Montenegro: Highs and Loehs

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Bosnia-Herzegovina*, Albania*, Croatia*, Bulgaria*, Romania*, Czech Republic, Hungary* and now Montenegro. Each of these former communist countries are fascinating and some of the most beautiful places we have been. Each of these countries also have long convoluted histories, some were well established countries that now are transitioning to new forms of government; dictatorship to democracy (well Hungary might not be transitioning well) others are now actually new countries.

We have now been to three of the Balkan countries that previously existed as a united country, Yugoslavia (name means “south slavs”). When the Yugoslav dictator, Tito, died in 1980, and communism collapsed in 1989, the center did not hold and Yugoslavia eventually broke into 7 different countries; Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Montenegro. The birth of these countries was not easy; rising ethnic nationalization, long simmering racism and endemic religious differences led to religious and territorial war, The Balkan Wars, from 1991-95. Loose alliances formed based on religious majorities in these religiously mixed countries; Roman Catholic predominates in Croatia and Slovenia, Islam in Bosnia&Herzegovina and Kosovo, and Eastern Orthodox in Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. As a result of the ethnic violence of the Balkan Wars, some of these countries became more homogeneous.

We traveled (Flix bus) south from Sarajevo to the Montenegro coast via Dubrovnik, Croatia. Some of this spectacular landscape we saw on an earlier trip to Croatia/Bosnia* but this time we covered more Bosnia.

We were really surprised at how mountainous this area is, again displaying our geographic ignorance, -these are the Dinaric Alps with multiple peaks from 6,000 to almost 9,000 feet.

Montenegro is a new and poor country that like Albania, is trying to establish it’s tourism industry as Croatia successfully has. It definitely has the draw with just a crazy beautiful coast, but with its narrow mountainous roads and mountains that crash into the sea, beach, space is limited. Not that this is stopping building.

We focused our 10 day Montenegro stay on the coast in Budva, on the Adriatic Sea and in Kotor at the crux of the Bay of Kotor. Budva was basic. It felt like a typical working city on the coast, with some more upscale neighbors. A long promenade with Bečići sandy beaches and massive resorts/condos at one end and the walled old town at the other.

so many cafe/bar/playground combinations

The old town was fine but after a few years of traveling, we have seen others that were far more striking.

Our favorite site in Budva might have been the combination bus station-restaurant-zoo a block from our apartment (bunnies, tortoises, peacocks/hens, swans, ducks, pigeons)

We did enjoy our apartment which was nestled in a residential area and each afternoon we could hear kids playing after school which along with the look of the apartment buildings, brought us back to the 1990s.

Kotor was definitely more scenic with its dramatic limestone fjord-like cliffs dropping into the water.

Kotor’s old town was larger and a bit more interesting than Budva’s.

one side of the wall around the old town

There is a trail up to the church ruins on the hill

The old town was very popular and on our walk through old town we dodged selfies from the crowds who spilled off the massive cruise ship and flooded the cobblestone streets.

A bus trip up the bay took us to Perast (on very narrow roads) resulting in a 20 minute lap around the pretty tiny town (it was all old town) before catching the bus back.

It is just beginning to get crowded, must be packed in the summer

Montenegro’s inland rugged mountainous landscape is dramatic and while we planned on going to the national parks, lingering winter weather prevented this. But we did get to bus through no-shoulder-big-drop-narrow roads along the Lovcen National Park on our way to Cetinje and Lake Skadar (no, we did not do the zip line).

More so than Budva and Kotor, Cetinje, the original royal seat, felt a bit more uniquely Montenegrin.

Our big day trip was to Lake Skadar a massive lake that forms the border with Albania. We had read so many positive reviews about the lake and the train- a 17 minute ride through staggering beauty. The only trouble was that we were inside staggeringly dark tunnels for the first 10 minutes, the staggering beauty must have been on the outside of the tunnel. The last 7 minutes were fine.

this might have been the most scenic part of the train ride

We planned on taking a walk around the lake, it is a National Park, followed by our 2 hour boat tour. We also were eager for some bird watching after our great boat experience at the mouth of the Danube in Romania (link below). But, there was only a small little road above the lake that went about 1/2 a mile

of course a narrow road with no shoulder to walk on

and again, due to our seasonal timing there were few birds. The lake itself was underwhelming as well but again, due to timing, the huge lily pads were not in bloom.

A bar in the summertime on the lake-coffee in the morning, beer in the afternoon

The bigger excitement was at the train station where some stray dogs befriended Nick, then more than befriended Nick with a lot of loving nipping and jumping so he had to hide in the abandoned train station for an hour as we waited for our return train to Kotor.

In trying to put some context around our trip to Montenegro, we thought about Loehmann’s, the iconic discount clothing store. The one in Northridge in the San Fernando Valley was a frequent destination for Patricia and our daughters. For years, Nick was shown the bargain purchases from Loehmann’s Back Room and heard about who else was in the dressing room, to him, they always sounded like celebrities (Raquel’s grandma?). So, when Nick (who hates to shop, as evidenced by his static wardrobe) finally went (was convinced to go?) his inaugural (and only) Loehmann’s visit response was “This is it?” He was so surprised- nothing fancy, no velvet couches, no red carpet or searchlights, just a basic somewhat rundown store (really no different than Marshalls) that maybe had seen better days (nope, that is how it was). Ever since, any time our expectations are met with “meh”, it is now a “Loehmann’s moment”. Montenegro was kinda a Loehmann’s moment.

We had heard and read incredible things about Montenegro, and yes there were Back Room level highs from the stunning scenery of Kotor Bay but we just were not finding the right fit. We also struggled on our one restaurant experience and our frequent market shopping, there’s only so many things you can put on a corn thin, and Montenegro lacked 1/2 of them.

Montenegro is very young country, only gaining its independence from Serbia in 2006, it’s finding its own style. Regardless of fit and expectations, like Loehmann’s we still loved it.

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