The good

I’ll start with the highlights

The country as a whole is pretty. It has both mountains and an a gorgeous coastline. The nature is breathtaking and since the terrain is not the friendliest towards development a lot of it is still intact. Some areas have been declared national parks and have striker regulations to keep the flora and fauna save.

The weather is very pleasant during shoulder season – speaking as a Northern European. The travel times where less people are there (early spring, autumn) still has temperatures well over 20 degrees Celsius and quite a few hours of sunshine, while „back home“ they are between 5 and 15 degrees celsius and the sun is seldom seen.

If you love cats then you will have the opportunity to meet many of them and most of them are not aggressive. Cities like Kotor have adopted their street cats into their identity over the years and care for them more than before.

As a tourist another plus is that most people speak basic English. Which makes it super easy to communicate. If you are from the EU another plus is that even though they are not an EU country Montenegro is part of the Euro zone. Which means there is no need to exchange money.

The bad

Now to the less pleasant parts

I have to mention the cats again. While they are cute and it’s different to see cities embrace street cats as much as Kotor and Perast have it also means that there are a lot of street cats. Which in turn means a lot of cats that aren’t cared for, aren’t well fed, don’t see a vet regularly for health problems and aren’t spayed or neutered. You can read more about the cats on my blog here: Street Cats of Montenegro

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

For some reason there is loud music almost everywhere. In restaurants, in bars, in cafes, outside of all of those establishments, coming from speakers on the boardwalk, people with loudspeakers connected to their phones. It feels like everyone is competing over which music to hear and then they make it louder and louder to not hear everyone else’s music?

Things aren’t up to date. And by that I don’t mean potholes in the roads (well, not only), but mainly that it feels like development stopped some time in the late 90s, early 00s. Which probably is the case. After the devestating 1986 the earthquake that destroyed a lot of the coast and cities along the coast and then nthe Yugoslav wars from 1991 to 2001 the country was rebuilt, at the standards of those times, with the help of money from other countries. Since then things have stayed the same – no, they have deteriorated. If they had stayed the same it would have meant that people maintained them.

Public transport is… often nonexistent. And when it exists it is unreliable, packed and cramped. At least it’s cheap I guess.

You’d think „oh, if the public transport is basically nonexistent it’s probably because they value cars too much as their main mode of transport – like the USA.” But that’s also not the case, since the parking situation is atrocious. Either there is no parking or it’s a X that doubles as a trash dump, a strip of dirt next to the road, overgrown with hedges or charged by 10-minutes.

The ugly

And finally the worst parts

The traffic comes to mind first. Traffic laws; what are those? Speed limits? Suggestions! As one of our guides said „If it says 40 km/h, we multiply that by the amount of people in the car – or if there is nobody then the amount of wheels“.

Have you ever seen a whole line of cars drive off the road and mid-way across a field because people were too slow in the roundabout? No? Do you want to? If yes, you are in luck. You will see it within the first hour of being in the country.

When the road is barely wide enough for two old cars, nevermind modern ones, to pass each other, while going 30% downhill in a 90 degree curve. What is the appropriate cause of action? Correct. Aggressively take over the car in front of you.

As I was told „We are able to tell who the tourists are, they follow all the rules when they drive“.

Scams. Sadly they are there and they are prevalent. From „missing“ menus leading to being overcharged, to people collecting parking fees and entrance fees where there are none and threatening you if you call them out on it to hotels offering „breakfast“ that looked and tasted a few days old, with coffee machines that were so dirty that they didn’t dispense milk anymore and „complimentary bikes“ that were a threat to our health since they fell apart during use – we had it all. Thankfully I just look nice and am not, so we got out of most of them, but still.

People smoking everywhere. Even inside. Even when there are big „no smoking“ signs. They are just decoration. Is this what the past was like?

And finally: Mass tourism.

Mass Tourism and it’s effect on the Kotor region

The “Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor” was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in Danger in 1979, after an earthquake had devestated 70% of the monuments in the the town and surrounding areas in April 1979. This status persisted until 2003, when it was declared to be in danger no longer due to restoration works. However the urbanisation of the area and the political uncertainty in the following years almost made UNESCO reconsider this step. Until today even more “risks” have been added to the list of why this part of the World Heritage is in danger, such as (direct quote from the UNESCO Website):

• Effects arising from use of transportation infrastructure
• Ground transport infrastructure
• Housing
• Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation
• Land conversion
• Legal framework
• Major visitor accommodation and associated infrastructure
• Management systems/ management plan
• Society’s valuing of heritage

All of these factors can be felt when you are in Kotor, as well as any of the smaller towns and villages along Boka Bay. Montenegros coastal beauty and southern European climate have made it a favourite among tourists, especially from cruises. The impact this many people have on such a small strip of land is staggering and not in a good way. Streets are clogged, the little available public transport overloaded, housing and other prices have skyrocketed since the “wealthy foreigners” can afford them, nature and historical places are sacrificed to “create new experience areas” for tourists. All under the claim that tourism like this will benefit the country as a whole.

Other places in Europe, like Venice, have suffered the same problem. With cruise ships arriving in port, carrying people in the hundreds and thousands (around 20 million people visit the city each year, with > 50,000 people entering the city during peak days – most of them day trip tourists from cruises and inland). The city has since deployed rules and regulations to try and combat the negative effects mass tourism has on the economy, the social life and the ecological systems.

It is high time for Kotor and other places in Montenegro to do the same, to hopefully salvage things before they get even worse. Some examples are cruise ship restrictions to lower the amount of people every day, a day-trip entry fee to support the city as a whole, short-term rental regulations to help the housing market as well as heritage and nature protection efforts to make sure that erosion and capitalistic exploitation won’t ruin the very things that attracted people to the cities in the first place.

Der Beitrag Montenegro – The good, the bad & the ugly erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

Overview of one week in Montenegro

• Budva
• Skadar Lake
• Sveti Stefan
• Stari Bar
• Cetinje
• Lipa Cave
• Kotor Serpentine Road
• Perast
• Kotor
• Podgorica
• Tips for your week in Montenegro
• Map for one week in Montenegro

Budva

Budva has a stunning old town that is less crowded than Kotor (and it’s cleaner). It is also the perfect base to explore the surrounding area. In Budva I stayed at the Garni Hotel Vladimir (on Booking* / on Expedia* https://www.expedia.de/en/Budva-Hotels-Hotel-Vladimir.h102129159.Hotel-Information ) and it was the best hotel during my trip. The room is big, the bath is new and the breakfast is spectacular. They prioritise quality over quantity and there were so many local options! From cheese and ham, canned fish to different types of local pastries every day.

When you land early in the morning in Podgorica it takes about 1,5 hours to get to Budva. You can park your car in front of the hotel for free, walk into town to pick up a SIM or E-SIM (more on that here) and explore the old town.

Skadar Lake

For your first full day in the country I recommend a day trip.

About an hour by car from Budva is Virpazar, the village on the edge of Skadar Lake from where most boat tours of the lake start. The lake is the largest in Southern Europe. Two thirds of it belong to Montenegro while the last third is part of Albania. The lake is popular for birdwatching and the large amounts of water lilies that cover areas around the islands inside the lake. In October most of the water lilies were gone, but there were many black cormorants, seagulls and grey herons. There was also a pelican that came very close to the boat. I have more pictures in this post.

Sveti Stefan

Sveti Stefan is one of the most well photographed places in Montenegro. Despite the fact that you can’t visit the island and the stop is quite inconvenient on the road from Budva to Bar or Virpazar.

