Montenegro

Our last day trip from Dubrovnik was to Montenegro. We booked with a company called Amico Tours, which I'd highly recommend. We had a private car with a driver and he drove us down the coast, stopping in the towns of Kotor and Budva. As soon as we crossed the border into Montenegro, we stopped for a little photo shoot. The coast of Montenegro consists of 2,000 meter-high mountains dropping right down into the ocean. It's gorgeous. And sometimes there are little villages right on the coast.



And of course I found a cat!



After our brief picture stop we drove on to the town of Kotor. Kotor, along with its wall, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The wall of Kotor was built in the 6 century or earlier and is the third longest wall in the world, the longest being the great wall of China and the second longest being a wall in Ston, Croatia (which we had driven by the previous day but didn't take a picture of). The fortifications of Kotor were built up the mountain behind Kotor to protect it. Unfortunately I did not get a good picture of the walls. It was an option to walk along the wall to the top of the mountain but that involved 1300 steps and it was hot and humid out so we opted to stay in the town.



This is the best picture we got of the walls, you can see them going up the mountain:



And I found another cat. There were a lot of cats in Kotor, there were T-shirts being sold with the logo "The Cats of Kotor" and pictures of cats on them. It was my kind of town!



Some pics of the mountains behind the town:



On our drive to the next town, Budva, we stopped for a photo opportunity above the town of Kotor. No town on the ocean is safe from cruise ships in this part of the world! Great view from up here otherwise.



I didn't take many pictures in Budva but we had this amazing lunch there at a place called Jadran which consisted of the biggest plate of mussels I'd ever gotten - for just 10 euros! The beer and wine there were also cheaper than where we live in Germany! This was the first place I've ever been to where beer and wine were cheaper than in the Pfalz. 2 euros for a 0.5 liter of beer and 1 euro per deciliter of wine. Crazy. Be sure to get to Jadran when you're in Budva.



Budva was similar to Kotor in that it had narrow streets with little shops but it was more crowded and touristy. Since there were so many people around I didn't take any decent photos. It also has I think 35 beaches to enjoy (Martin went to one of them while my dad and I wandered around the town). And out of a total population of 18,000 people, 500 of them are millionaires. So, the coast is lined with luxury yachts. It's a playground for the rich and famous. Cute town, glad I went, but Kotor was more interesting.

And here are some pictures of our ferry ride across the narrowest part of the bay on the way home. Montenegro is a beautiful country! We have to get back there some day.