Bay of Kotor: The pearl of Montenegro, visible from the coast to th...

At the end of September, my wife had a short business trip to Montenegro, and since I’ve never been to the country, I've decided to take a few days off, and I joined her.

Montenegro is a relatively small country, located in the west of the Balkan peninsula on the Adriatic Sea, covering 13.812 square kilometres. However, despite its small size, it offers rich historical and cultural elements and is a popular tourist destination, especially the coastal part.

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Driving along the coast, you can immediately notice how mountainous the country is, since the seafront is quite tight. Different civilisations crashing and colliding in the lands of today’s Montenegro have left several incredible landmarks, like the Roman ruins and mosaics, Illyrian castles, Venetian stony walls, and numerous Orthodox monasteries, but also Catholic churches and mosques, all interacting with socialist-style buildings.

The start of the trip was not as expected. What was supposed to be a 50-minute flight ended up into a 5-hour adventure. The weather above Montenegro and Podgorica airport was very bad, there was a severe storm with heavy rain and lightning. The pilot decided to circle around the area, but since the storm persisted, he decided to turn towards Sofia Airport (Bulgaria). Which is not close at all, so we had another 40-minute flight to Sofia, and we landed at the airport. There, we were sitting in the plane waiting for better weather conditions. After quite some time, the pilot announced that he will try once again to land in Podgorica, but only if the weather will permit a safe landing, otherwise, we will return back to our original airport. It wasn’t a nice experience. I was not sure if I would prefer to go back home (knowing that it is safe) or aim for our landing in Montenegro. Luckily, it was a very calm and safe landing, and after picking up the car, we started our drive towards Budva.

By arriving quite late in the evening, it was already getting dark, and the sky was still covered with dark clouds, so we haven’t seen much of Skadar Lake, we made just a quick stop at the town of Virpazar for an early dinner. Finally we reached the Montenegrin coast just with the last daylight that I was still able to spot the famous Sveti Stefan Island.

The Sveti Stefan is a picturesque islet connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. The village was built back in the 15th century as a fortified fishing village. In recent times it was transformed into a luxury resort. Unfortunately, the resort has been closed for a few years now due to a dispute between the hotel chain and the local government.

After a short ride along the Budva Riviera, which is all packed with luxury hotels and modern buildings, we arrived in Budva town. I knew that the tourism had a big impact in the area, but I was surprised how packed it is with hotels and other buildings and still many construction sites with ongoing projects.

After such a long day, we had a walk in the Budva Old Town, named Stari Grad. It is a charming mediaeval settlement surrounded by ancient stone walls. It is a small part of Budva made of narrow cobblestone streets that are lined with churches, small shops, cosy cafes and restaurants.

Our next day was dedicated to Kotor Bay. The stunning Kotor Bay is the biggest fjord in southern Europe and is home to charming towns like Kotor (the most popular), Perast, Risan, and more. My wife had a meeting at Lustica Bay, located in the “outside” area of Kotor Bay, overlooking directly the Adriatic Sea.

There is a recently built new resort composed of a luxury hotel, elegant residences, a marina, shops, and restaurants. Basically, it is a newly built, high-end town that was built there. A nice and caching location with great scenery and a wonderful hotel. A nice location to spend your holidays in the calm ambience surrounded with nice, clear waters.

We were then heading to Perast town, and we'd decided to take the short ferry ride across the Kotor Bay. A very quick ride that shortens the ride along the whole Kotor Bay.

In the middle of Kotor Bay, there is a small island called Lady of the Rocks. This is an artificial island, near the town of Perast. On the island there is a 17th-century Roman Catholic church of the same name, adorned with beautiful frescoes and an impressive collection of maritime artifacts. According to legend, the island was created by sailors who placed rocks in the bay to honour a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary found on a reef. The locals are still preserving the tradition, and during the "Fasinada" festival they are still bringing the stones to the island.

Since we were short on time, we didn’t manage to take the boat ride to the island, but we went directly to the town of Perst. The road along Kotor Bay is really squeezed between the high Montenegrin mountains and the Adriatic Sea. The drop of the mountains into the sea is creating the dramatic landscape that attracts visitors every year. The Kotor Bay is also reachable by big cruise ships, so in high season there are a few daily cruise ships in the bay, and when they are docking near Kotor town, it is so close to the old town that it looks like they are docked right in the city. In the further part of my post you will see some photos taken from the viewpoint above Kotor, and the pictures themselves will tell you more about the beauty of this place.

We were admiring the views, and we hadn’t realized that we passed the town of Perast 🙃 It is so secluded from the main road, and if you are not paying enough attention, you can easily pass by. The town has limited traffic conditions, and you have to park outside the town, on the main road. I must say that parking is very poorly organized. I can only imagine how chaotic it is there in high season🥴

Perast was once a prosperous maritime center, but today it is a little bit of a secluded town with stunning baroque architecture and a calm atmosphere.

It has the charm of an old-world town. It has marvelous stone palaces, and you can easily spend a day there just relaxing and inhaling the local atmosphere.

We would love to stay there longer, but we were checking all the time on the wind and weather conditions since we were hoping to be able to visit the latest tourist attraction in Kotor Bay - the cable car. Due to stronger wind, the cable car was closed in the morning, but we were lucky and able to take the ride right at sunset, and the lights and views were stunning.

The cable car lower station is located a few minutes drive from Kotor old town and connects the Kotor Bay with Mount Lovćen. The journey spans approximately 3.9 kilometers, ascending from near sea level to an elevation of 1,348 meters on Mount Lovćen. This 11-minute ride goes quite steep, and in some parts my wife found it a bit frightening (but it wasn’t at all!).

On the top there is a nice viewing point and photo point. All together with a bigger restaurant with a nice terrace overlooking the Kotor Bay. The upper point of the cable car can be a starting point for hiking or biking on Lovćen Mountain.

We just walked a bit around and took the opportunity to make some nice photos and enjoy the magical view in the sunset lights that was in front of us.