It is, admittedly, a great view: The small island – entirely covered in houses – in front of the calm sea stretching out towards the horizon and a gorgeous sunset.

Stari Bar

The following day you can do another daytrip. If you didn’t stop at Sveti Stefan the day before you’ll have the chance to do so again. If you are up super early and booked a morning boat tour you can even do all three of these in one day. But I recommend taking a day each.

Also an hour by car from Budva is Stari Bar, or the old town of Bar. Once one of the most important settlements in Montenegro today the ruins of this grand city are an open air museum. You can see the traces every single culture that once held the city left (Byzantines, Illyrians, Romans, Serbs, Venetians, Ottomans) during its turbulent history.

Cetinje

The third full day, the third day trip from Budva. Only 45 minutes by car from Budva to the Northwest you’ll reach Cetinje. Another 15 minutes by car from there is also Lipa Cave (see the next section).

Cetinje is the former royal capital of Montenegro and has many museums that are worth a visit – I especially recommend the Ethnographic Museum of Montenegro and the Museum of King Nikola. Both are located on the same square. Along this square are many restaurants and cafes where you can try the traditional Montenegrin cream cake Krempita.

The Cetinje Monastery is located a sort walk from the city centre. This still lived in monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church is open to the public.

More details on Cetinje here: Visiting Cetinje – the former royal capital of Montenegro

Lipa Cave

After half a day in Cetinje you can drive to the Lipa Cave to take one of the afternoon tours. The cave was opened to the general public in 2015 and the guided tours take 1 to 1,5 hours.

Kotor Serpentine Road

On your fourth full day it’s time to move hotels and drive 45 minutes from Budva to Kotor in the morning.

If you like driving and adrenaline spikes you can take the old serpentine road to Kotor. The faster route from Budva to Kotor is a new and straighter road, but if you want to stop by the village Njeguši where the famous Njeguši ham is from this road is your only choice. I was driving so there are no pictures or videos from me, but Discover Montenegro has these two on their YouTube channel:

Perast

Twenty minutes past Kotor lies the small village of Perast. Perast is where I stayed (at Hotel Leon Coronato – on Booking* / on Agoda*) when I visited Kotor. I chose Perast since it is much more quiet (during the night) than Kotor and because it is so pretty.

The 400-souls village itself has a small number of hotels and restaurants. Among them the best restaurant in all of Montenegro: Eho. So good that I wrote a separate post just about them: Eho Restaurant Perast – Local specialties meet culinary inspiration

Kotor

Either with an early check-in or by just leaving your luggage for now you can take a bus to Kotor, have lunch there, explore the cities old town, museums and marvel at the many cats.

Kotor is probably the most famous town located on Boka Bay, which is also called Kotor Bay. It has an old town that looks mostly original, including the old city walls, churches and a fortress you can hike to. Inside the city are two great museums: the maritime museum and the cat museum. Along the bay itself is a sea promenade ideal for a leisurely walk after indulging in one of the several cafes and restaurants. It’s close to several natural sights and surrounded by some villages that are also worth a visit – like Perast mentioned above.

More on Kotor here: Two days in Kotor – City of Cats

Blue Cave & Our Lady of the Rocks Boat Tour

The fifth full day is for this tour. One of the most popular things to do at Boka Bay is taking a boat tour to the artificial Our Lady of the Rocks island, as well as the former submarine tunnel and the Blue Cave. Most tours depart from Kotor, some will pick you up from Perast as well, since the Our Lady of the Rocks island is directly in front of it. I enjoyed my tour a lot and even though it was Oktober it was still warm enough to go for a swim in the open sea next to the Blue Cave.

If you want to read about it in more detail to decide if this tour is for you, you can do so here: Our Lady of the Rocks & Blue Cave Boat Tour

Have dinner at the aforementioned Eho Restaurant in Perast to end the day on a high note.

Podgorica

You can spend the sixth day exploring Kotor some more in the morning, or after checkout, then make your way to Podgorica in the late afternoon. Since it is the capital a lot of places are open much later than in the smaller cities.

Your Time Podgorica

For example I went to Your Time Podgorica for a late night Waffle. On the way there you can stop by Podgorica Clock Tower and the Independence Square where events take place throughout the year. I have no idea which one was happening when I went there, but there was live music.

Stay at Hotel M

Hotel M (on Booking* / on Agoda*) is a very cute and small hotel in the south of Podgorica, close-ish to the airport and train-station. They also have free parking right in front of the hotel.

Breakfast at Brasseria Me Gusta

In the morning of my last day I had brunch at Brasseria Me Gusta, about 1km away from the hotel. For the breakfast part of brunch I had Palacinke, thin crepe-like pancakes with chocolate spread. And for the lunch part of brunch a Lepinja sandwich. Lepinja is a balkan flatbread and they had stuffed it with ham, cheese, tomatoes and salad. The filling was plentiful and I almost didn’t manage to finish it.

Caffeine Coffee Shop C6

Between checkout and having to give the car back at the airport I had a coffee and a peach-cinnamon smoothie at Caffeine Coffee Shop C6. It was decidedly too hot to move about that morning.

Tips for your week in Montenegro

Here are some tips for your trip to Montenegro. Especially the E-SIM one is important and I wish I had known about it before I went there.

E-SIM

The part of me that wants to make money with this blog would link Airalo here, but, actually, there are only three viable options currently for Montenegro, and Airalo is not one of them. You can either get an E-Sim with Telekom, One or m:tel. All of them have almost the same conditions and prices. Namely 15€ for 500 GB or 20€ – 25€ for 1 TB. All of them are valid for 15 days to 30 days. Telekom is the oldest network and still has the best connectivity and speed all over the country.

It’s best to get a QR Code for your E-SIM in a store in the country. The shop will verify you (which includes scanning your passport), but it is the better option than to buy one online and have the verification fail half way through and then end up with 47,60€ in Roaming fees for just 5 minutes of mobile data to navigate around a car crash that your downloaded version of google maps couldn’t navigate around. (GUESS HOW I KNOW?)

Compare tours before you book anything

In such a small country as Montenegro and only a hand full of cities along the coast frequented by tourists there are many tour companies offering the same tours. The ones I linked directly are always the ones I went on and write about here. Always compare the itineraries of tours and then decide which fits your interests and budget most.

Street Cats

Montenegro, especially Kotor, has a lot of street cats. They are cute and some will even let you pet them, but remember they are mostly wild living animals. Treat them as such. They will bite if they don’t want to be touched, they may have fleas, they are suffering from uncontrolled breeding, lacking care and short life spans. You can adore the kitties from afar and you can help them: Street Cats of Montenegro

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Map for one week in Montenegro

This is my map for one week in Montenegro along the coast. Dark blue are museums, the lighter blues are important places like churches, statues and old towns, red are restaurants, dark orange are cafés and light orange are hotels.

Der Beitrag One week in Montenegro – Coastal Beauty erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

This post contains affiliate links to things like tours and hotels. These help me earn a small commission at no additional charge to you. Every affiliate link is marked with a *.

Overview of my stay in Herceg Novi

• The pretty side of Herceg Novi
• The ugly side of Herceg Novi
• What to do in Herceg Novi?
• Dinner at Konoba Škver
• Perla Hotel – my experience
• The way back from Herceg Novi
• So… is Herceg Novi worth a visit?

The pretty side of Herceg Novi

As you read in the first paragraph Herceg Novi is very much a local tourist town today. Some areas of it are much prettier than say Budva or Kotor, without the huge crowds of international tourists you have in those two cities. I would say it has the most “Mediterranean flair” of all the cities I visited in Montenegro.

