Kotor and Budva, Montenegro – 14 June 2018

As the Amico van pulls up at the Pile Gate on Thursday 14 June we notice it’s Gabriel, our guide from Mostar. Great! Today we are off to Montenegro (country number 58 for me).

We end up waiting a good 10 minutes for others before leaving with one additional person. Why oh why can’t people be respectful to others and arrive on time??!

One more stop to collect two people then we are off. I really do appreciate how yesterday we were the last pick up stop.

As we drive out of Dubrovnik the traffic is bumper to bumper on the other side. Thank goodness that’s not us! In the heart of summer (July and August) it would be crazy traffic both ways - no thank you!

Montenegro is a country on the Adriatic Sea that borders Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania and Croatia. According to google Montenegro is the same size as Kentucky in the U S of A and can fit into NZ about 19 times.

We drive around 40 minutes before we hit the border crossing - ooh how I love Europe!

Unlike our trip to Mostar there are cars / buses when we pull into the border crossing. Gabriel had already warned us the Croatian side is definitely slower as they need to scan everyone’s passport. Let’s hope it’s no longer than 30 minutes.

After a good 10 minutes wait an officer comes to the door to collect our passports. A few minutes later a bus in front leaves so we drive forward. Fingers crossed we’ll be out of here soon and onto the Montenegro border crossing.

20 minutes after arriving we are off into no man’s land. Unlike the crossings into / out of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday there is a few minute drive to the Montenegro border crossing.

4 minutes after arriving at the Montenegro border crossing we are through. This included having to wait for the van in front of us. Talk about easy! No passports shown - just a name by name list with our date of birth, passport numbers and nationalities.

Gabriel informs us the currency is Euro but Montenegro isn’t in the EU. They have started the negotiations to join the EU though. Due to this and the fact they pay Euro tax they can get away with using the Euro.

We have a 35 minute drive to a view / coffee / bathroom stop.

We have just over 20 minutes at Verige 65 Restaurant and Bar. This looks out over Kortor Bay. The views are amazing!! A shame it’s not all blue sky. OJ ordered then we sit and enjoy the views.



As I walk back to the van drops of rain start to fall. Fingers crossed it they don’t get more frequent!!

After driving around the bay we have a stop to take photos of the two small islands - one of which is man-made.



As we continue our drive around the Bay the rain drops increase in frequency and size. Rain rain go away, come back tomorrow afternoon once we have left!

I wonder if I can stay in the van for the two and a half hours we are going to be in Kotor. This weather is absolutely awful!!!

2 km’s from Kotor the rain stops - thank you God!! Let’s hope it stays away now for the rest of the day.

Kotor is a fortified town surrounded by the mountains and sea, with a medieval old town that has winding cobblestone streets and squares. We have a half hour tour with a local guide then are left to our own for two hours.

   

We visit St Luke’s Church and Church of St. Nicholas as we are right here.

  

Then just wonder the narrow cobblestone streets and find ourselves back at St Tryphone Cathedral. After paying the fee to enter (only one today) we enter. I’m hit with the heat. Typically churches are cool so this is surprising. Thankfully it’s cooler on the balcony, which has views down to the piazza.

  

Susan ordered a gelato which we sat and chilled while she ate. Great views of the Church of Our Lady Remedy from here and a nice cool breeze!



We continue wandering the streets.

 

We had passed a bakery on our tour so went in search of that for me to get a snack. Gabriel advised earlier that it’s best to have lunch at the next place Budva as there is less to do there than in Kotor. So I picked up two small local pastry items - one with zucchini’s and the other one with cheese and spinach. Both tasty.



As we walked out the city gates we went through the local market.

 

The produce (fruit and veges) all looked super tasty. Olives are a local specialty which every stall had. The stall owners were all very happy for me to try an olive.

    

After seeing if we got a better look of the city walls, which we didn’t, we walked under the covered market area where the stalls sold seafood, cheese, prosciutto and olives. We ran into Gabriel who was buying something so got a taste of the prosciutto and cheese. Both tasty! Continued wandering and we came across a green cheese - different. The stall owner advised it was pesto cheese, yes thanks we’ll try some. Surprisingly it was super tasty.

 

As we left the covered market the thunder begins - ooh no please stay away!!

 

Before returning back to the van we head into the shopping mall - if it’s going to rain at least we will be covered! We wander through the supermarket before heading to the bus.

 

Unfortunately all but one of us was on time. So now it’s waiting waiting waiting for one guy to turn up. 14 minutes and counting.....Gabriel advises he had never left anyone behind but that there is always a once. Apparently a colleague of his waiting two hours once for someone before leaving without them. It’s so bloody inconsiderate - especially when everyone else can be on time!

25 minutes and counting. So annoying!!

30 minutes later Gabriel reparks the van and goes off in search of the missing person. Thankfully a couple of minutes later he turns up with the missing guy. And we are off, better late than never (35 minutes late).

As we pull out of the car park the rain starts - thank goodness it stayed away while we were wandering around Kotor.

Gabriel reads the guy the right act again on the bus - he was the one that we were waiting for this morning at Pile Gate. Unhappy Gabriel!!!

As we exit the 1+ mile tunnel we have blue sky and sunshine - woo Hoo! Such a huge difference yet it’s so close to each other.

It’s a 40 minute drive to Budva - part of the drive was along the coast which was stunning.

Budva is a small town on the Adriatic Sea which is known for its sandy beaches (we’ll be the judge of that!!), old town and nightlight (which we won’t be here to test out). Outside of the old town is a town that has gone through, and is still going through, huge development. Lots of shining new buildings!

Once we get our instructions for later (time and place) we wander along the beach to the Old Town.



Lunch is needed but its past the time (3pm) of knowing what we feel like - we look at a few places before deciding on one. After ordering a chainsaw starts....ooh dear.

 

Time to wander around the small town. We wander into a couple of the Churches then onto two of the beaches.

          

I decide to have my first gelato on this Europe trip - but only if there is raspberry. And bingo there is.



We are all at the meeting point 5 minutes before we need to be - clearly no one wants to be told off by Gabriel!

  

We drive 35 minutes to a ferry boat which takes us across the sea (obviously!!). It cuts out one hour driving :) Equally important it takes 10 minutes to get from one side to another. We arrive literally 5 minutes before it departs, talk about timing.

  

Once on the other side we drive 30 minutes to the Montenegro border crossing. Where we are the only vehicle in the “bus” line. Awesome! The lines coming into Montenegro are loooong.

Similar to this morning it’s a 4 minute border crossing (out of Montenegro), now let’s hope the Croatian border crossing is on our side.

On arrival at the Croatian border we are straight through to an officer :) Gabriel comes back to the van to advise we need to get our passports out and have open on the front page. A border control officer then enters the van to collect one by one. A tad in your face.

Less than 10 minutes arriving we are off - thank you Croatian border for being speedy.

   

We pull into the pickup place from this morning (outside Pile Gate) just before 7.40pm. It’s been a long but great day! Thankfully doesn’t feel like we have been driving all day due to all the stops. Country number 58 I will return!