Montenegro Highlights

Our very steep hike up to the Fortress to St. John's Castle in Kotor

Montenegro, meaning black mountains was formerly part of Yugoslavia and despite its size, is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This stunning, mountainous country with a population of around 615,000 is nestled between the Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. It declared its independence from Serbia in 2006.

Montenegro was a convenient stop enroute to Croatia, as it stopped our Schengen visa clock, since Montenegro is currently not a member of Schengen. As mentioned in another blog post, we had a limit of spending 90 out of every rolling 180 days in Schengen countries in Europe. Spending a lovely 10 days exploring Montenegro (for the second time) added bonus time to our stay in Europe. Last year we spent a good 3 weeks in Montenegro exploring.

KOTOR - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Top: From the fortress, stunning views of Kotor and connecting bays

Middle: View of Kotor from Helios during the day and at night.

Bottom: Old Town Kotor

Herceg Novi - City of Sun Tucked between Mt. Orjen & Mouth of Bay of Kotor

Top: View of the vertical town from Helios; Folklore Festival in Old Town; Clock Tower

Bottom: Amphitheater at Kanli Kula Fortress, where we attended a film festival and watched a Serbian movie; View from Fortress of Herceg Novi and the Bay of Kotor

BUDVA - Beautiful Coastal Town Surrounded by Beaches

After an overnight sail from Bari, Italy, we cleared into Montenegro in Budva this second visit. Budva's charming Medieval Old Town is surrounded by beaches. Bottom right photo taken a year earlier.

TIVAT - PORTO MONTENEGRO

Porto Montenegro Marina in Tivat was a welcome and luxurious respite after a 6-night , unplanned sail from Sardinia, Italy our first time to Montenegro (last year) to stop our Schengen visa clock for 3 weeks. This marina used to be an old naval base, but was renovated to look like Monaco in many ways. The area is ultra-chic with fancy mega-yachts, beautiful al fresco restaurants along the water and super high-end shops where you feel very self-conscious as every move you make is carefully monitored.

BLUE CAVE - Popular Tourist Destination

The Blue Cave is difficult to find, as it is very nondescript amongst the hundreds of grottos dotting the Adriatic coast.

Having a dinghy afforded us the opportunity to explore beautiful grottos, such as the Blue Cave. We timed our excursions early in the morning before any of the tourist boats descended upon us. It was nice to explore and swim in the cavernous, domed-ceiling cave with no other tourists or boats.