The ugly side of Herceg Novi

Allegedly a third of all tourism overnight stays happened in Herceg Novi until the Yugoslav Wars, the first of which was in 1991 and the last ended a decade later in 2001. Since then some parts of the city that weren’t destroyed in the wars have fallen to ruin. Many former hotels are closed and will probably remain like that forever.

On top of that it’s probably not a good time to visit in shoulder season, since seemingly everyone has checked out for the rest of the year already. Many places are also already closed for the winter, despite temperatures still being well above 25° C. Though I can’t say it’s going to be any better in the high season. As you can see from the pictures trash isn’t being cleaned up, many places are boarded up – either for the autumn/winter or forever, who can say.

What to do in Herceg Novi?

Herceg Novi has no less than six Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries you can visit, with Savina Monastery being the most well known one.

Directly at the sea is the Forte Mare, a several stories high fortress from the 1380s you can walk up and take in the view over the bay entrance and on a good day all the way to Croatia.

Around the city you can find several small wineries offering tastings, for example Delic Winery, Savina Winery, Damarius Winery and Malvasija Karaman Winery. Visiting all of them will rack up high expanses in taxi costs, but if you like wine I recommend visiting at least one of them if you have the time.

Dinner at Konoba Škver

A recommendation from many other blogs on Montenegro was the restaurant Konoba Škver. They specialise in seafood and the owner has connections to several fishermen, so the fish is always fresh and what kind you can get depends on the catch of the day.

I had mussels in Buzara. Buzara is a traditional seafood dish with garlic, prepared in either a red or white wine based sauce. The mussels came with white wine sauce and were served with bread, oil, grated parmesan and one and a half lemons cut into quarters.

Next was a seafood plate with Black Risotto. A dish eaten all along the Adriatic Coast in different versions. Usually it’s made with cuttlefish ink, rice and pieces of cuttlefish inside. The colour is a little off putting, but it’s actually delicious. I also had grilled shrimp, sepia and a mash made from potato, spinach and onion on the plate, as well as the other half of the second lemon.

I was told by the waiter that Niksicko is the beer of choice in Montenegro. It’s manufactured in Niksic and its brewery was the first to open in the late 1800.

Perla Hotel – my experience

I had booked the last night in the country at Perla Hotel in Herceg Novi to end the week on a high, to enjoy some “affordable luxury” and to sip a local wine from the balcony overlooking the bay at sunset. Instead my stay was somewhat of a nightmare. Klick here to skip to the review, which is basically me complaining, since my one star google review of them keeps disappearing.

1. The pool was ice cold and it was obvious that it hadn’t been cleaned recently (leaves in the water, algae along the steps).

2. I took one of their complementary bikes into town to eat dinner. As I got close to the city the back-wheel started swerving. I continued on slowly. I locked the bike outside the restaurant. When I came back after dinner and took the bike back to the hotel I was barely a minute out of the city when the handlebars fell out of the mount to one side and I off the bike. When I tried to put it back I got black grease all over my hands and opted to just push the bike back instead of risking injury.

At the hotel I told them about it and the reaction was “Are you injured? No? Then what is the problem? Sorry. We will fix the bike.” They didn’t even tell me where I could wash my hands without being prompted to.

3. I woke up in the middle of the night from a bad smell. It smelled like raw sewage. Getting up sleepily I stuck my head outside in case the smell came from there and I had to close the window. The smell didn’t come from there. It came from the sink in the bathroom. Since it was almost 3 AM I didn’t go down to reception and instead plugged the drain and filled the basin with water to stop more sewage smell from coming up.

4. After that night I really looked forward to a hot shower in the morning. I turned on the showers rain head… and the water began spewing out of the pipe above the head and towards the ceiling and walls. So I turned it off again and showered with the hand held shower head.

5. When I told reception about both those things the conversation went like this:

“Well, why didn’t you say so after checking in?”

“Because both problems weren’t there at check-in? The smell started during the night and I only turned on the rain shower head this morning?”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“Acknowledge it happened? You can come up to the room to smell it for yourself and to check the shower. Some sort of compensation would also be appropriate since the room is 150€ a night and not only is the shower mess, the room stinks and the bikes your hotel offers are also dangerous to use.”

“You can move to another room.”

“Why would I do that when I’m checking out in two hours?”

-shrugs and stays silent, looking at me like I am making all of this up for fun-

I wish it had stopped there.

6. I went to breakfast. The coffee machine didn’t dispense any milk. I made the staff aware of that. Someone came, tried the machine, it produced about five drops of milk for a Latte, then a sign flashed on the screen “deep clean of the milk system is necessary”. The staff pressed on the screen to make it disappear, then told me the machine was fine.

The selection at breakfast was extensive, sadly the pastries and grits were hard, the cut fruit was dry at the edges and the only fresh option was an omelette.

7. My one star google maps review of this place (since I booked directly with them and thus can’t post a review on any booking platform) keeps disappearing. Do with that information what you will. Luckily I have a blog so nobody can stop me from making any of this public.

The two positives:

1. The view from the balcony was breathtaking, the second (2) picture was taken at sunrise.
2. At breakfast I could see dolphins swimming through the bay from the terrace (3).

The way back from Herceg Novi

From Herceg Novi you can take the Lepetani-Kamenari-Ferry so you don’t have to drive all around Boka Bay again as you leave. You can reach Tivat Airport within an hour, or stop for a coffee at Capulus Duo in Tivat (they have parking spots, great coffee and nice outdoor seating) before continuing your drive to Kotor, Budva or Podgorica.

So… is Herceg Novi worth a visit?

That depends on what you want on a holiday. Herceg Novi is certainly worth a visit if you like visiting churches and monasteries, like to relax in a hotel without leaving it much, like going for walks, like eating seafood and like visiting small wineries.

There isn’t much more to do. And with it having such a narrow focus on tourists who want these things you can’t expect to find anything else around.

It’s not a good time to visit during shoulder season, since seemingly everyone has checked out for the rest of the year already. Though I can’t say if it’s going to be any better in the high season.

I think I would have enjoyed my time there a lot more if the hotel hadn’t been such a disaster.

If you have limited time in the country I wouldn’t include Herceg Novi in the itinerary. Instead use that day somewhere else and save over two hours of driving time.

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Der Beitrag Is Herceg Novi worth a visit? erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

This post contains affiliate links to things like tours and hotels. These help me earn a small commission at no additional charge to you. Every affiliate link is marked with a *.

Overview of two days in Kotor

• Kotor – City of Cats
• Where to stay in Kotor
• Perast
• What to do for two days in Kotor
• Where to eat in Kotor
• Map of two days in Kotor

Where to stay in Kotor

I didn’t stay directly in Kotor, but rather in Perast, a tiny settlement 14km away. A direct bus line runs between the two towns once an hour and costs 1,5€ per way. Perast is beautiful in the morning and in the evening, basically before day trips start arriving and after they have left again.

In Perast I stayed at the Hotel Leon Coronato (on Booking* / on Agoda*). The hotel itself is a heritage building, the original walls date back to 1623 and the recent renovation happened in 2019. The staff there is exceptional, every hotel should wish to have employees like them.

What to do for two days in Kotor

Kotor is the most famous town located on Boka Bay (also called Kotor Bay). It has an old town, including the old city walls, churches and a fortress you can hike to, museums, a sea promenade and several cafes and restaurants to take a break in. It’s close to several natural sights and surrounded by some villages that are also worth a visit.

