Montenegro Let Us Down
Montenegro was a country I was super excited about visiting. I had researched its beautiful nature, full of beautiful beaches, mountains, lakes, and Europe’s southernmost fjord. Medieval towns are still sprinkled across the country. It didn’t seem as well known as many other countries so I hoped it would be a hidden gem. We dedicated more time to Montenegro than Croatia and Bosnia. While there are places worth seeing in Montenegro, it was the country I was itching to leave and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to visit there yet. If every place had it all, then no place would have it all, so we were bound to visit a country we didn’t like. Montenegro happened to miss a lot of marks for us.
8/25/22 - Herceg Novi
We took a bus from Dubrovnik to Herceg Novi. The arrival was encouraging enough. Although the lines were long at the border crossing, a couple of cats made it their personal responsibility to greet every person and welcome them to their country. They would spot a bus, wait by it, then walk by each person while looking at them and allowing pets if the visitor wanted. After about 30 minutes everyone was back on the bus and it didn’t take long to arrive at our destination. We walked about 20 minutes to our hotel which was near a beach. As we walked through the old town, I mentioned it looked as though we were walking through a Hollywood set. The buildings just didn’t look real. It was a hodgepodge of architecture through time strewn together. It was pretty cool.
Our hotel included breakfast and dinner. We checked in and settled into our room. It was already time for dinner so we ventured over to the eating area to see what was available. To our delight (and G’s demise later) it was a buffet. We piled our plates full of food, ate, went on a short walk, then returned to the room. That night G suffered gastrointestinal issues.
8/26/22 - Food poisoning in Herceg Novi
In the morning, he was feeling worse. By the afternoon his fever broke 102F (39C). We determined it was likely food poisoning because he had eaten different food than I had. I also wasn’t feeling well, but I’m pretty sure I had a sinus infection due to a lot of water that went up my nose while swimming a couple of days before (covid test was negative). Our hotel had its own beach; and, unfortunately, we were in no condition to go and only had one full day there. G’s fever finally responded to Tylenol and Advil that night and we were both able to sleep. We woke up in the middle of the night to check on his temperature, which was low enough to go back to sleep.
8/27/22 - Herceg Novi to Kotor Bay
G’s fever returned and his gastrointestinal issues worsened. We had a bus to catch that afternoon, so we drugged him up with Tylenol and Immodium. It helped enough for us to be able to take the bus to Kotor. We opted to take a taxi to the bus station instead of walk this time. Montenegro doesn’t have Uber, so our hotel called a taxi for us. We didn’t have any issues with this ride. We weren’t overcharged and the driver even printed a receipt that matched the meter. We wouldn’t be so lucky later in the trip.
In Montenegro, it’s imperative to print your bus ticket most of the time. Even if you had already printed it, you’re still required to go to the ticket window at the bus station to have another ticket printed and you’re charged a service fee for that. This system is very inefficient, wasteful, and a money grab.
Kotor is situated in the heart of Kotor Bay, Europe’s southernmost fjord. Old Town, surrounded by old fortress walls, boasts medieval charm all around with old stone streets and buildings. Cats are also the mascot in Kotor. The people look after them and they are quite friendly. It took about 10 minutes to walk from the bus station to our apartment in the old town.
After we checked into our new place, his fever was back and just as high as before. By this point, I was starting to worry because it had been over 48 hours, but we both thought maybe the Immodium was dragging it out. We spent the rest of the day and evening hiding out in our little apartment in the old town. I found a doctor relatively close to Kotor and we were planning on going the following day if G was still down for the count.
8/28/22 - Kotor Bay: hike up San Giovanni Fortress
G woke up fever free and felt ok! We relaxed for most of the morning and early afternoon to make sure his symptoms didn’t return. They didn’t, so naturally, we decided to hike up to the top of San Giovanni Fortress. In hindsight, we probably should have given ourselves one more day to recover as we both were still not feeling 100%.
