Now this is a bit of a tale of two halves.
I’ve been on what was supposed to be a one week break to Montenegro and it really is a nice place.
However, I’ve really not been well, which is most unlike me……….I’m never ill! I sought treatment from my doctor which I thought had worked and off I trotted to Montenegro for a well earned rest. However, Day 2 and whatever it is returned with a vengeance and I was in pain. I quickly sought medical assistance there at a private clinic with Dr Boris (who looked like Vladimir Putin but dressed as Mick Jagger). 🤣 I actually googled him afterwards just to make sure he was a real doctor! 😆 He was! He gave me some tablets which when I read the insert said avoid direct sunlight, coffee and alcohol (exactly what I go on holiday for!) and when it looked like I was going to need hospital admittance I just wanted to come home so booked myself on an early flight and 7 days became 4! In the meantime, I’m now going crazy as the instructions are to “take it easy until we know what’s going on” and today I’ve been in hospital for surgery! Taking it easy for a week is easier said than done for Dora the Explorer, but I am being a good girl and doing as I’m told, because in all honesty, I’m not afraid to admit, I’m scared and upset (in addition to being in pain and a little bit grumpy 😆), quite understandable for someone who does not like unknowns. But I guess there are some things in life that you simply can’t control, so we’ll see.
But I made the best of my four days and am now resting and hoping that very soon, within the next week or two, I’ll be back up to mischief.
So, less of me moaning and feeling sorry for myself and lets get onto Montenegro.
This place has been on my bucket list for a while. It’s a place which always looks beautiful on photographs and although only a small country, it really does have a lot of history and things to do.
It’s a Balkan country on the Adriatic coast, directly below Croatia and above Albania. I’ve been to Croatia and loved it so I thought I’d give this a try because it promised turquoise waters, fjord like bays, towering mountains and glacial lakes. I wanted to go because it looks beautiful.
It is quite a poor country and is not part of the EU, and that is quite apparent. You need a car as the infrastructure is poor. There are minimal train services, buses are overcrowded and hot, and the country does not have a motorway, but even so, car is the best option, so I hired one. The health service is labelled ‘barely adequate’ hence me going to a private clinic and getting home before winding up in the public hospital! Nothing is really maintained very well and compared to home health and safety isn’t really on anyone’s radar. So what I’m saying here is don’t come here and expect standards to be ‘Western’ standards. They are very much not! But it does make up for this in its beauty!
It also has quite a lot of history. It was part of the former Yugoslavia. On the break up of Yugoslavia it became part of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. Whilst combat did not take place on Montenegrin soil, it did offer military, logistic and humanitarian support to Serbia in the Bosnian War and Croatian Wars. It is fair to say therefore, that its relationship with these two neighbours, particularly Croatia, is still strained, the conflict being as recent as 1995, and it is best not mentioned in conversation. In 2006 it voted for and gained independence from Serbia in a referendum.
It’s an easy 3 hour flight from the UK. It has two airports, but being the budget traveller I am I flew to Dubrovnik in Croatia, just over an hour away by car as the flight was half the price. One thing to bear in mind though is that by doing this there is a border crossing, and the new EES system to contend with…………………the system is very slow. If you are coming in on a weekend when traffic is heavy then I would opt to pay double for the flight and fly to Montenegro. I queued 4 hours to get through the border! Lesson learnt…………..200 euros saved but time wasted.
I wanted to stay in the Bay of Kotor as I’d seen pictures. The whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a fjord like inlet from the sea, surrounded by the hugest mountains, dotted with little fishing towns full of medieval and baroque buildings, venetian fortifications and culminating at the far end of the bay with the town of Kotor.
I stayed in the very small town of Perast. I’d chosen Perast as I like quietness, calm and beauty. It has lots of beautiful buildings and palaces, is completely pedestrianised, and has a beautiful promenade lined with cafe’s restaurants and beautiful buildings. Kotor on the other hand is where the cruises dock. There were at least 3 cruise ships sailed past Perast bound for Kotor each day. This makes Kotor a very, very busy place, lots of noise, lots of traffic and just not somewhere I would want to base myself given the choice. Although I did visit and I’ll tell you about it.
I stayed in charming apartment number 3 at Casa Vita Nova. I’d found it on booking.com and it was really good value for money compared to the expensive hotels on the promenade. I fell in love with it from the moment I stepped in……………………it was the right choice.
The downside is that being half way up the old town there are lots of steps up or down to it. The good news however is that this gives you the most spectacular view over the bay of Kotor……………….far better than any you will get from the larger hotels. It is a large, historic property from the Venetian era which has been converted to 6 apartments.