Explore Kotor Old Town

The “Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor” was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in October 1979, after an earthquake had devastated 70% of the monuments in the the town and surrounding areas in April 1979. Over the years much has been restored and the old town of Kotor gives you an idea of how it might have looked at the height of it’s importance.

Several blogs I’ve read have called this old town charming and photogenic, but I have to say I much preferred the one of Budva. Less crowded, less dirty, more peaceful. I didn’t take many pictures of the old town itself since there were just too many people.

You can also walk along the old city walls of Kotor (not to be confused with the hike up to the old Fortress of Kotor) and enjoy the look over the marina and the old town from there.

Maritime Museum

The collection of the Maritime Museum of Montenegro in Kotor is based on the collection of the “Boka Marine” (Bay of Kotor Navy) fraternity and first opened it’s doors to the public in 1900. After the earthquake of 1979 the museum remained closed until 1984 when the newly renovated building presented the countries marine and naval history with newly curated expositions.

The museum spreads out over three floors and consists of furniture from an old captains house (5) – including stunning intricate parquet flooring (6), portraits of famous captains and paintings of their ships, models of old galleys and sail boats (4), navigational instruments, medals from various governments throughout Montenegrin history, handed out within the navy, but also for extraordinary deeds in civilian marine life (2), as well as numerous souvenirs merchants and soldiers brought from all over the world (3).

It was one of the more expensive museums to visit, but you can easily spend 2 – 3 hours in here.

Cat Spotting

Since Kotor is the city of cats you can spend your time there cat-spotting, you don’t even have to try hard! The street cats are everywhere in Kotor: On top of walls, inside shops, on chairs and running between the feet of people, especially when those people hold something edible. Some are resting in potted plants or on doorsteps, others visit the beach and even approach strangers.

If a cat approaching you has a nipped ear you know it has been spayed or neutered and most likely received flea and worm treatments. Most cats are friendly if you don’t get all up in their space and you can even pet them, but you have to be aware that some might have unwelcome passengers (like fleas).

You can see all of my cat pictures in this post: Street Cats of Montenegro

Cat Museum

Not only is Kotor full of roaming cats, it also has a cat museum! The museum isn’t big, you’ll need 90 minutes at most to see all of it, but an admission ticket also only costs 1€.

The museums collections consist of everything cat related in art and culture: cat-coins (2), cat-stamps and cat-postcards (3), cat themed posters and games, cat themed medals, as well as photographs and paintings from all over the world and from many different centuries with cats. Everything in the museum shows off very impressively that humans have always been obsessed with cats.

And to top it all of the cat museum is overseen by a cat (1)!

Climb up to the old Kotor Fortress

The official hiking route up to the fortress costs 15€, even in the off season in October when I was there. The walk / hike up the city walls mainly consists of uneven medieval stone stairs and is moderate in difficulty. The hike to the fortress is harder than that, so I would only recommend it if you are in good physical shape.

When you look at the pictures the views do seem to be worth it.

The first two pictures are by Mujo Hasanovic, since I was not able to climb up to the Kotor Fortress myself.

Our Lady of the Rocks & Blue Cave Boat Tour

One of the most popular things to do at Boka Bay is taking a boat tour to the artificial Our Lady of the Rocks island, as well as the former submarine tunnel and the Blue Cave.

The tour above is the tour I went on. The boat was already full of other guests from Kotor when I got on in Perast. Our first stop was the man made island “Our Lady of the Rocks”. Legend has it a fisherman found a figure of mother Mary and her baby Jesus on a natural rock in this spot in 1452. Afterwards sailors started throwing rocks into the water every time they returned home. Ships were also sunk at this point to enlarge the island. Today there’s a small catholic church on the island, as well as an even smaller museum.

During peak hours (9 am to 5 pm) many boats stop at the island and even during shoulder season there were too many people on the island. Our captain had asked if we wanted to stop now or later and sadly everyone else voted for now, so we shared the tiny island with at least 100 – 150 other people.

Next stop after the island was an abandoned submarine tunnel. Here we were more lucky. Five boats just came out as we approached and the next ones didn’t arrive until we had a chance to explore the inside by ourselves. Three submarine tunnels are located close to each other in the mountains surrounding Boka Bay. These tunnels were built by the Yugoslav Army in the middle of the 20th century and served as cover from attacks during WW2 as well as the Balkan War (reports vary on this, some sources say they were only built as late as 1970).

On our way out of the bay we cruised past Mamula island (2nd picture above), a former prison for political prisoners. Today it’s a luxury hotel. From this location you can also see the tip of Croatia.

The last stop was the Blue Cave, a cave in which the water is a clear, cerulean blue. The cave was absolutely packed with boats and speedboats, so we left after not even five minutes and our skipper stopped the boat in a mini bay close to the cave. Here we had the chance to swim. Only three of us (5th picture above) dared to jump into the water, coincidentally all Germans. The water was cold, but not unbearable, even in October and in the open ocean.

Where to eat in Kotor

Many places in and around Kotor are catering specifically to tourists, meaning the food is okay but nothing more and the prices are inflated. It took me a while to navigate the reviews to find places I was genuinely excited to go to.

Eho Restaurant

The best meal I had in Montenegro was at Eho. In fact the food there was so good I wrote an entire separate article about it: Eho Restaurant Perast – Local specialties meet culinary inspiration

BBQ Tanjga

The second best meal in Montenegro was at BBQ Tanjga. They have different meat-based dishes, from Cevapi to dry aged Entrecôte. The meat measured by weight and comes with fries, sauces and a selection of salads and sides. I went with the Entrecôte and it was delicious. If you walk in and there are no free tables, try the outdoor seating out-back.

Mon Bistro Cafétéria

The only decent Latté I had anywhere in Kotor / Perast was at Mon Bistro Cafétéria. I went with a chocolate doughnut to go along with it and that was decent, too.

Moritz Eis

With 3,50 € for 80 grams of ice cream this chain is overpriced. Probably due to them being in tourism-hotspots all along the coast. If you can bring yourself to pay that the ice cream itself is good and they have some interesting flavours – I had lemon & mint.

Moments Restaurant

Medovik is a honey cake with many layers that originated in the Soviet Union. Today it is still popular in many eastern European countries. You can try this Honey Cake at the Moments Restaurant in the town Dobrota, which is de-facto a part of the city Kotor (geographically, not governmentally). On your way from the old town to the restaurant you can walk 1,5 km along the coastal promenade.

The cake is not too sweet, the cream filling gives it a nice balance and the fresh berries it was served with made for a delightful sour note.

They also serve a classic Lemon Tart, though it true former Yugoslavian fashion it was covered in a much thicker layer of semi-stiff meringue than necessary (see: Šampita). But the lemon filling and the crunchy pie layer were delicious.

Calletta

This tiny bistro is in a small alley parallel to the main street of Perast. They sell different kinds of Focaccia Sandwiches and some cocktails. I took my fresh mortadella sandwich to go and enjoyed it on a bench near the water.

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Der Beitrag Two days in Kotor – City of Cats erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

The food in Montenegro should have been right up my alley – and I still think it is, but so many of the places I ate at were far below expectations. It truly felt like so many places had given up on quality. Most tourists will visit once and then never return, so why focus on providing good food? As long as it’s good enough not to get a bad review its deemed good enough.

Of course there were good places too, you can read about them in my other posts, but there was only one that was outstanding: Eho.

This post contains affiliate links to things like tours and hotels. These help me earn a small commission at no additional charge to you. Every affiliate link is marked with a *.

