Travel Notes: Montenegro

Traveling around Europe for three months in the summer of 2023 was something I will never forget. One country in particular that I found absolutely beautiful while traveling was Montenegro!

Montenegro

Facts About Montenegro:

The Bay of Kotor is the southernmost fjord in the world.
Tara Canyon is the deepest canyon in Europe.
Ostrog Monastery is one of the largest Orthodox shrines in the world. It is visited by members of all faiths.
The oldest tree in Europe lives in Bar: This old olive tree is over 2,000 years old. The circumference of her tree is about 10 m. For more than 1,000 years, most of the 100,000 olive trees in the municipality of Bar have existed.
Skadar Lake is the largest lake in the Balkans.
Montenegro is home to the unique phoenix plant: the delicate Ramonda Serbica, a legally protected flowering plant that grows on the slopes of Rumija, and when it dries it can come back to life with the first rains.
The only habitat of the black salamander (Salamandra atra) in Montenegro is on the mountain Bogićevica (Prokletije), at an altitude of 1,952 m.
Montenegro became the first ecological state in the world, with the adoption of the Declaration in Žabljak on September 20, 1991.

I traveled around Europe from June-September of 2023 with my good friend Carly. Keep on reading to hear about our time in Montenegro.

Saturday, July 29th, 2023, Carly and I arrived very late to Montenegro after traveling from Croatia that day. Our trip to get to Montenegro was one we will never forget.

Carly and I took a bus from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Kotor, Montenegro. What we thought was supposed to only be a 2-3 hour bus ride, turned into a swift 10-hour bus ride. Yes, that is NOT an exaggeration.

Due to traffic at the border of the two countries, we were at a standstill for hours and hours. With no bathroom on the bus, hardly any food and water, and surrounded by others, we quickly made friends with the others around us and realized we were all in the same boat together. Buuuut, that is a story for another time.

After eventually moving through the border, getting our passports stamped, and crossing a ferry while still on the bus, we eventually ended up in Kotor very late that night! Exhausted from the day of traveling, Carly and I headed to our hostel for the night, rolling our suitcases through the cobblestone alleyways.

Kotor, Montenegro

Facts About Kotor:

Kotor is considered a city of cats. In Montenegro, cats are called “matzki”, and they respond to “matz-matz” or to the sausage extended to them.
Tara Canyon is the deepest canyon in Europe.
In late July and early August, a holiday is held in Kotor called the “Kotor International Summer Carnival” or “Bokelska Night”. For several days, the city turns into a peculiar version of the Venetian carnival.
Most of the souvenir shops, fish restaurants and cafes of Kotor are located right in the old buildings. It goes without saying that furniture and interiors are as relevant as possible.
The city is very carefully monitored for cleanliness. The streets are washed with shampoo twice a day. This tradition appeared in the Middle Ages, when the city suffered severely from the plague several times, and has survived to this day. Kotor is very clean.
The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of Kotor Municipality.

Sunday, July 30th, 2023- We woke up and got ready to do some exploring around Kotor. We wanted to grab some breakfast, but every place we passed didn’t have food. We grabbed coffee at this cafe, and I had an iced lavender latte. Delish!! We then walked to this restaurant across the “moat” bridge and the walk over the bridge was beautiful!!!

We got in the restaurant and decided to order something. Carly got the avocado toast and I got the breakfast quesadillas. After we ate, we went to the Kotor famous CATS Museum! It was really cool to see the importance of the animal throughout history…

We then explored the Kotor Farmers Market, Flea Market, and souvenir shops. We ended up running into a girl from our bus in one of the souvenir shops and decided to make plans with her later that night. Around 2:30 that afternoon, it was time for Carly and me head to our boat tour to see Our Lady of the Rocks and the blue caves.

We boated over to the Our Lady of the Rocks church, and went inside and saw the artwork inside and there is a famous tapestry work in there by this lady that designed it with real pieces of gold and silver, and even her own hair. She made the tapestry while she was waiting for her husband to get back from sea, but he never came back and she turned blind by working on it so much.