The start of the hike begins at the edge of the old town and is easy to get to. We thought since everyone has to pay 8 euros to hike up the mountain that the trail would be well maintained, but it wasn’t. Parts of the trail were littered with trash, and at one point, the fort itself is actually used as a trash can with plastic water bottles piled at least 6 feet (2 meters) high. I wish we would’ve taken a photo of this. It was so disheartening to see. Trash was also scattered around the top of the fortress on the ground. It wasn’t the first or last time we would see a historical landmark or nature lined with trash in Montenegro. That was one of the most disappointing things. I’m honestly not sure what the 8 euro entrance fee goes towards as the area was littered and there weren’t any signs posted about the fortress or the history of the area.
Aside from the trash, the hike up San Giovanni Fort is quite nice. It was a very hot, sunny day and there was barely any shade on the trail. We recommend going in the morning or late afternoon unlike during the heat of the day like when we went. We slowly, very slowly, trudged our way up, taking a few water breaks along the way. There’s an old monastery part way up and the view at the very top is lovely. Hopefully, in the future, the site will be cleaned up and there will be some information about the significance of the area.
The hike down proved much easier than the way up. When we were back in old town, we stopped for some gelato for me and juice for G then returned to the apartment where we would relax for the rest of the evening. G had a little fever come back that we didn’t want to aggravate further.
8/29/22 - Kotor Bay: a day to recoup
Realizing we probably should have taken a day to totally recover the day before, we made a good choice to relax for the entire day. We both felt much better the following day.
I organized a tour to Ostrog Monastery that would leave the next morning. Ostrog Monastery is considered the holiest place in Montenegro. Constructed in the 1600s, it’s situated on a cliff face with much of the structure carved into the mountain. Over 100,000 visitors of all different faiths make the pilgrimage each year. Many pray to St Basil, who is entombed there, for healing for themselves or a loved one. We were drawn to it because of its location, 17th-century frescos and mosaics, and spiritual significance to others.
When we arrived in Kotor a couple of days before, I had taken a photo of a tour company sign with their info about popular excursions. The price on the board was 35 euros per person, but they quoted me 60 euros per person. I was a little frustrated but I understood when they explained that 35 euros is for a group rate and at the moment no one else had signed up. That’s fair. This correspondence was all in English.
We went to sleep early so we could be ready to go at 8AM for our tour.
8/30/22 - Day Trip to Ostrog Monastery and Perast
We woke up early and made it to our meeting point on time. I was sent a photo of the car that would pick us up and they were right on time. It was a smaller green car. G and I piled in the back seat. There were two men in the front seat. Neither one said much to us and they were speaking in Serbian as we were driving. This tour felt a little off but we didn’t feel threatened. We broke the ice and introduced ourselves. We learned the driver was our “guide” and the passenger was another tourist who was from Serbia. Fortunately, he was fluent in English and could translate for us because our guide spoke as much English as we spoke Serbian.
Our first stop was a scenic view of Kotor Bay. If you ignored the ground directly below you, the view was stunning. However, if you looked down, the ground was littered with trash.
The next stop was another view of a large lake which was nice.
Then we continued driving for over an hour, approaching the mountainous region of Montenegro and then high up into the mountains. When we arrived, we were lucky that we were allowed to park right next to the monastery. Oftentimes, you have to park down the mountain a bit and walk up. When we were approaching the monastery, I could feel the significance of this place and could see the hope and faith in the eyes of many of the other visitors. The location and view were as impressive as we’d hoped. We walked around for about 45 minutes, visited St Basil, admired the mosaics and the frescos, and then were on our way back toward Kotor Bay.
We stopped at a restaurant for lunch where G and I dined with our new Serbian friend. He gave us some background he had learned about our guide. Our guide had owned a restaurant until a couple of years prior when he was forced to shut it down because he organized protests against government corruption. From what we understood, the government was basically trying to intermingle with the Orthodox Church so they could profit from it. So, he went into the tourist industry. Montenegro is still a young country and it seems they may have a few kinks to straighten out with how they want their politics to function.