About the location of Eho

Eho Restaurant is located in the village of Perast, about 15 km away from the famous town Kotor. It’s not directly on the water, but I wouldn’t call it “second row” either, since the spacious area in front of the restaurant is used for outdoor seating.

Inside the sleek and minimal modern furniture in dark colours stands in contrast to the centuries old walls and vaulted ceilings of light limestone.

About the food at Eho

At Eho you get Michelin star quality food (I am not just saying that, the head chef at Eho has worked at two Michelin star restaurants before), with a focus on local produce.

Local Cheese Selection

Starting with a local cheese plate consisting of

• Njeguški sir – cow cheese (one of the triangles)
• young goat cheese (the white rectangles)
• semi-hard sheep cheese (the other triangles)
• Prljo – a goat cheese aged in a sheepskin bag (the dumpling looking ones)

Milk production and processing have been a strong focus of many Montenegrin farmers, since a lot of the country is covered in mountains. They have many varieties of cow-, goat- and sheep cheeses.

The cheeses were paired with local olives, light and dark bread and optional olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper for dipping.

My favourites were the two triangle ones. The rectangles didn’t taste like much and the sheepskin aged ones tasted too gamy for my taste.

Local wines and beers

The wine list features many local wines, white, red and rose. I went for a white wine from the winery Plantaze. They are the leading producer of wine in Montenegro and have the largest vinyard in Europe! The wine was a delight with the cheeses.

Other local choices on the drinks menu are beers, Nikšićko and Mammut among others. For the later meal I went with the Mammut Pilsner. Even though I was born in Germany, beer is not my favourite. This one was very light and I did enjoy drinking it, especially with the bacon-butter-shrimps.

Starters, Main Course & Dessert

When I asked the waitress what her recommendation was the answer came within seconds: The Baked Shrimps. She said it with so much conviction and certainty that I did order the baked shrimps.

First the shrimps are roasted in smoked bacon and maple-butter, then finished with sea salt flakes and lemon zest. The shrimps really took to the flavour of the bacon-maple butter, without loosing that distinct shrimp flavour.

Ever since I got home I have been trying to replicate the taste ^^

As an addition she also recommended the Zucchini Carpaccio, explaining that it would add a lighter touch to the very savoury shrimp dish. Even though Zucchini is not among my favourite vegetables I trusted her recommendation and went with both of these starters.

They slice the zucchini extremely thin, then grill it. Theses slices are served with roasted walnuts, asparagus, and yuzu dressing, finished with a mountain of herbs, lemon zest and parmesan. I can confidently say I have never eaten anything like it before. In a good way!

Every time I took a bite my brain couldn’t comprehend what exactly I was eating, that’s how well the flavour profile was matched. The soft zucchini, snappy asparagus and crunchy roasted nuts also combined a nice selection of textures to really round out the dish.

For the main course I had the Green Risotto, which is a risotto with a heap of basil, cooked in leek and fish stock, giving it it’s colour. It was topped with lemon-prawns and even more basil. Despite the sheer amount of basil in this dish the taste wasn’t overwhelming. The risotto had a creamy texture, with the rice still retaining some firmness and the shrimps were buttery soft.

When ordering dessert I wanted to go for the chocolate one, but sadly they had run out. Instead I got to try an off-menu dessert that will be on the new menu: potato-dumplings, sweetened and spiced with cinnamon and tonka bean, vanilla ice cream, vanilla foam dusted in dried raspberries and served with fresh raspberries.

To be clear here: I am still allergic to raspberries. But I just couldn’t pass this opportunity up, so I just took some anti-histamines afterwards and it turned out fine.

This restaurant has only been open since April 2025, so not even a full year when I am writing this. The quality of the food was outstanding and while it was Michelin star quality the prices weren’t overly expensive. That’s even more surprising considering its location in the tourism hotspot Perast / Kotor.

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Der Beitrag Eho Restaurant Perast – Local specialties meet culinary inspiration erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

Cats can reproduce at a rate of up to 6 kittens per litter and about 3 litters a year. A female cat can get pregnant from six months old and never really stops being able to get pregnant, even though the pregnancies become much more high risk after they pass the 7 year mark. In this sample calculation we’ll also assume that only half of the kittens survive, since they are street cats. Even then a single female cat can produce 58 kittens until she turns 7. If half of these surviving kittens are also female this number grows to a staggering 2088 kittens over only her childrens fertile time.

Multiply that by 100 female street cats to begin with = 208.800 kittens per year these street cats and their children in 7 years. And you have a lot more than 100… THAT is why spay & neuter programs are so important!

Overview of the post Street cats of Montenegro

• Why are there so many street cats in Montenegro?
• Why spay and neuter the cats?
• Street cats in Kotor
• Street cats all along the coast
• Kotor Kitties – Charity

Why are there so many street cats in Montenegro?

Stray cats can be found in Montenegro in large numbers especially in the coastal cites. It is assumed that many ships had cats as part of their crew to keep vermin away from the cargo and the food on board. These cats would hop off at the next port and several would stay in the cities, rather than return to the sea. And from the numbers above we can see that only 10 cats can already lead to a large population.

Why spay and neuter the cats?

Since the street cats are large in numbers and resources are limited many of them die young: starved, diseased, infested with vermin, or from fights. There are too many cats to be adopted by the local people. While many residents have taken to feeding the street cats, money is tight and vet visits are expensive. Today there are three all-volunteer organizations who aim to improve the situation of the street cats in the country. They all operate under the umbrella “Kotor Kitties“.

Street cats in Kotor

Kotor has somewhat adopted their street cats as the cities mascots, souvenirs everywhere are connected to the cats, there is a cat museum, even a cat statue, but apart from a few exceptions it seems like most just want to profit off of the cats, but not care for them more than leaving out food.

Locals also told me that Kotor is seen as somewhat of a safe haven to drop off unwanted kittens and cats, since the old town is car free and the cats “are fed here”. Which then leads to even more cats!

I saw many more cats in Kotor than in most cities I have been to, but at the same time less cats than I expected. I was there in October, so in shoulder season with less tourists overall, from mid-day to early evening. There were definitely more cats as the cruise ship people left, so maybe there would be even more at night time when only locals remain.

Since I had read so much about the charity work being done in spaying and neutering the street-cats of Montenegro I also expected to see more cats with a snipped ear – a sign that they have been treated already. Instead more cats had intact ears than not. A sign that much more work has yet to be done.

Street cats all along the coast

In every single coastal town (Budva, Bar, Tivat, Kotor, Perast, Herceg Novi) I saw street cats, while Podgorica (the capital), Cetinje (the former capital) and Virpazar (a popular boat tour village near Skadar Lake) seemed to have more street-dogs.

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Kotor Kitties – Charity

Der Beitrag Street cats of Montenegro erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

This post contains affiliate links to things like tours and hotels. These help me earn a small commission at no additional charge to you. Every affiliate link is marked with a *.

Overview for visiting Cetinje – the former royal capital of Montenegro

• What to do in Cetinje?
• Ethnographic Museum of Montenegro
• Museum of King Nikola
• Krempita
• Cetinje Monastery
• Where to park in Cetinje
• Lipa Cave

What to do in Cetinje?

I visited several museums, a monastery and the Lipa cave in Cetinje, while sleeping in Budva – 38 minutes away by car. If you want to try the traditional Montenegrin cream cake Cetinje is also an ideal location for that!

