My review is long as well, so much we have seen and done.
We flew by British Airways from Glasgow to Gatwick and then Gatwick to Dubrovnik, on arriving at Dubrovnik we find that they have not put on our cases at Gatwick so we had no luggage, Gatwick had notified Dubrovnik and we were told they would arrive tomorrow afternoon unfortunately we are picking up a hired car and driving straight to Montenegro so we had to fill in forms and they told us they would deliver straight to our hotel the next evening (so much for packing our cases in half).
We arrived in Dubrota a small place next to Kotor (10 mins walk) as our travel agent thought that Kotor would be too noisy to sleep. The lady in the hotel could not speak english at all so it was a laugh watching John drawing luggage and a plane and trying to explain about our luggage but we could not get her to understand also British Airway said we could buy essentials upto the value of 50 euros each until our cases arrived, trying to mime in the local shop toothbrushes and for John razors was a laugh. Our cases arrived at 9pm on the Sunday night.
The first night in Dubrota was very warm but very windy so we watched tables and chairs being blown in the sea from a seafront resturant and the waiters trying to retreive them. The pizzas was the worst we have ever eaten. The second day we went into Kotor which is a lovely walled city which is filled with resturants and shops (unfortunately they did not have much clothes so just bought 2 tops and a pair of shorts) We walked upto the walled city to the church but it was too warm to walk to the fortress so we gave up.
The next day we went to Centinje, the views are stunning on the way there and we visit a few interesting museums, they also have a layout of Montenegro in a glass house type thing I stand and listen to which I thought was a guide explaining the history of Montenegro to this woman and then found out that they were friends and she was visiting but he was quite pleased that we found it interesting too. We then when back to Dubrota to find a couple of fancy yachts nearby one had a helicopter on it and John thought Liz Hurley was sitting over from us at the bar but when she took here sunglasses off it was not here. At night we again went back into Kotor for a last look round and I think our Travel agent was right it was very noisy.
We then set of for our next stop which is Sveti Stefan for four nights, on the way there we stop off at Budva. The old town area is really beautiful, there is a couple of churches and you can walk round the old city walls. We then paid to climb the Citadel which has lovely views over Budva the only thing spoiling this is the long beach which has a sea of beach umbrellas. We stop at a bar called the Juice Bar and had a lovely lunch, fresh juice and homemade ice cream. We then head to Sveti Stefan, the village not the hotel island, our appartment has a lovely sea view and great air condtioning which we need. They are still constructing their breakfast area which did not bother us, we had to go to a local resturant for breakfast and we then came back there every night after our days out because the food was out of this world. Sveti Stefan is really for beach people the area at the front is again a sea of beach umbrellas and as we are not beach people that part of it did not interest us, if we did it again we would have stayed in Budva or Petrovac which had more to do.
The next day we went to Pretovac, it is still a beach place, but there is plenty of stalls and little bars and a small harbour, a lovley place.
The next day is a visit to Old Stari Bar a partially restored ancient city that was very interesting and we spent most of the morning then we were suppose to visit Old Ulcinj but we could not find our way round so John continued driving and we found ourselves on a twisting, winding mountain road heading upwards towards the Albanian Border, the view is spellbounding and we eventually arrived at Skadar Lake we is stunning, on the way back we saw a snake, turtle, horses, cows all on the road.
The next day we head for Virpizar for a boat trip on Skadar Lake but when we get there we get kidnapped by a man who wants us to go on his boat for 40 euros we then got him down to 30 then when we went on the boat the boatman was asking for 42.50euros so I got off and walked off and John then followed and we left but over the bridge there was other boat tours so we paid a young man 40 euros for 2 hours on the Lake and it was heaven. We then went up to Ostrog Monastery which is built into a cliff and the road up to it is very scarey but worth it.
Our next stop is a place called Kolasin in the mountains which we have to stay for 3 nights the drive to there is lovely when we arrived the hotel looks out of place there as it is a lovely hotel but the place has nothing to do unless you are into Mountain climbing, bird watching or rafting which we are into neither also the town is getting dug up so we only stayed for two nights and asked our hotel in Dubrovnik if they could put us up for an extra night and luckily they said yes.
We left Kolasin and drove then towards which we thought Croatia but the 1st border we come to in Bosnia we got through the border okay but driving into a town called Tribunje we were flashed that the police was there and they stopped us, they kept calling John, Mr John and said that he was speeding and it was a serious crime and he would had to be taken to Judge (I spent the time in the car praying) John said he was sorry but he was looking at the beautiful scenery and that we were in Bosnia last year and loved it, they then said he would forget about it as long as because it was nearly lunch time we paid for lunch for both of them and luckily John had small euros in is wallet so offered them 10 euros and they accepted and let us go. (what an experience)
We then arrived in Dubrovnik to spend 3 nights and handed in our hired car and spent our time walking around and loving every minute of it.
If anyone is thinking of going to Montenegro I would go over the next few years before all the tourists go back because it will get spoiled, this is a great time to see it, lovely places, people and scenery.
I hope you did not find this too boring, if anyone wants anymore information please let me know.
Linda
Excellent review Linda!! You certainly packed a lot into your holiday. Thanks!
It was a really interesting review, thanks!
I'm surprised to hear that Kotor is noisy in the evening. We were only there for a few hours in the morning and it seemed such a sleepy, chilled out place. It obviously comes to life in the evening! I'd have loved to have walked the walls too, but it was too hot to do it when we there too.
Did you pay to go onto Sveti Stefan island? We looked into staying there but it's very expensive and hasn't got very good reviews.
Yours is the second review I've read recently about being stopped by the police over there and being 'bribed'. V. naughty...
U2fan
We spoke to a father and daughter who stayed in a hotel in the Old town and they said it was hard to sleep because of the noise, but as you said it was lovely during the day.
We also looked into staying in Sveti Stefan but as you said it was too expensive, but we felt we had to pay the 7 euros to go on to the Island it was great to see but I felt that the cottages unless you had a sea view were just looking into each other so I was glad we had stayed in the village because our room was very nice and had a great sea view.
Linda
I love the story about the police but it must have been frightening at the time.
( I missed your review until now as I was on holiday when you posted it.)
We too had an encounter with the police in Montenegro. I think it is quite common. There seems to be a big police presence on the roads and I think they are looking for us tourists as you've only to look at the local cars and many of them are not fit to be on the road but they are left alone. We got our hire car in Cavtat, Croatia but it had Zagreb number plates whereas all the locals had Dubrovnik plates so we stuck out like a sore thumb!
You have to keep your headlights on even in bright daylight in Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia which we knew but ours had inadvertently been switched off. We were pulled over by 2 policemen as we were leaving Budva. They wanted my husband out of the car and looked at his driving licence. They wanted €50 but we had only taken €30 as we were only there for the day. They wanted to know where we were going and everything. We were just going to Sv. Stefan and then back to Cavtat. After a while they came down and accepted €20 which went in the back pocket. No ticket was issued!
Basically I think they just try it on so try to remember to keep your lights on and drive within the speed limits because we saw a few out with the speed guns in Bosnia as well.
When we went to Sv.Stefan the guy who was selling the tickets for €7 each just charged us €5 and didn't give us a ticket so the black market is alive and well in Montenegro. "everybody is happy!"
By the way I've enjoyed reading the 2 reviews from Montenegro and Cavtat. My full review of the hotel and the resort are on the relevant forum pages. By the way we had a wonderful holiday.
It might be wise then to "hide" your money and just have a small amount in your wallet. ( we were advised to do this in Bali where you seem to get stopped for anything as well)
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