And the rain begins...in Kotor

I hadnt really planned on going to Montenegro...cos I guess I didnt really know much about it. But then when looking where to go next on my way north, it was the logical path into Croatia and so why not stop in there somewhere to break up the trip...

By guide book didnt give me heaps on Montenegro apart from the coast being the "place to go"...obviously this wasnt hugely helpful for me in that Im not really here at the "beach time of year"...but I didnt let this deter me, did I!?! Haha

Originally I planned to head to Budva on the coast, but just before leaving Tirana I was advised by the young guys who ran the hostel that Kotor was much nicer...so it was decided, Kotor here I come!!

As I said, I entered Montenegro from Schkoder in Albania and this was an adventure in itself!! What with it raining heavily the day I wanted to leave and finding out that the minibus that I thought was going to take me across the boarder, didnt run in winter and then being offered to go in a taxi for 20 euro which I could share with others if there was anyone else who wanted to go but no one showing and then finally being offered 15 euro just for me...I FINALLY made it into Montenegro to Ulcinj, the closest town to the border. From there I caught a bus to Bar and then a bus to Kotor.

But what a drive along the coast...WOW!!!

I wish I could have taken more photos but photos dont always catch the natural beauty, especially out of a moving bus window!!

As I looked out of the bus window as we decended into the valley that holds the Kotor fjord (cos it is a town that surrounds a fjord), I knew I had made the right decision about where to go in Montenegro...

As soon as I got off the bus in Kotor, I had 2 men trying to convince me to go and stay in rooms at their houses (which I know what you are thinking, sounds VERY dodgy) which I was advise in Albania was the way to go for accomodation in Kotor, that people have rooms in their houses that they rent out to tourists.

So after a lot of indecision and negotiation, I ended up following a very sweet man to his house which was a 2 minute walk from the bus station, which made it very convenient. I met his very smiley and very blonde and very much wanting-to-please wife who showed me everything and I had negotiated a very good price with the man, so I said 'yes'. The only down-side to this house was that clearly both of them were smokers and smoked inside and so the house STANK but I figured this would almost be the case anywhere I went in Montenegro...especially when despite any new laws about not smoking inside, they still do and no one does anything!! haha

The gate into my adoptive home and their very cute little orange car out the front there...

So as I said earlier, Kotor is a town surrounding a massive fjord and then on one side is the very small and heavily enclosed old town. On my first afternoon there I thought I would go into town and get my bearings and have a quick look around, and ended up seeing pretty much ALL of the old town in that time!! haha

The following day I climbed up the Old Fortifications of the town that cling to the hillside behind the old town. I was told that it was about an hour walk up...so of course I did it in 30 minutes...haha

Once at the top, there was an amazing view of the whole town and of course the fjord and the surrounding mountains!!

Imagine what it would be like in summer...


I was definitely the "King (or Queen) of the castle"!!

Oh and I found some friends up there...

Mamma Billy Goat and her two very cute kids who wouldnt stop wailing!!

On my second and last day there I decided to go and check out Budva, where I had originally planned on stopping in Montenegro before I was advised otherwise. I had seen a little of it on my way through on the bus on my way to Kotor, and even then knew I had made the right choice!!

Lets just say that Budva isnt the prettiest of beachside towns, especially in the dead of winter when it is basically closed and is left to run down...(before what I imagine to be a very rushed clean up before the tourists start pouring in) because you could very clearly see where all the gimicks and touristy stuff is set up....it was all abit sad really and looked like a broken down and neglected theme park!!

Budva also had an old town which I also explored in an hour or so...or not even...
I ended up finding myself a restaurant on the water and having a BIG bowl of mussles!! YUM!!

And then when I went back outside to go for a walk along the water before returning to the bus station to catch the bus back to Kotor, the overcast sky of course turned into galeforce wind and rain!! Just my luck!! haha

I had torrential rain nearly the whole time I was staying in Kotor and so the fjord was brimming with water...and nearly overflowing!! I kept thinking how much home in Australia could do with all of that water which was just excess for the Montenegrins. I even passed a toad hopping across the footpath on my last evening!!

SO of course that meant that I left on the bus the following day in a shroud of rain and it was on and off like that all the way up the gorgeous coast into Croatia...that was SPECTACULAR!!

Ci Vediamo
Jo xox