From Dubrovnik it was another long and winding bus ride to Montenegro. Our first stop was Kotor, a beautiful walled, medieval city located on sparkling Kotor Bay.

Kotor is similar to Dubrovnik in many ways. The beautiful stone architecture hearkens back to the same era. There are narrow streets and alleys that make it impossible not to get lost. The old city walls limit the pathways in and out of the city to only a handful. Kotor is also the destination of massive cruise ships that disgorge tourists into the historic center each day.

However, Kotor has not yet reached Dubrovnik’s status as a travel destination. It still feels like a city where people live. We could afford to stay in the old city center, at an adorable studio apartment we found on Airbnb. There are also still tasty, cheap dining options that cater to both locals and visitors.

Hiking Kotor’s City Walls

Like Dubrovnik, the must-do activity in Kotor is a walk on the city’s ancient walls. However, unlike Dubrovnik where the walls are relatively flat, Kotor’s walls wind into the mountains behind the city and lead up to a medieval castle.

It was a hot day and the hike was grueling. However, the views of the city, bay and the mountains beyond made it all worth it.

Dan had done a little research and found a blog that mentioned climbing through a hole in the wall and finding a little abandoned church part way up the mountain. We decided to go off the prescribed route on the way down and see if we could find it ourselves.

At first I was dubious about scurrying down the back side of the city wall but once we’d climbed through it was easy to reach the church.

As you might remember, I love abandoned buildings – they always spark my imagination. So finding this little stone building, unassuming as it was, felt like stumbling on a secret treasure.

Touring Montenegro

Montenegro is a tiny country almost completely covered in mountains and with an unfortunate lack of reliable public transit. We didn’t want to rent a car so we figured the easiest way to see more of the country would be on an organized day tour from Kotor.

We booked the ‘Great Montenegro Tour’ with 360 Monte tour company. Highlights included sampling local cured meats in a tiny village for breakfast and enjoying fresh whole fish for lunch (which our guide kindly offered to debone for us squeamish Americans.)

The tour took us to the mountain tomb of Montenegro’s national hero and poet, Petar II Petrović Njegoš, located in Lovćen National Park.

I know I talk about great views a lot on this blog but the mountains in Montenegro really do offer some amazing vistas. Outside the mountaintop tomb our tour guide helped us take advantage of the setting to capture this awesome photo:

We did encounter some rain on the tour but luckily the weather cleared up long enough to take a boat ride down the River of Crnojević. Cruising the river while sampling some raki (a local grape skin liquor made by our boat driver) was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Some of us were even brave enough to jump in.

The river is home to an amazing variety of bird life. Unfortunately our boat and the birds were moving too fast for me to get any great photos of them. After the boat ride our bus took us back up the mountain so we could admire the river from above. My camera’s lens wasn’t wide enough to get a full image of the famous horseshoe bend.

Thanks goodness for iPhone panoramas!

Overall we had a great time on our tour. We got to see much more of the country than we would have on own and we learned a lot. I would highly recommend 360 Monte to anyone planning a visit to Montenegro.

Ulcinj

Our next and final stop in Montenegro was Ulcinj, a beach town that turned out to be a bit of a bust. At this point it had been a long time since we’d been on a coast and from what we’d read Ulcinj sounded like a good spot to enjoy the beach for a few days.

Unfortunately the actual town turned out to be grimy, filled with traffic and crowded. The beaches, while beautiful, were either rocky or two shallow to swim from.

Ulcinj does have a lovely medieval old town but it hasn’t been well maintained. Walking through it could be a bit treacherous. We did find an awesome local seafood restaurant overlooking the water. We had a couple of delicious meals there while watching the sunset so Ulcinj wasn’t a complete waste of a stop.

Even though the end of our Montenegro trip was a little disappointing I’m glad we made time to visit this little country. The geography and culture of each country in the Balkans is slightly different than those around it. Traveling slowly through this little corner of the world was a fascinating experience and something we would never have gotten to do on a normal vacation.