Magical Montenegro – Experiencing the Bay of Kotor

It took us about three hours to drive from the fairytale city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, to yet one more wonderful place, Kotor in the little country of Montenegro. As soon as our bit vehicle rounded the bend as well as into the bay, we were in awe of the postcard-perfect landscapes.

The bay, which is likewise understood as the Boka, is dotted with bit villages, as well as is backed by towering, rocky mountains. This area is compact as well as the very best method to see it is to pick a base as well as do day trips from there. You might quickly spend a couple of weeks at the Bay of Kotor, checking out all of its natural appeal as well as historical sites.

Beautiful landscapes on our method to Kotor
We selected to base ourselves in the old town of Kotor as well as since we had a rental car, we might head out every day to go to the close-by towns. Unfortunately, our vehicle mainly sat in the car parking lot! generally the entire time that we were in Montenegro, it rained…and I don’t indicate that it drizzled, we experienced torrential downpours.

Because the bay is backed by such grand mountains, the clouds just seem to get “stuck” as well as rather than blowing through, they hang around in the bay.

This is what it appeared like when the clouds parted! Verbazingwekkend.
During the rainy days, we hung out in the typical area of our hostel with other backpackers, while drinking white wine as well as waiting out the storm. Not that there’s anything regrettable about drinking white wine as well as satisfying other travellers, however we would have favored to be out checking out the area.

We felt a bit old at this hostel – red white wine & white wine glasses for us, inexpensive beer & whiskey for the youngsters!
When the clouds would part, even if just for a couple of hours, we would run outside as well as see all that we could!

Kotor itself was absolutely incredible. The old town is fortified on all sides, as well as even though the backside of the town is secured by a huge rocky mountain, there is still a stone wall which runs along the hill, producing an additional layer of security I suppose.

How people were able to produce such a huge wall on such steep terrain in the 9th century is beyond me.

The harbour at Kotor, with ominous clouds looking above
These medieval walls were added to throughout the years by whomever was ruling the city – the Byzantines or the Venetians, up until it was ultimately completed in the 15th century, producing a full loop around the city of Kotor.

In my opinion, this is what makes the city so incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it before in all of our travels. Hiking up the medieval walls uses the very best vantage point over the bay, as well as when the rain cleared for a couple of hours, that’s precisely what we did.

Beautiful stone steps leading as much as the fort walls
The climb started ideal near our hostel in the old town, as well as considering that we were checking out in the offseason, we didn’t have to pay the entrance charge – one perk of taking care of the rainy weather condition I suppose!

We climbed up the mossy rock-cut steps up until we reached the very first lookout point. Ominous clouds hung over the bay, getting darker by the minute. We scrambled up the slippery steps up until reaching the 15th century Church Of Our woman Of Remedy, at around 100 meters high.

It’s true that 100 meters isn’t all that high, in fact, it’s generally at sea level…yet, we were huffing as well as puffing on the method up. thinking about the truth that in the past we’ve trekked for 8 full days in Mongolia, over a 3,860 meter pass in Kyrgyzstan, as well as as much as 5,416 meters in Nepal, this was a pathetic showing on our part.

Beautiful views…before the rain came!
Having refrained from doing much exercise over the past couple of months, that 100 meters truly got our hearts pumping as well as was precisely what we desired (and needed) to be doing.

As luck would have it, the rain started as well as we ended up being engulfed in low-hanging clouds. regrettably we couldn’t make it to the top, so the Fortress of St. John would have to be seen by means of drone!

We flew Drago the Drone up over the mountains the complying with day as well as were able to get a bird’s-eye view of what we missed out on – what a spectacular sight.

The extraordinary stone walls climbing up the hills behind the old town of Kotor – thanks drone!

Apart from getting a small bit of exercise, we wandered the lanes of the old town of Kotor as well as marvelled at the gorgeous churches. We stumbled upon the carnival events one night as well, which indicated that there was complimentary booze as well as food for everybody in the plaza! Unfortunately, because of the bad weather condition forecast, the rest of the weekend festivities were put off up until the complying with Friday, after we had left.

