Montebianco

Montenegro was so named by the Venetians because of the overwhelming blackness of Mt Lovćen. But of course the blind Venetians were wrong, the mountain is in fact white.

The part of Josh is played in this picture by a dog named Herzog, and the part of Yasmin is being played by Natalie Portman.

Most of our time in this small parliamentary republic was spent along the Adriatic coast. We drove around the gorgeous Bay of Kotor, stopping in the towns of Herceg Novi and Perast before spending the night by historic Kotor. The following afternoon we saw beautiful Budva and stunning Sveti Stefan.

Josh fitting neatly into the collapsed citadel of Herceg Novi, with the open sea in the background.

The Baroque town of Perast.

Offshore from Perast are two tiny islands. On the left is St. George's Island which houses a shady benedictine monastery. On the right is Our Lady of the Rock Island which was artificially created in the 15th century.

Before sunset we arrived at Muo, to an unforgettable view from our 16 EUR room.

Squid stuffed with fish, a local specialty.

The triangular old town of Kotor is fortified by impressive walls along two sides and a steep mountain on the other.

 

But just to be extra safe, the mountain is also fortified.

We left the Bay of Kotor hoping one day to return, and continued south along the coast.

Too bad it was about 5°C.

Yet another picturesque Venetian town, Budva.

The final decoration on the coastline is the small islet of Sveti Stefan. While we arrived expecting to wander around a sleepy village, we were abruptly told that the island is actually a hotel and that unless we paid 750 EUR for the night, we couldn't enter.

The beach was free though.

On day 3, we tried our best to find the charm in Montenegro's capital town, Podgorica. It has at least one park.

Named Titograd from 1946-1992, the city is mostly a place of business and politics. Despite the lack of touristic appeal, we did learn a lot in the Podgorica Museum.