The history of Cetinje is a lot more complicated than the first paragraph of this article makes it seem, but if I tried to explain it here the post would get too long. If you visit you are welcome to visit the museums and learn about it yourself

Today it is obvious that Cetinje is long past it’s prime, with many buildings having fallen into disrepair. In a great marketing move these ruins have been covered by huge banners, depicting the very buildings that once stood in that spot.

Ethnographic Museum of Montenegro

The Ethnographic Museum of Montenegro is very small. Four rooms downstairs, each with one or more topics dedicated to different culturally important themes and items, are connected by the main hallway. On the second level is a single big room with traditional attire from different periods from all over Montenegro. The admission ticket comes with an audio guide you can download (on their Wi-Fi) onto your phone, which has all the explanations.

I was most impressed by the intricately designed belts from the female traditional outfits. They look very heavy and impractical, too…

Museum of King Nikola

The Museum of King Nikola is located in the former palace of the last Montenegrin ruler Nikola I Petrović Njegoš. In 1863 Nikola ordered the construction of a palace for the residential needs of Princess Darinka, his aunt. The people soon started to call the new building „Palac”. In 1867 the Montenegrin sovereign gave up the original idea and moved his court residence from the nearby Biljarda to the new building.

In some rooms the palace has been kept in the condition the family had left it in, while others have been turned into display rooms for materials of the political, military and cultural history of Montenegro – all in connection with the royal family of course.

You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, so every picture of the inside is directly from the museum itself, copyright and all. The rooms look exactly like in the pictures and there are a few more than depicted. Interestingly the bedrooms which have been preserved or restored are those of King Nikola and Queen Milena, as well as their two daughters Princess Ksenija (bottom left – 3rd) and Princess Vjera (bottom right – 4th). The only two children (out of 12) who lived into adulthood and died unmarried. They are also the same daughters who have been exhumed and reburied in Montenegrin soil on 1st October 1989 with their parents.

The Blue Palace is another one of the royals palaces. Originally it’s was the heir’s palace. Today the Blue Palace is the official residence of the President of Montenegro. You can’t go inside, but you will walk past it on your way into the city.

Eat Krempita

I tried this traditional cake at the Antib Café, since they had it displayed in the window. They also had comfy chairs in the sun outside, ideal for an autumn day.

Their google reviews are abysmal, but I had no issues. I asked how much the slice of cake was (5€) and how much a Latté was (1,60€) and that (6,60€) is what they quoted me in the end.

But what IS Krempita?

It’s a cake filled with cream(s). The name can be divided into two parts: krem and pita, meaning cream and pie. The crusts are made of puff pastry, while the filling is half whipped cream and half set custard.

Cetinje Monastery

This monastery was rebuilt in 1701 as a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church, on top of the ruins of the former Crnojević monastery on site. Between then and the 1979 earthquake the monastery suffered much more destruction and was rebuild and changed over and over. The last rebuilding effort took place after the earthquake. During this rebuilding the treasury in the right wing of the monastery was given a makeover as well and nowadays is a publicly accessible area where many religious artefacts and documents are stored and displayed.

Admission is free, but there are dressing rules for visitors according to the Orthodox religion. The monks who still live in the monastery oversee the visitors and help out with scarves in case someone wants to visit, but came dressed for the beach.

Parking in Cetinje

I parked at 9WMG+MGM, Štampara Makarija in Cetinje, where an area has been designated for free parking next to the road. It’s about 5 minutes on foot into the city and you walk past the Blue Palace.

Videos of Cetinje – by Discover Montenegro

Lipa Cave

The parking lot of the cave, from where a “train” takes you to the cave, is only 10 Minutes away from the parking lot in Cetinje I mentioned above.

Lipa cave was opened to the general public in 2015 and offers two kinds of tours: A one hour basic cave tour and a 100 minute advanced cave tour that descends into the area of the cave without footpaths (at the moment only the first one). This is the tour I went on:

The basic tour starts with a “train” taking everyone the the cave entrance, inside the cave a winding path trails through the darkness, with illuminated signs near most reference points. A guide accompanies every tour and tells you about the cave and it’s history. The tour was great!

And it would have been even better if people actually followed the rules. Didn’t touch the 10.000 year old stalactites and stalagmites, didn’t talk loudly while the guide is explaining something and actually moved along instead of being on their phones.

Caffe bar Lipa

At the parking lot of Lipa cave is a small cafe bar where you can get a decent coffee for an affordable price (one of the best value for money ones in the country tbh) with an amazing view over the mountains that stretch between Skadar Lake in the East and the Adriatic Sea in the South.

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Featured Image of Cetinje by falco

Der Beitrag Visiting Cetinje – the former royal capital of Montenegro erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

Overview of exploring South East Montenegro from Budva

• Why choose Budva as your base?
• Where to stay in Budva?
• What to do in Budva?
• Where to go from Budva?
  • Sveti Stefan
  • Stari Bar
  • Skadar Lake
  • Cetinje

Why choose Budva as your base?

Budva has a historical old town and notable places to visit, it is a medium size city with every store you might need and it’s roughly in the middle of the Montenegrin coastline. Most places I visited in the southeast are about 40 to 70 minutes away by car. You can also drive easily to Kotor as the next stop on your journey.

Where to stay in Budva?

For me there is only one choice: Garni Hotel Vladimir*. It was my favourite hotel during my time in Montenegro. By a wide margin!

In my opinion the property has an ideal location to explore Budva on foot, while also being in a more quiet part of the city. It is a new or recently renovated building with private parking options right in front of the hotel. The bathroom is spacious, with a big walk in shower and everything was sparkling clean.

The breakfast is phenomenal, with a focus on quality over quantity! They had different local cheeses, local meats and baked goods. Hot and cold choices of veggies, either fried eggs or scrambled eggs, a fruit- and cereal-bar and coffee, tea and juices to top it all off. The staff was so lovely, always incredibly helpful and you could really tell that they cared about every guests experience.

Trust me it’s better to get a car and drive to other places in the area while staying here overnight than to book somewhere else!

It was during breakfast at hotel Vladimir that I got to try several Montenegrin baked goods, all included in the price. There was Bombice (chocolate and hazelnuts pressed into a ball, covered in shredded coconut), Bajadera (a no-bake tea biscuits, hazelnuts, almonds, and dark chocolate cake that originated in what today is Croatia) and Oblanda (wafers with a chocolate and walnut filling). I could have tried more, but there is a limit of how much sugar I can take in the morning.

Down the road from the hotel, through a small park, was a bakery called Good Food that sold even more baked goods. This time I opted for a savoury Burek. It was made from filo pastry, filled with something I think was white cabbage(?) and rolled into a snail.

Less than 400m down the road on the other side of the hotel you will find Oliva Coffee. A small coffee shop with some outdoor seating and a great Latte.

Also within a short walk is a Telekom Shop where you can get a tourist E-SIM with 500 GB für 15€.

What to do in Budva?

Budva itself has several points of interest, as well as some city beaches and hiking paths, making it an ideal starting point for exploration.

Budva Old Town

The old town of Budva, also called Stari Grad, is an area in the southernmost part of the city marked by the old city walls (prior to last picture). Several gates lead into this labyrinth of narrow alleys and cobblestone squares. After seeing Kotor later in the week – it was also my favourite old town. You get to take in the historical buildings and charm of the Adriatic medieval flair, while enjoying all the modern developments like streetlamps, an underground sewer system and garbage collection.