Nick in line for some a lot more complimentary food from the friendly regional ladies

We did venture away from Kotor a couple of days to the city of Budva as well as the town of Perast. In Budva, we were underwhelmed by the architecture. The old town there is smaller than Kotor as well as seems a lot more touristy, while the surrounding city is full of high rises as well as contemporary buildings.

However, there is a charming promenade which runs along the water here, as well as lots of restaurants as well as bars to select from, including our much-loved one, taste Of Asia. We discovered this gem after looking on trip Advisor, as well as having been unimpressed with a lot of of the food so far, we weren’t expecting much.

Beautiful harbour as well as mountains as a backdrop in Budva
We were greeted by a guy from Serbia (not a great begin to Oriental cuisine), who handed us a menu full of food from Thailand, Indonesia as well as China. It looked good, however you never know…

When the steaming plate of Pad Thai, as well as Massaman Curry came out, we were pleased by exactly how it looked, as well as exactly how it smelled. Upon tasting, we were blown away. Ernstig! The flavours were area on when it pertained to exactly how these dishes would have tasted in Thailand – fish sauce, peanuts, chilli, coconut milk, chives, tamarind, etc etc. It was perfect.

This pad thai meal was incredible!

This was the very best meal we’d had in ages!

It turns out that the owner is from Hong Kong, as well as the manager who served us, as well as the chef in the back, were trained by the owner for three years. The restaurant has now been offered to the manager, as well as the requirements have stayed I would say.

We drove 30 minutes to this restaurant three times during our stay in the old town of Kotor.

Perast may not have had the Oriental restaurant, however it was just a quick 15 minute drive from Kotor, as well as has two churches on islands just offshore. This unusual setting for churches was quite amazing. However, it was raining for all however 10 minutes when we visited, so we didn’t want to take the boat ride, however the islands looked quite awesome from the shoreline.

The town itself is small, however lovely, as well as can be quickly checked out on a day trip.

Views of Kotor as well as the surrounding wall lit up at night

After a seven night stay, it was time to pack up. As usual, the sun was shining as bright as can be on our day of departure! But, in this case, we were delighted as we were going on a road trip back to Split, Croatia. however this time, we didn’t take the coastal route, which would have been the exact same method we pertained to Kotor, we went by means of Bosnia as well as Herzegovina in buy to see some a lot more of the rural areas there.

We drove for seven hours that day with a few of the most extraordinary scenery! The landscapes were epic. starting in Montenegro we made our method up with the jagged cliffside and onto a great highway surrounded by mountains. The highway soon ended as well as we discovered ourselves in the gorgeous countryside on extremely narrow roads with a few potholes right here as well as there.

A bit village on our drive from Montenegro to Croatia
This driving was simple compared to our road trip in Albania!

After driving for a couple of hours, we shown up at Orah Lake, with a little church as well as a shepherd with his sheep. We were in the middle of nowhere as well as it was silent except for the “mehhh’ing” of the flock. We took pleasure in a picnic right here as well as brought on towards the border of Bosnia as well as Herzegovina.

This was the most tranquil area for a picnic – on our method to the Bosnia border crossing

The drive with that country was fantastic as well. We passed marshlands, orchards, little towns as well as lots of shepherds with their sheep. The day was perfect. As soon as we shown up in Croatia, we discovered ourselves on a brand new toll highway, with a speed of 130kms / hour!

We made it back to Split in no time.

A gorgeous ending to our seVen Nights in Montenegro!

Onze ervaring in Montenegro was uiterst positief. Evenals ik geloof dat de waarheid die we daar graag zo graag reisden, ondanks al het slechte weer, echt spreekt met precies hoe buitengewoon het land is. We willen absoluut teruggaan in de zomermaanden en gaan naar alle sites die we hebben gemist.

Bekijk onze video van prachtige Montenegro!

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