Picking up where Greg left off…the hotel is quite lovely and extensive. The meals are buffet style with a wide assortment of food all of which we had to try. Not sure my clothes will fit if I keep eating this way.
The water-front walk just outside the Hotel Budva
After dinner last night we walked into the old city…old seafront fortification. All sorts of shops and people. Our guide told us we would be able to pick out the Russian women as they were the ones in high heels and lots of make up.. and sure enough women who looked like this were among the first we saw.
Inside the Old-Town
As we were right on the beach and the marina we checked out the yachts which we coveted and watched the moon come up and shine on the Adriatic.
Moonrise over the Adriatic Sea
Across the bay
Two of the many yachts.
The Marina
This morning we joined by a local guide who told us more about the country than we could take in. Some random facts….Montenegro (meaning black hills) is a small country; 14,000 sq km with a population of 650,000. It has a varied background – part of the Ottoman Empire, kingdom (Petrovitch dynasty), part of Yugoslavia, and in 2006 separated from Serbia. It recently joined NATO (it was their prime minister that Trump pushed aside at the NATO meetings) and is working on joining the EU. They already use the Euro. This came about in a round about way- in the 1990s had 130% inflation and were permitted to use the deutschmark so as to save the economy and when Germany started using the euro so did they. Most of the country is Orthodox with 21% Muslim and less than 5% RC. In 1991 was designated as an ecological state with 5 national parks.
The chapel at the king’s palace.
In Budva there is lots of development of hotels and condos. It is on the Adriatic! For those of you who are James Bond fans, part of Casino Royale was filmed here in one of the hotels. Celebrities such as Mick Jagger and Madonna have performed and stayed here. One of the most elite places is on St. Stephen’s island. This was a village started in the 15th century . The religious brotherhood lived and protected the women and children there from the Ottoman invaders. In 1955 it was converted to a luxury resort. Recently remodelled, rumour has it that it costs around 7000- 10000 euros a night.
It took about 45nminutes to drive the 886 vertical meters to Kotor where the cruise ship is anchored.
After we drove through the city we made our way up through the mountains to Cetinje. This was the old capital city of the country and we spent time going through the palace of Nicholas 1 – the last king of Montenegro. Quite a lovely building/museum. In 1918 several of the small countries joined together (Serbia etc) and Nicholas was not chosen to be king. The new king from another one of the countries threatened to kill him if he stayed so he and his family escaped to France and he died in poverty. He and his wife’s remains have recently been returned here.
Holy water in Kotor
Following this we stopped at Kadmi restaurant in the town of Njegusi high up in the mountains for lunch. This was mainly for the lamb that is cooked for 3 hours under an iron bell. Sort of a pre-runner to a crock pot. Except the iron pot is covered in charcoal. This region is known for its prosciutto.. This takes 6 months to prepare and is done over the winter. Smoked using beechwood. Must mention that their local beer was darn good too. We then headed to the Boka Kotor region. Up the mountain and back down… A great motorcycle road as there were at least 40 switchbacks and hundreds of curves…. two way traffic on a single lane road. Our last stop was Kotor…another walled old city. Highlights were the clock tower built in 1602 which keeps accurate time, 12th church, and a more modern orthodox church. Up the mountain were further fortifications and churches. However time and a downpour prevented us from climbing up. We arrived back at our hotel, decidedly wet but a good day.
September 24th, 2018 Loop
For the motorcycle guys, part of today’s route
Beautiful country. Glad to be reading your post.
Thanks