The legend about the Our Lady of the Rocks is that back in the day, seamen and voyagers claimed to see a lady and a child there. The island is made by stacked ships and ship debris and rocks stacked on top of reach other. Every day on July 22nd, locals go by boat to the island and it is tradition that they throw more rocks around the edge of the island to keep building on to it.

From there, we went to see this old submarine bunker from the war. It was so cool to see! After that, we boated to the blue caves. It started out fine, and then the waves kept getting bumpier and bumpier and making the boat hit them so hard you can feel it in your body. Like something from out of a movie, the blue caves were BEAUTIFUL. The driver took us around to the other side where we got to get out and Carly and I swam to this little cave.

After boating back to our starting point, Carly and I headed back to our hostel to shower and chill after hitting all the rough waves on the Bay of Kotor.

Carly and I got ready in cute outfits and decided to get dinner with the girl we met from the train and saw again in the gift shop. We got Aperol and Hugo spritz at this pub, then decided we wanted pasta. It was so hard to find somewhere to eat, but we finally found this one place and it was so good!!! After dinner, the girl had to walk an hour back to her hostel, then Carly and I got gelato at this place called Marshall’s. We got the flavor called “the Marshall’s special” and it was hazelnut and almond. I also got the coffee and nougat flavor, but it was looking like dark chocolate. It was so good!

The next day, After enjoying our time in Montenegro, it was time to travel to our next destination, being Budva, Montenegro.

Another morning of travel by bus, we got nervous after the bus was an hour late. We waited and waited. A bus driver for another bus was yelling at the people for not having their tickets printed and being so rude. We didn’t understand what his problem was. Finally, our bus showed up, and we hopped on to head to Budva.

Budva, Montenegro

Facts About Budva:

Budva is one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic coast, dating back almost 2,500 years. Archeological evidence suggests that it may have been an urban area as early as 500 BC.
From 1797 till 1806 Budva was under the occupation of Austria, and then, from 1806 to 1807, it was under the rule of Russian Montenegrin government, and between 1807 and 1813.
Budva is the center of Montenegrin tourism, and in 2013, 44.8% of all tourists to Montenegro visited Budva. The Budva Riviera, the coastal area around Budva, is known for its beaches, nightlife, and well-preserved medieval walled city.
Budva is considered Montenegro’s party capital, with a variety of lively nightlife options, including quaint bars in the Old Town.
Budva has many attractions, including a Roman necropolis, ancient pylons, a Roman altar, an early Christian basilica, churches, the Citadel, and the Budva Museum.

Monday, July 31st, 2023- Carly and I arrived in Budva, Montenegro around 1pm. We took a bus from Kotor and drove an hour and a half or so to Budva. Hellloooo humidity and salty sea air! Outside the bus station there was a fenced in garden area filled with tortoises. The taxi drivers told us it is better to walk due to the traffic, so we walked to our accomidation. After arriving at our place, the host greeted us and told us to grab a coffee at the restaurant in the hotel next door while he finished getting our room ready.

We grabbed a coffee, then soon enough it was time to go to our room. We went to our room, then the host gave us both a pair of earrings. It was really nice! We chilled in the room, resting from oour travels. After relaxing for a bit, Carly and I decided to go to the beach. We found a nearby public beach and decided to go there. We got in the water and swam to the rope and floated on the buoys that were attached to it for a while.

After enjoying some fun in the sun, Carly and I stopped in a grocery store before going back to our hotel and chilling. After a few hours at the hotel, Carly and I got ready to walk around some more and grab dinner. We found a dinner place and it was really good! I got the Buddhas Bowl and we split bruschetta. It was a healthy vegan-type restaurant. Yummy!