After lunch we drove all the way back to Kotor Bay, stopping at Perast before returning to Kotor. Perast is another beautiful, medieval town along the bay. It had 2 islands close by. One is closed and the other has an old church dedicated to Mary that you can visit via water taxi. It has been used to settle family disputes and many believe she has protected their ships at sea. There is a neat museum full of artwork dedicated to the island, many depicting ships. After we visited the island we took the water taxi back and our guide drove us all back to Kotor and dropped us off where we had been picked up that morning.
8/31/22 - Kotor Bay to Sveti Stefan
We slept in a little that morning, checked out of our apartment, and made our way to the bus station where we paid a fee to have our tickets printed again. I will say all of our buses were on time and it was easy to follow the bus schedule in Montenegro. Another thing we noticed though was that all of our bus drivers frequently answered calls and talked on their cell phones while driving the bus. I haven’t seen that happen in many other places and made us feel a little uneasy. The bus stop was super close to our next accommodation.
This place we chose for the view which may have been the best view in Sveti Stefan.
We had been trying to save money so we ventured to the market nearby to buy our food for the next couple of days. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing.
9/1-9/3/22 - Sveti Stefan
The only plans we had in Sveti Stefan were to relax and maybe to go to the beach nearby. The weather was mostly disagreeable to go to the beach, though it cleared up enough to walk down to it one day and walk around a little.
Other than that, we didn’t do much, and honestly, we were ready to leave. Something that had been bugging us is that everywhere reeked of cigarettes. Everyone and I mean literally almost every adult, smoked. There were ashtrays in our bathrooms in case we wanted to smoke. We could smell smoke in our rooms, at restaurants, at the bus station, everywhere.
9/3/22 - Time to go
The most frustrating experiences happened when we were leaving. Our accommodation organized a taxi for us to the airport. They quoted us 25 euros. When we were on the way to the airport, our taxi driver made a personal errand while he kept us in the car and kept the meter running. Even so, the meter showed less than 20 euros when we arrived at the airport. He asked how much our hotel told us it would cost and we said 25 euros. Visibly upset, he stated it would be 35 euros and not 25. We didn’t want to cause any kind of altercation so we just gave him the 35 euros and then he had the gall to ask for a tip. We gave him a few extra euros and left quickly. I contacted the hotel to let them know what had happened just in case it happens to any other guest. Their reply was 3rd party taxi drivers determine their own price. If that’s true then guests shouldn’t be given a quote.
We arrived at the airport very early because our flight wasn’t until 5:30 PM. It was about noon. We were planning on going through security and waiting in the lounge. At the Tivat airport in Montenegro, you also need to have a paper ticket that they need to print for you. You aren’t considered checked in until you do this, even if you check in online with the airline and have a mobile or printed ticket. And you can’t check in until 2 hours before your flight. Ok, we decided we’d wait at the cafe/restaurant only to discover they charged US airport prices for food and drink so we both nursed a couple of drinks for 3 hours. When it was time to check in, it didn’t take long to figure out why you had to wait until 2 hours before departure. The airport is tiny and not managed well. It’s the most chaotic airport we’ve ever been in. If a flight is delayed (and many were) there simply isn’t enough room for people at the gates. We were thankful to have lounge access. We hid in the lounge for a while then made our way back to the stuffed terminal where everyone was released at the same time to board our plane outside. We boarded the plane, took our seats, breathed a sigh of relief, and eagerly awaited the next stop in our adventure.
Montenegro most definitely could have been worse. It wasn’t the most terrible experience ever, but it’s not a place we would recommend visiting right now. It has tremendous potential that it’s not close to reaching yet. If you want to visit the Balkans, we suggest spending more time in Bosnia and Croatia and skipping Montenegro. We found those countries to be cleaner, more affordable, more attractive, and the people were much friendlier. Montenegro smelled like smoke everywhere, had inefficient and wasteful systems, was littered, and is overpriced. If you decide to go to Montenegro anyway, you will see some beautiful sites and we hope your experience is better than ours was.