Each one has a really comfy bed, sitting area with large flat screen TV, a dining area, kitchen area and a large bathroom. It was spotlessly clean and beautifully presented, with a little welcome gift of wine and water.
It is managed and owned by the lovely Ana and her husband, who are lovely people and go out of their way to assist you.
I thought the room was nice, but then I opened the blind and saw the view………………….oh WOW………………….the entire Bay of Kotor spread out in front of me from one window and a glimpse of the bay and the little red rooftops through the shady citrus tree outside the other window.
It was almost evening when I got there, and so hot. I wanted something really quick to eat and a nice cool beer. I found both at Pizzeria Bocalibre at the bottom of the steps from the apartment. Really good pizza with San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil and nduja sausage. The local Niksicko beer is good too!
I had a little walk along the promenade later and it was lovely.
It’s a really quiet town in the evening when all the day trippers have gone home. I found a place to sit next to the water and just watched the sunset and the world go by.
The sunset is beautiful because it turns all the buildings and the distant mountains pink as it reflects off their surface.
There were fishermen bobbing abut in their boats and cats lined up on the promenade waiting to be thrown the scraps of unwanted fish. I strolled to the minimarket for breakfast and other provisions and off I went back up the stairs to my lodgings and much needed bed.
The following morning after breakfast I was tired so thought I’d have a morning around the garden and pool and the afternoon exploring Perast.
The pool is absolutely spectacular, and the garden that leads to it is even better. I love a nice garden and this one had winding stone paths, roses and agapanthus.
It had huge walls covered in jasmine in full bloom which could be smelt all around the garden.
Keep following the path and you come to the pool. It’s a good size for a proper swim, overlooks the bay and has plenty of sunbeds for everyone, all with umbrellas. Perfect!
You get an excellent view of the cruise ships from up here. They are silent and they don’t spoil your view as they tend to sail in around 6am and leave Kotor around 7pm, so there is no sight of them during the day.
Sun cream on, book out and I was very happy until it got too hot at midday so I went for a little snooze and wandered down to the town later to explore.
The streets are really pretty. All the houses are built of really thick stone with red tiled roofs. Very few have gardens with the streets being really narrow and houses tightly packed together. However, many of them have the most beautiful flowers outside in pots and have made the best use of what little space they have.
There are so many Venetian palaces, medieval buildings and churches in this one small town it is difficult to believe.
In the main square you will find the main church and outside it three statues, each on a plinth, dedictated to the most influential people of Perast, most of them sea captains, as fishing, sailing and the sea were, and still are, big business here.
Perast has a beautiful promenade, but being a small town it only takes around 15 minutes to walk from one end to the other. And along that 2km stretch there are no less than 3 Moritz Eis Gelato stations! Any town which has an ice cream shop spaced at less than 1 km intervals gets a thumbs up from me. 😆 It’s nice gelato too…………………this one is blood orange and Madagascan vanilla, with a wafer of course. I usually have a cup rather than a cone because when it comes to ice cream I’m greedy! I’m convinced you get more in a cup than a cone, and I don’t want to waste space in my tummy with wafer when I could fill it with ice cream. 😆
Carry on along the promenade and you’ll come across lots more little churches.
They are all quite plain inside but well maintained, almost all of them being Eastern Orthadox which is the main religion here.
You’ll also find a lot of flag flying going on. They are very proud to not be part of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia or the old Yugoslavia………………….they are Montenegro………….and having fought hard for their independence just 20 years ago they like to demonstrate their allegiance to their beautiful little corner of the world.
I walked all the way along to the end of the promenade where you will find the museum of Perast flying it’s flag. It is located in the Bujovic Palace, one of the most beautiful buildings in Perast.
It is a museum to the political, regional and seafaring history of Perast for as far back as records are held.
It is only 6 Euros to get in and is really quite interesting with all sorts of information and artefacts on display.
It was hot and it was thirsty work, so I thought I better have a little glass of sunshine before my return to the apartment (this was before Dr Boris and his tablets limited me to water)!
You can sip your drink right by the harbour sat on the wall, it’s really tranquil.
Suitably refreshed I made my way back up the steps to the apartment. In hindsight I think even then I was not feeling too good. I didn’t feel like going out so cooked my own dinner and ate it overlooking the bay. The apartment kitchens are quite adequate to cook, and when I’m away sometimes I like to buy local and cook.
The following day was a bit of a write off. Not much to report as I felt really unwell so it was breakfast and book followed by a trip to Dr Boris!
The following day I felt a little more comfortable and so I decided to go to the town of Kotor, the largest town in the Bay of Kotor, and where all the cruise ships dock.
