Day Trip to Montenegro: Kotor & Budva
After three days in Dubrovnik we decided to head to a neighboring country for a day to see some other scenery.
Kotor Bay:
We spent an hour and a half in Kotor, which was just enough time to walk the short way to the top of the fortress on the city walls. It cost 5 euros for both of us and it is straight up hill. Compared to other hikes we have done this was the most difficult for me and we were sweating like little pigs by time we reached the top. The view was amazing and it was totally worth it!
We went through a tour company and although the tour was advertised as 12 hours (7am-7pm), you spent 9 of those 12 hours on the bus getting from place to place, so that was a bit disappointing. 3 of those 9 driving hours were spent making 25 hairpin turns up the side of a mountain on a one-way road with few guard rails (and then another 25 on the way down). It would be terrifying to anyone with a mild fear of heights so you would think they would mention that in the description. Mikel and I actually enjoyed this part of the trip but there were constant gasps coming from behind us and I thought someone was really going to lose it.
Our tour guide was nice and gave us some good history, but half of the bus only spoke Dutch, and the driver spoke Croatian. So she had to switch from Croatian to Dutch to English and was having trouble coming up with the correct English words (I don’t blame her). It’s also a little awkward listening to a joke in English, half of the people laugh, and then you know she’s telling the same joke in Dutch, and the rest of the bus laughs. I would have liked to learn a bit more history about the country as well so I could share that with you.
On the top of the mountain we stopped at this restaurant and you’re somewhat forced to eat the only meal they serve because there are no other restaurants around and its now 2pm and you haven’t eaten since breakfast. It was smoked meats and cheese, the girl in line to me (from Wisconsin) was a vegetarian, I felt bad for her. The scenery of the lunch stop was gorgeous, Mikel said it reminded him of the Sound of Music.
Budva:
After the mountain we drove to Budva, Montenegro. We had 45 minutes to view the old town. It would have been great to stay here all day because there are huge stretches of nice beaches and the old town had some shops I would have liked to see. We watched a movie being filmed for a little bit, walked around a bit, and then realized we had 5 minutes to be back and the bus and sprinted back. Sadly I didn’t get any photos of Budva, so all of the photos are from Kotor or the top of the mountain.
After Budva we drove an hour to the ferry and took it across the bay and drove back to Dubrovnik. I probably sound like a major complainer, we had a good time and it would have been a headache to see Montenegro without a tour, I just wouldn’t do it again-I think Mikel and I are more of the adventure tour type.
Overall: Scenery 10/10
Tour Guide 7/10
Tour itself 5/10