Week in Review: Week 16

This week has been both busy and relaxing, which is great! We’ve both wanted to visit Montenegro for quite some time now, and for the last 2 months we have been craving the sun and sea.  Montenegro has been absolutely gorgeous, and we’ve been spoiled with colourful sunsets, stunning scenery, old medieval towns, and clear blue/green water.  This week we have been staying in Kotor, and have spent most of the time on mini day trips out and around the Bay of Kotor. We’ve also had lots of time to relax on our patio, which overlooks the bay. It’s been wonderful!

Highlight of the week

Sharleen: Njegos Mausoleum. This mausoleum is the final resting place of Petar II Petrović Njegoš - a philosopher, politician, poet, and icon in Montenegro. It’s located on top of Mount Lovcen, in the Lovcen National Park. Mount Lovcen is quite special, as this mountain is the inspiration behind the name Montengero (translates to Black Mountain). To get to the mausoleum, you need to drive a windy mountain road, which brings you most of the way up Mount Lovcen. From the parking lot, you then walk up 461 steps to the mausoleum.

We really lucked out, as there are two ways to walk up to the mausoleum: through an impressive tunnel carved in the mountain, or along an old staircase on top of the mountain. We really just took a few steps up the old staircase to try to get a picture of the surroundings. It barely looked like stairs to begin with, so I had no idea it would take us all the way up. We took our time heading up the mountain, soaking in the gorgeous views. It is such a beautiful place!

Once at the top we stayed near the 360 degree lookout point to watch the sunset. I really wanted a picture with no one in the circle, but the closer we got to sunset the longer people were staying. Fortunately, the mausoleum closes at 8 pm, so everyone had to leave and the nice man let us stay for a minute longer to take some pictures of the empty mountain lookout. 

The whole evening was perfect, and we had so much fun looking at the gorgeous views. It has to be one of the prettiest scenes we’ve seen so far on our trip.

Darrell: Patio views and sun. We have been super lucky this week with our Airbnb. It has a huge patio with great views of the area we are staying in. There are huge mountains on both sides and in the distance we can see both the bay and the fortress in Kotor. It has been really nice to wake up in the morning and enjoy the sun while having our morning coffee. For someone who kind of despises mornings, having a nice outdoor space makes starting my day almost enjoyable! The sun pops over the mountains at around 8am, and it is nice and hot. We’ve enjoyed playing cards, catching some rays, and even watching some fireworks right out on our private patio! As we start to move out of the less expensive Eastern European countries, we have been watching our budget a bit more closely. Having a nice outdoor space lets us enjoy our mornings and afternoons at home for next to nothing, instead of sitting on a patio or café somewhere spending money.

Least favourite part of the week

Sharleen: Increased prices for tourists. We’ve loved all of the fresh produce in Montenegro. Everywhere you look you see pomegranate, lime, and avocado trees with bundles of ripe fruits.  We are in Kotor and there is a market right under the city walls, where we have purchased produce a few times. It’s quite pricy though! Two avocados cost 5 euros (roughly $7.50 CAD) and we thought that was a little nuts. I looked into it, and we found out that markets and some vendors typically increase the price for tourists, and have a second price for locals.

This was very evident to us when we tried to buy some fresh mussels. There are mussel farms everywhere in the Bay of Kotor, and after having a delicious lunch one day we decided to buy some fresh mussels and make them at home. We stopped at one of the mussel farms, and were told that the price was 10 euros for 1 kg! That seemed so crazy to us. We were quite disappointed, so we said no and thought about looking somewhere else. We had passed by a seafood store on our way out of town, and thought we would pop in to see what their prices were like. It looked like a very expensive store, but at least we could compare prices. They had a huge bag of mussels priced at 2 euros a kg. We ended up buying the 2.54 kg bag for 5 euros! We were happy with our purchase, but still quite disappointed that we were given such a terrible price at the other place.

Darrell: Super hot weather. I know you might not be sympathetic to me saying, “it’s too hot”, but in the middle of the day it’s too hot! From around noon to 4 or 5pm the sun is incredibly hot. As a regular Canadian from the prairies, anything more then 28 degrees Celsius feels like I am standing in Death Valley. So, when the sun is directly above us and is 35+, it’s a bit of a struggle to do anything. The hot midday does make for really pleasant evenings that last well into night, so that is really nice. The heat in the middle of the day forces us to make sure that we plan our days out a little bit, making sure that we leave the house earlier or later depending on what we are doing for the day. On Thursday this week, the weather network app on my phone said it was 34 but felt like 42! Not exactly hiking weather, but hopefully we will enjoy it a bit more at our next Airbnb, poolside.

Favourite city/town/village visited

Sharleen: Perast. This old UNESCO town is just a few kilometers from Kotor, on the Bay of Kotor. It’s probably most known for its close proximity to the two islets Our Lady of the Rocks and St. George, which are just off Perast’s shoreline. I really enjoyed our time in this little town because it was not very busy and it was full of beautiful buildings and churches. It is actually considered one of the quietest towns along the bay, and it was a welcomed change from our visit to Budva the day before. Everywhere you looked you saw red roofs, gorgeous limestone buildings, and churches. This tiny town has 16 churches, so they were literally on every street corner. It was so pretty! We walked up the observation tower in town and got some great views of the town and the Bay of Kotor. It was nice to see the bay from a different side.

Darrell: Kotor. The old town in Kotor definitely reminds me of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It has tall city walls that run around the center of the city, creating a real medieval vibe. The streets are narrow and paved with cobblestones. I have enjoyed walking through the tight corridors and alleyways. It’s almost surprising to walk around a tight corner and step out into a small square that has small shops, cafes, and restaurants scattered throughout. It feels very European and like nothing we have back at home. As long as there isn’t a cruise ship in port, Kotor doesn’t really feel packed with people. It is still definitely touristy, but in my opinion, nothing too annoying or that takes away from the charm of the old town. This is definitely a town to see if you are visiting the coast of Montenegro.

Favourite meal

Sharleen and Darrell: Lunch in Perast. While in Perast we stopped for lunch at restaurant right on the water. We really wanted to try some seafood, as we hadn’t had any since arriving in Montenegro! We decided to share a charcuterie plate and some mussels. Everything about the meal was fantastic. The breadbasket with homemade olive tapenade, the local cheese, cured meats, the steamed mussels in a garlic tomato sauce… It was so delicious! We washed it down with a bottle of prosecco, and enjoyed taking our time as we watched the boats sail by. It was such a great way to escape the sun and enjoy the views of the bay.

It’s nice to be on the Adriatic coast, enjoying the hot weather and sea views. We have 17 days in Montenegro, and this week is definitely the most action packed. We are in Kotor for a few more days before heading to Herceg Novi for a week. It is closer to the Croatian border, and is quite a bit smaller than Kotor, so there will be less sightseeing. But we are staying in a place with what looks like a great pool, so we are excited to enjoy our time in the sun a little longer!