A little bit of Montenegro

Within the first 5 minutes of entering Montenegro we were caught speeding. On the long straight road just after the border control, there was a white and blue police car (looked like any car from a distance) with a policeman dressed in dark blue – no way of spotting them. We were going 62km/h in 50km/h zone, so definitely breaking the law, but we were extremely excited to enter the country and didn’t realise the speed limits were so low all around Montenegro. After a bit of shouting from the policeman who didn’t speak any English and paying the fine, we were free to go. Needless to say, for the remainder of the trip, we adhered to every speed limit, which seemed to drive locals mad.

We only had a couple of days in the country, so didn’t get to see much, but what we saw was absolutely stunning. We based ourselves in Kotor – a beautiful coastal city with medieval old town, breathtaking mountain views and hundreds of cats to play with.

As soon as we arrived, we were keen to explore the old town and the surrounding area. We soon found ourselves climbing up the old city walls, which were free to enter in April. There’s so much history in those old walls, that I won’t try butcher it with my few words here, but I recommend looking it up on the internet.

We normally do a lot of hiking, so the walk wasn’t much of a challenge and the views were absolutely worth it. The view of the bay of Kotor started opening up as soon as we left the old town and got better and better until we reached the Fortress. I personally liked the fact that the walls felt very authentic (don’t know if any restoration work has been done on them) and it all blended in with the surrounding mountains. We spotted quite a few trails from the Fortress and were keen to explore them the next day, but the weather changed dramatically overnight.

When we woke up the next day, it was raining and the clouds were hanging very low. We went for a walk, but the rain was heavy and frequent, so instead, we decided to go and explore Cetinje, the former royal capital of Montenegro. In order to get there, we took a mountain road out of Kotor and started a steep ascend on a very narrow and windy mountain road. The conditions started getting worse and worse, snow started falling and it was almost impossible to see other cars until they got very close. We were relieved when we got to Cetinje, but everything there was covered in snow and it kept snowing. The city is located at about 690m above sea level, so perhaps, we shouldn’t had been so surprised to find winter there.

We didn’t really have appropriate clothing so didn’t stay in Cetinje and decided to head to Budva instead. I was driving for the first time during this trip and I was really nervous about being on “the wrong side” of the road, but the conditions started improving as we descended to Budva. The views started getting better and better, just a shame I didn’t have time to admire them as I was clutching the steering wheel as hard as I could.

The conditions at sea level couldn’t be more different from what we experienced in the mountains and Budva rewarded us with a nice stroll in the sun. It wasn’t exactly a t-shirt weather, but we didn’t need our jackets either and we were glad to explore this touristy place with its own kind of charm.

Back in Kotor, we went to the same place for dinner as previous night – BBQ Tanjga. The portions there were enormous, meats – excellent quality and the staff were so lovely, that we didn’t even think about going anywhere else.

On our last morning in Montenegro, we had one last cuddle with the sweetest cat in Kotor, as she (?) didn’t want to let us go. I hope she’s still having a lovely life in the old town of Kotor and getting plenty of cuddles (and food!) from the tourists 🙂

I know one day we will be back, there’s so much more to explore in this beautiful country. And we’ll make sure to follow the speed limits…