from the outskirts, where we booked a room, to the city center. And it was soo hot! I barely had anything on me and I was all sweaty. :/ I actually haven't anticipated I would need to wash my clothes while being there, lol. To cool down a bit, we dedicated some time in the late afternoon to visit the rocky beach and dip toes in the water.
Last pic is of our "hotel". It doesn't look like much, but it was clean, we had 3 rooms (2 bedrooms and a living room), 3 beds, table to eat, bathroon and someone's belongings thrown in the corner. ;) And it was very cheap.
Day 3
Bay of Kotor, or Boka Kotorska in regional language, shortly just Boka. A must see place, when visiting Montenegro. Surrounded by mountains, creates sort of midterranean fjord. On our day there, we visited Risan, Perast, one of the small islands - Gospa od Skrpjela, Dobrota, Donji and Gornji Stoliv and Lepetane. All those places are very picturesque, with similar architecture, Perast being defintiely the most touristic one. And Risan being the most damaged, with quite a few abandoned buildings.
From Perast we took a boat ride to church on Gospa od Skrpjela, which is actually an artificial island (the only one of a kind on the Adriatic Sea). And hiking to an old church in Stoliv brought us an amazing view on the whole bay. Going up there in this kind of heat was brutal, but worth it. :)
Day 4
Kotor, a titular city of the whole area. First mentioned in 168 BC, really has an ancient city vibe. The architecture of the old town is beautiful, stone buildings and narrow passages. Also the ruins of the fortification system, spread on the hills above the city, give very unique feel. If you're there, I strongly suggest taking a hike along them. It's not only stone walls but also ramparts, towers, citadels, gates, bastions, forts and even a castle. We hiked only up to some point, and now I wish we went all the way. :) But even the part, that we went up, provided us with this amazing views on the whole Bay. If not only for the heat.. ;)
We finished the day by visiting Budva, city outside of the Bay, on the Adriatic coast. The thing I remembered the most is that were a lot of luxurious yachts in the port to look at. ;) But we also visited the Citadel, which gave an awesome view on the city. This was our last day in Kotor area as we moved further South along the coast line.