Petrovac, Montenegro

Facts About Petrovac:

It is located on the coast between Budva and Bar, where the old mountain road from Podgorica reaches the coast is being the most famous Montenegrin myth and legend about the city that doesn’t exist.
Petrovac is also close to two small islands, Katič and Sveta Nedelja. Legend says that the church on Sveta Nedelja Island was built by sailors who survived a shipwreck, and that ringing its bell will bring you luck and happiness.
Petrovac stands out as the most beautiful part of Budva’s Riviera in the country with clean and luxurious beaches.
It was only in the XX century that the locality received the name that is known today. The city was named in honor of Peter I king of Yugoslavia.
An interesting attraction that not all visitors to the city know about is the Roman Mosaic. It is located near the Church of St. Thomas. The object is a ruin of an ancient Roman structure, with a beautifully decorated floor with Roman mosaics of the IV century.

Tuesday, August 1st, 2023- We arrived in Petrovac around 2pm. Budva to Petrovac was not a long drive at all, the only issue was the taxi companies trying to scam people. The cost was going up .2 seconds, not even every 1 second. We looked up the standard cost, and already had exceeded it. Well, we did what we had to after arriving at our destination and I threw 50€ at the Taxi Driver when he declared it was going to be 78€. We told him we were not paying that and then grabbed our luugage, and quickly walked away to our accomadation.

We had planned to do an excursion in Lake Skadar later in the afternoon, but we were both kind of drained from traveling, so we took a walk to lighten our spirits and grab a Diet Coke. Carly and I quickly realized that transportation might be an issue for us, so we headed to check out the bus station to see how to get to our excursion at Lake Skadar. After realizing there is no bus or train, Carly asked the hotel host if he knew what we could do. He called us a taxi that would only charge us 30€ to go to Lake Skadar.

Grateful for the taxi driver for picking us up, we finally get to Lake Skadar after a lot of mountain switch backs and pretty views. Lake Skadar is actually a National Park! The village of Lake Skadar was very interesting. Carly and I walked around a little but and we got a fudge-sickle because I was feeling anxous and worn out. The fudge-sickle did the trick! Finally, it is time for our boat tour.

Carly and I got on the boat for our tour and started heading towards the main lake. The boat driver gave us this little pastry that tasted kind of like a beignet, but without the powdered sugar. We got to dip it in honey. He also gave us the option of red or white wine and the wine was really really good.

We boated to the Monestary, and got to get out and explore it. It was interesting to learn about the Monestary and how one person lives there secluded all by themselves. We drove around Lake Skadar some more, exploring its beauty. The last thing we got to do was jump off the boat and go swimming. It was so much fun!!! It was hard to keep yourself afloat though because there was no salt in the water.

After that, we headed back to the mainland of the town of Lake Skadar. Our taxi driver was about 30 minutes away, so Carly and I decided to get some chicken fingers and french fries at a restaurant. The chicken fingers were really little and thin. They tasted really good. We dipped them in some type of pink vinaigrette with pepper. Our taxi driver arrived and we started our way back to Petrovac from Lake Skadar. Our taxi driver was very talkative, and he talked the whole way there and let us try his Orbit gum. He said the Orbit gum in Montenegro was much better than it was in the United States. After arriving back to Petrovac, our taxi driver invited us to go and see him play live music, but we were really tired.

We then went back to our room, changed clothes, then walked to the bus station to see about getting to Podgorica the next morning. But of course, again, no busses. We were going to try the 2€ hamburger at the Garfield Fast Food Restaurant near where we were staying, but the place was popping and too crowded to wait.

We decided to just go to bed instead. With transportation being an ongoing issue, Carly asked our hotel host again how we could get to Podgorica. Luckily, it worked out he was going to Podgorica already the next morning. So, we decided we would ride with him and leave around 7am to head to Podgorica.

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023- The next morning before leaving, we grabbed a coffee at a nearby coffee shop and explored the inside of this lovely little bakery outside of our hotel. Our hotel host came and picked us up, dropping us off at a restaurant across the street from the bus station. We had a quick breakfast before heading to the bus station to hop on our bus from Podgorica, the capital of the country, to our next country we were planning to visit.

Overall, Montenegro was a wonderful country. It is a very small and secluded country with only 633,158 people. Gaining independence from Serbia in just 2006, it is small and still constantly growing. The beauty of the country is astonishing. I cannot wait to visit again one day and experience it all over again.

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