Inside the old town you will find many of the cities restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. Honorable mentions here are the Blue Cat Art Cafe (a cocktail bar) and Fluffy pancakes Budva for a sweet snack (their fluffy mini pancakes are incredibly similar to Dutch Poffertjes).

Budva City Museum

Within the old town you can also find the Museum of Budva, a very small three story building containing archeological findings from the city and surrounding area, as well as several donations from the more recent past. Make sure you have a mobile data connection before you go in, there are three VR stations inside the museum. For 3€ per ticket you can’t go wrong here.

Ballerina of Budva

This bronze statue stands in the bay of Budva, facing the ocean. Why is it called a ballerina? Because she allegedly embodies the grace of one. Why is she naked? That is a question I ask about a lot of sculptures depicting women.

And, as always, there is a myth that “rubbing the bronzed statue gives you good luck”. And, as always, with statues of women, the parts that are rubbed are her butt and her chest. Disappointed, but not surprised. That also means that people climbs over the chest high fence and onto the slippery rocks, just to touch it.

Where to go from Budva?

All the mentioned locations are about 40 to 70 minutes away by car. You can also drive easily to Kotor as the next stop on your journey.

Sveti Stefan

Sveti Stefan, the famous island-contained settlement near Budva is actually a luxury resort, established in 1954 by the Yugoslav government. Back then one of the four churches on Sveti Stefan was also turned into a casino by the government. Since its establishment the resort was visited by many celebrities.

From 2009 onwards it’s been run by the Aman Resort Group who have a 30 year lease on the entire island.

Stari Bar

Several kilometres outside of the city that is Bar today lies the old town of bar called Stari Bar. When I mentioned the old town of Budva above I was talking about a part of the city that is still lived in today. However, Stari Bar is different. Mainly ruins remain today of what once was the most important settlement of Montenegro. Everything that once belong to this ancient town is now an open air museum. Over the years a new settlement grew around it. Today it’s mostly focused on tourism.

The history of the old Stari Bar is turbulent and every single culture that once held the city left their traces: Byzantines, Illyrians, Romans, Serbs, Venetians, Ottomans and Montenegrins. Points of note in the town include: Bar Aqueduct, a Hammam, a Clock Tower, the Cathedral of St. George and a Lapidarium.

A Lapidarium is in its simplest form a collection of stones. The Lapidarium within the Old Town of Bar impressively shows off the cities past, with remnants of stones with inscriptions in different languages and different forms of writing form the past thousands of years.

Discover Montenegro has a great drone video about Stari Bar on their YouTube channel.

Skadar Lake

Skadar Lake is the largest lake in Southern Europe, located on the border of Albania and Montenegro. Two thirds of the lake are territory of Montenegro and all of it is part of a national park, which extends well beyond the borders of the body of water and it’s shore.

Boat tours to see the lake are popular with tourists, both those who are just stopping by and those who want to “go off the beaten path”. Whichever one you are, finding the boat tour that is right for you is not easy. So many of them sound the exact same on paper, but the costs vary to a degree where you can’t help but ask if you are underpaying the cheaper ones or overpaying the more expensive ones if you choose them. The 5€ ticket for entering the national park is not included in any of the tour prices so that’s not something you have to consider either.

I did a lot of research and in the end I booked a 2 hour cruise with Boat Cruise Viktor*. Originally I had wanted to go with a 3 hour tour that stops at the Kom Monastery*, to take a different route than most other tours, but the timing didn’t work out.

Their sales booth is right next to the bridge and looked more sturdy to me than most others. During the early afternoon tour only three other people were on the boat. On the boat you get unlimited drinks: water, juices, but also local Montenegrin wines. Our guide told us a little about the company, a family business founded nine years ago, then focused on telling us about the lake and what we were seeing on the way.

The lake, its islands and connecting rivers are said to be home to over 250 bird species. While I did see many birds, they were mainly black cormorants, seagulls and grey herons. There was also a single pelican. The pelicans here are among the last ones in Europe.

Discover Montenegro has a great drone video of Skadar Lake in Summer on their YouTube channel.

What you should know before you go to Virpazar

You’ll read online (fellow travel blogs) that Virpazar, the village from where most Skadar Lake tours start, is a sleepy fishing village. Sure, tourism has arrived there, but it kept its charm and character. That was my expectation when I went there.

Instead I found the “city centre” overflowing from sales booths for boat tours (at least 15, eleven of them on the side of the road I uploaded a picture of), restaurants and pubs and a giant modern hotel dominating the north side of the river. Next to the booths are people selling all kinds of stuff, only two vendors looked like their products weren’t just imports from SEA.

The once free parking space (a gravel covered area that also serves as a trash dump) has been taken over by another boat tour company threatening people who want to park if they don’t buy with them. If you say you’ll just park at a paid spot then, good luck getting one. I saw space for six cars in total.

And lastly: If you go in autumn or winter most of the green plants will be brown or entirely dead. The lake will not be covered in pretty water lilies. Just in case some people forgot that seasons are a thing.

Montenegrin tasting plate at Плави 1

Directly next to where the boat tour ends is the restaurant Плави 1 where you can try a Montenegrin tasting plate with Njegusi Prosciutto, marinated carp, olives, a beef ham and some Montenegrin cheese.

Njeguši Prosciutto is a ham made from pigs hind legs, heavily salted, then dried and smoked for a long time (Four months to a year. Informations vary.) This ham originates from the village Njeguši, hence the name.

As you can see the plate is extremely full and way too much for just one person to finish. It’s good value for money and easily feeds two people or works as a tasting plate for up to four.

The carp was my favourite, then the cheese, then the Njegusi Prosciutto and then the last two options.

Cetinje

Cetinje is the former royal capital of Montenegro and before that played a role all throughout Montenegrin history as well. Today several institutions are still active here, such as the national museum of Montenegro (closed for now and the next few years), the ethnological museum of Montenegro, the former palace and now museum of King Nikola, as well as the Cetinje Monastery. It is also the ideal place to try Kremptia, a cream cake.

Lipa cave, the only cave in Montenegro that is open to the public, is also about 15 minutes from there.

You can read more about my visit to Cetinje here: Visiting Cetinje – the former royal capital of Montenegro

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!

Der Beitrag Exploring South East Montenegro from Budva erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

Overview of the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape

• History of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape
• Lednice
  • Lednice Castle
  • Lednice Castle Gardens
  • Lednice Dávná
  • Lednice Torture Museum
• Valtice
  • Valtice Palace
  • Kolonada Reistna
  • Chateau Valtice

History of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape

The area between Lednice and Valtice, a staggering 200 km², was created as an artificial landscape from the 17th to the 20th century. The areas in southern Moravia belonged to the Dukes of Lichtenstein (one of the three richest families in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) from the mid 13th century to the end of the 20th century.

The area mixes Baroque architecture, classical and neo-Gothic style architecture as well as the English romantic principles of landscape architecture. In 1996 the Lednice-Valtice Area was listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site.

“The Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape is an outstanding artistic creation that succeeds in bringing together in harmony cultural monuments from successive periods and both indigenous and exotic natural elements to create an outstanding work of human creativity.”

Lednice

The village of Lednice has some 2200 inhabitants today. It came into the hands of the Lichtenstein family in the mid. 1200s (while it was still called Eisgrub = ice pit) and was part of their main estates until the 20th century.

Lednice Castle

The Lednice Castle as we can see it today began as a Renaissance villa under the ownership of the Lichtenstein family around 1570 and was progressively changed and remodelled to reflect Baroque, Classical and Neo-Gothic fashions. The 1850 “Gothic Revival remodelling” changed the house to the one we can visit today. According to the leaflet they give you when you join a tour it was this remodel that brought the castle “into harmony with the prevailing Romanticism of this part of the landscape”.