My first attempt to get to the car was thwarted by what I thought was a snake sat sunning itself on the car park steps!!!! I am terrified of snakes so I took a 20 minute detour back into town and up another path to the car park only to be told by the car park attendant it was a slow worm!!!!!🤣
Kotor is very much like Dubrovnik in Croatia, in that is is very small and compact with narrow cobbled streets in the same style of architecture and stone . It is a medieval walled city with a large part of the walls still intact. The whole of the town is UNESCO preserved.
You cross the river over a medieval bridge and enter through one of the stone gates built into the wall.
Once inside it really is beautiful. There are churches, towers and Venetian palaces everywhere.
It’s a good place to visit on a really hot day like this because with the houses being tall and made of stone and the streets being narrow you can find little bits of shade to walk in.
There are pretty little squares …………………..
………..and you can always find a little bit of cool shade in one of the many churches.
There are lots of churches and some are more ornately decorated than others but even the plain ones are beautiful in their simplicity.
However the following was my favourite find of the day. It’s in the Church of St Clara and is a Baroque altar in multicoloured carved marble created by Venetian Sculptor Francesco Cabianco in 1708. Isn’t it beautiful artistically!
There are lots more things to look at within the town walls. Museums, lovely little cafes and shady places to rest. It really is pretty.
There are even some pretty shops. This one selling coloured glass lanterns was particularly pretty.
The only downside is that it can get really overcrowded, particularly if a cruise ship is in, and there were three on this particular day, which adds over 3,000 extra people into what is quite a compact town anyway.
To escape the crowds I went up onto the town walls which you can walk all the way along.
It’s definitely worthwhile. You get a fantastic view over the whole of the bay…………………
………………………………and on the other side the view over the port. It really is stunning. Vibrant green and turquoise blue everywhere.
There is also a castle to view but it is on the top of a huge hill, it was 35 degrees and I was in a little bit of discomfort and starting to feel not too well.
I wandered along the seafront promenade………………also very beautiful with lots to see along the way.
As you get to the far end of the promenade there is a huge obelisk type statue which you can’t fail to miss. This is the ‘Monument to Freedom’ an commemorates all those who have lost their lives in the fight for the independence of Montenegro.
It’s worth walking on a little further to a small town called Dobrota on the outskirts of Kotor. There you will find ‘Moments’ restaurant with a lovely view over the bay. Here I treat myself to a lovely filet mignon steak. It was delicious and I’d recommend the restaurant………… great menu, impeccable service and lovely view.
I went back to Perast, had a quick wander on the promenade and then went to my bed.
And that’s where the trip to Montenegro was cut short really. I woke up upset in the night in a lot of pain, that sort of pain where you just want to go home! I’d had four excellent days but did not want to risk having to admitted to hospital there so at 5:30am in the morning I booked a flight home for late afternoon to Newcastle.
It involved crossing the border again and I did not want any hiccups or delays so I left early and arrived in lots of time for my flight. The silver lining was that I decided to go to the little Croatian town of Cavtat, 5 minutes from the airport to fill two hours rather than sitting in the airport as I was more comfortable moving than sitting and I knew I had 3 hours stuffed in an aeroplane seat coming up.
Cavtat has got a lovely little harbour and waterfront with bobbing boats and lots of nice restaurants and coffee shops. It’s got plenty of statues. This is Vlaho Bukovat, Croatian painter and academic who was born in the town.
So that is a little whirlwind tour of Perast and Kotor in the Bay of Kotor. I had planned to do so much more ………..there are lakes, mountains, mountain top monasteries and all sorts……………….but it was just not to be this time. I will definitely return though as it’s a place I want to explore in more depth when I can. Mini me (my youngest) was waiting for me at Newcastle, because my car was parked at another airport 150 miles away. 😢 But I was so relieved to be home. The car was retrieved a few days later.
That’s just over a week ago and I’d like to report that I have done NOTHING! I’m not allowed to run, lift or anything! I’m doing everything I’m told though as I want to be back to my normal self in a couple of weeks. Every time I should have gone for a run I am just going for a steady wander around the village to get some fresh air. It’s quite a novelty for everyone to see me walking.😆 I think I’m probably meant to be off work but mine is not a physical job and that would stress me out completely so I’ve been dipping in and out of that just to keep on top of it. Fortunately the weather has been lovely so I have spent a lot of time here …………………………….
This is my happy space ………. my reading and morning coffee bench outside my back door at the side of my house!😍Didn’t I tell you that that wisteria over my back door would be fantastic in a few weeks. Well here it is. I love Spring and early Summer, just that smell of ‘green’ and all the beautiful flowers.
So that’s all for now. Dora style adventures will resume very shortly all being well!