Montenegro: From the Prevlaka Peninsula via the Bay of Kotor to the Adriatic Sea
After waking up with goats grazing around our tent, we made our way up to the border of Montenegro. The road was quite steep and we hoped they wouldn’t check our temperature because of COVID-19 at the border. But everything went smoothly and the friendly custom officer informed us, which borders to Albania were open and asked us about our plans. What a nice welcome to our fifth country on the trip. The communication wouldn’t be a problem, since we could use many of the phrases we learned in Croatia. But we noticed some other differences to Croatia, the road conditions worsened and there were more vintage and rusting cars on the street. On the other side, we finally found a well-equipped electronics store, something we didn’t come across in Croatia.And while eating breakfast at our first town Herzeg Novi, we also learned that the prices were cheaper than in Croatia and we ordered too much. But how are we supposed to know that the Egg with bacon for EUR 3.- really contains three eggs and wasn’t just a side dish?
Eating breakfast in Herzog Novi
The first stretch after Herzeg Novi along the Bay of Kotor was very populated, full of traffic and ugly new buildings.After a while it got more rewarding and we made a break on the Bay just opposite of Perast, our destination of the day. We were swimming in the bay and resting on the beach with a view of the mountains and two islands in front of us. Next to us as was an old stone house directly on the beach with light blue shutters, a huge garden and a small landing stage. If someone would have offered us this house, we would have signed immediately. Who wouldn’t like to live like this.
The meandering roads all the way to Perast offered great views of the enormous Balkan Mountains rising above the edge of the water.
The stunning Bay of Kotor with Perast in the background
Following the panoramic road 3 along the Bay of Kotor
Idyllic Perast and empty streets in Kotor
We were invited by Lukas Meier, the owner ofSense of Travel, to spend two nights in Perast at theMrshe Palace,a wonderful old Palazzo. How did that happen? Well, at our wedding guests were writing down tasks that we could fulfill during our journey and one was to visit Saplunara Beach on Mljet Island and since we happily complied and sent our picture from the beach, we were rewarded with two nights in Perast. We could continue like this; visiting one beautiful spot and consequently being able to stay at another gorgeous place. Unfortunately, when booking the accommodation for us, no one thought about the 62 stairs leading up to the Palace. Thus, we carried our luggage all the way up to the second floor with the help of the kind owner. He also organized that our bicycles were safely stored at the local fire department. It was worth it – the view from the Palace over the roofs of Perast and the Bay of Kotor was incredible and without this invitation we would have never stayed here, thank you!
Perast is an idyllic fishing village with beautiful restored villas, crumbling stone mansions and decayed palaces that were erected on the steep hill with view of the bay with mountain backdrops. The scenery reminded us of the Lago Maggiore in Switzerland. Even though Perast is a small town with just a few hundred residents and a single road passing through, it is home to sixteen churches. But the two most visited attractions of Perast are located off the mainland – the two floating islands, one with the Saint George Benedictine monastery from 12th century and an old graveyard, the other with a small church.
The boulevard in Perast
In the background one of 16 churches in Perast
As we walked along the promenade, a local fisherman offered to take us over to the islands in the beautiful evening light and it was really magical to see the sunset from there.
Afterwards THE WALK began, a ritual popular all over the Mediterranean – people dress up and start walking up and down the esplanade. The locals here dressed really fancy and we felt underdressed with our comfortable travel clothes. On this weekend there was also a wedding and a cultural event going on. Despite the many people, we didn’t see any other foreigners and you could still tell that the restaurants and bars were planned for more tourists and so it wasn’t hard to find a table directly on the Bay without reservation. And at the Mrshe Palace we were even the first (and maybe only?) guests of the year and it was already September. It is such a shame to see all those people depending on tourism losing their income this year, but maybe also a chance to change something in the future.
Perast
After two nights it was time to discover more of Montenegro and we carried our luggage down again, rescued the bicycles from the fire department and rode along the Bay of Kotor in the soft morning light. We had breakfast and found a great bakery in Kotor and paid a visit to the old town. Normally Kotor is full of cruise ship tourists and again we were almost the only ones and we saw more cats and seagulls than humans.
After Kotor, our App Komoot led us through a pedestrian area with a very steep road and we had to push our bikes up the hill just to drive down again on the other side to reach the Adriatic Sea. In retrospect, it would have been more spectacular and interesting to cycle up the Lovcen mountains to the former capital Cetinje, but we were too lazy that day and decided to follow the coastline.
On our way to Kotor
Looking for a hidden gem? It isn’t here
Around lunchtime we stopped for a break at Jaz Beach, supposedly on of the best beaches in Montenegro. And once again we learned a difference to Croatia: the locals in Montenegro love full beaches with umbrellas, sunbeds and bars playing loud music. The beach would have been really nice, but as crowded as it was it didn’t feel relaxing. We definitely don’t want to know what Jaz Beach looks like in a normal year during high season and we wanted to beam us back to the stunning Croatian beaches that seemed quiet in comparison. We had a small lunch under the burning sun and then continued cycling along the coast to busy Budva.
The coast around Budva is all developed real estate catering to the holidayers with big hotel complexes, resorts and pseudo-luxurious apartments. The beaches are full with bars and sunbeds, the Adriatic Sea full of Jet-Skis and Banana Boats and the streets lined with cheap-looking fast-food stores and casinos. Definitely not our scene. Well, at least we know now where we don’t want to come back to. Perast and the Bay of Kotor were so much more attractive in our opinion.
A typical beach on the coast of Montenegro
The coast around Budva is densely populated
The hotel island of Sveti Stefan
Fortunately, things changed after Petrovac. We found the pleasant Buljarica Beach and an almost empty campground and it was a real delight after driving along the overdeveloped coast. The atmosphere here at Buljarica was different from the places around Budva and much more relaxing.
The next day we cycled to the city of Bar, from where you could take a ferry over to Bari in Italy. But we decided to stick to our plan and followed the country roads towards Albania. As soon as we left the main road, the signs were written in two languages, the architecture changed and we saw the first mosque on this trip. We were definitely getting closer to Albania and were really excited about this next chapter of our trip.
Thoughts about Montenegro
We just spent four days in Montenegro and were fascinated by the rugged mountains and the Bay of Kotor. But next time, we would choose our route differently and would not follow the coast, but instead visit the Durmitor National Park with the Tara River Canyon or the wetland habitats of Lake Skadar. We are sure that this tiny Balkan country deserves to be explored more in-depth on our next visit.
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