The tour starts in the entrance hall, with is dominated by a self-supporting wooden staircase, a massive golden chandelier (it weights 690kg and is 15 meters long!) and portraits of the Lichtenstein princes up on the wall. These three portraits are the only ones that survived from the ancestral gallery.

Following the entrance hall is a antler-decorated hallway with vaulted ceilings that leads to a hunting room and a bathroom from the mid 19th century. The toilet (which has the form of a fish, with it’s mouth turned up) is one of only two that survived to this day.

After a few more rooms, among which are bedrooms, collection rooms and sitting rooms the next stop is the knights hall (first picture), which supposedly emulates a greathall from the middle ages, but in a romantic style. The brass chandeliers are equipped with candles, even though electricity was installed in the château in 1903. The figures on the wall are facsimiles of knights armour, only one is real – the one with the pointed shoes.

The red smoking hall has a wooden ceiling decorated with twelve coats of arms (six on each side) which were related to the Lichtenstein family. A glass door connects the lounge with the largest of the greenhouses (92 meters long, 13m wide and 10 meters high), which houses about 250 different plants.

The turquoise room (these places really have a penchant to just call the rooms by their wall colour, but if you have several “sitting rooms” you have to distinguish them by something, I guess) is the only place in the castle where you can still see the original wallpaper made from suede leather. Originally they were a lot more green than they are today (zoom in above the door behind the table). Since the coat of arms of the Lichtenstein family features two eagles the eagle is a recurring motif all over their former properties. Two more things to note inside this room are the intricately decorated ceiling, made from walnut, and the floor covered with inlaid parquet flooring, which is mostly covered by an ugly carpet today to protect it from all the visitors.

After around an hour the tour ends in the blue music hall, the largest room in the château. Musicians played in the corners of the room while the middle was used for dancing. The hall is filled to the brim with furnishings, paintings and trinkets from different northern and eastern European cultures, all brought into existence by master craftsmen. And once again the ceiling has to be pointed out specifically, since it is one of the best Neogothic ceilings in Europe, made from lindenwood.

Lednice Castle Gardens

The park of the Lednice country house was designed in an English garden style. It includes several architectural buildings: small temples, hunting castles, an arch, a 60 meter high Minaret, greenhouses and other minor structures, like fountains in a Romantic style. The park also includes an artificial lake with 16 small islands.

Lednice Dávná

The museum of “Old Lednice” is a local history museum that depicts the environment of Lednice from 1917 to 1935, while Czechoslovakia was still a young democratic republic (today the Czech call it First Republic) under its first president Tomáš Masaryk.

It is not a traditional museum, but rather a space that is set up like a street from a hundred years ago. You enter through a place that is set up to be a median household. On the “street” that follows are a cafe, a barbershop, a tailor’s shop, etc.

Lednice Torture Museum

The Museum of Torture Instruments and Torture in Lednice is a short walk away from the castle grounds. It is a private owned collection of genuine and replicated torture instruments from 500 B.C. until the 20th century. The instruments are accompanied by drawings or photographs of how they were used and some written explanations are given how and when certain equipment was used (ask for the English translation at the entrance), so it is definitely not a museum for the faint hearted or previously traumatised.

The exhibits are mostly from Europe, with some from South-East Asia and others from European Colonies over the centuries. An executioners sword (the actual one) from Lednice is also included in the museum and one of the few things that is stored in a glass case.

Some people might find this kind of exhibition macabre, but in my opinion it is important to remind ourselves how cruel humans can be and have been. It is on us to make sure some of these things will never be repeated and to speak up when they are.

Valtice

The town of Valtice has some 3600 inhabitants today. The Lichtenstein family slowly bought up parts of the estate in the late decades of the 1300s (while it was still called Feldberg). In the 1400s the town was pillaged, burned down and almost erased by several wars. It was eventually rebuilt in the 16th century and since then it was part of the main Lichtenstein estates – until the 20th century. However even that didn’t save the town from being sacked and destroyed several times more until the late 1700s.

Feldberg was part of Lower Austria until the end of WWI when it was annexed by the newly established Czechoslovakia and was renamed Valtice. The Liechtenstein family lived there even after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, until 1939. The town was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1938 until the end of WWII when the remaining German population was forced to leave the town and the castle was confiscated by the Czechoslovak government. Today the castle is managed by the Czech National Heritage Institute.

Valtice is also known as a centre of wine production in Moravia. The National Wine Centre and the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic reside in the Valitce Château. The Valtice Palace also has its own wine cellar, offering tastings in a royal setting.

Valtice Palace

The foundations of the Valtice Palace reach back to the middle ages, but it was remodelled several times. First in the style of the Renaissance, then Mannerist and lastly in a Baroque style which can still be seen today. The neighbouring church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is build in the same Baroque style. Both buildings dominate the scenery in the town centre.

While the palace offers several tours, the most of the inside can be seen during the grand representation tour (260 CZK ≈ 10,60€). During the tour visitors can see 20+ rooms representing how the princes lived. Once again the tour is only in Czech. If you’d want to do all of the tours it would cost a whopping 990 CZK ≈ 40,25€. You can visit the castle grounds for free, look into the inner courtyard and over the herb garden from the terrace of the Hotel Hotel Anton Florian or it’s public restaurant Zlatá Terasa located in the left wing of Valtice Palace.

Kolonáda Reistna

The arch was built in the early 1700s as both a viewing spot over the Lednice-Valtice Area and a monument to prince Jan I of Liechtensteins brother Philip and Ludwig, as well as his deceased father Franz Josef I.

Today the Colonnade on Reisten hill is a bit hard to reach. While it was a popular tourist spot in the 19th century and roads were created for horse drawn carriages to reach it, it was used by the military during the Communist era. During that time it was damaged and its restoration was only started after 1989 (after the Velvet Revolution).

Today most of it’s splendor has been restored and the view over the valley (and on good weather days even into Austria) is amazing from the rooftop terrace. Even after opening hours you can still look down the wine fields to the town of Valtice from the ground level.

Temple of Diana

The Temple of Diana (ancient greek patroness of the countryside and nature, hunters, wildlife, childbirth, crossroads, the night, and the Moon.) from 1812, is one of the other meaningful buildings in the Valice area. This four storey building in the Empire style features a three storey high arch and was used as a hunting lodge.

Château Valtice

Valtice is also known as a centre of wine production in Moravia. The National Wine Centre and the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic both reside in the Château Valitce. The Valtice Palace also has its own wine cellar, offering tastings in a setting from 1430.

Château Valtice produces over 30 different varieties of wine, with white wines as the predominant version.

Wine tasting

There are eight different places to do a wine tasting in Valtice, with four offering wine tastings on the regular. You can find more information on the Chateau Valtice Website.

Der Beitrag Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape – a UNESCO World Heritage Site erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

• History of Bitov Castle
• Visiting Bitov Castle – Guided Tour
• FAQ about visiting Bitov Castle

History of Bitov Castle

TLDR: Click here to jump to the tour

Bitov Castle is one of the oldest still standing castles in the Czech Republic. Earliest records of a fortification in the spot the Bitov Castle you can visit today are from 1060, as a wooden fort between the two rivers Zeletavka and Dyje. During the 12th century it was upgraded to a stone-walled fortification and after 1298 into a castle under the reign of the Lichtenburgs. This family held the castle until 1572 when the last male heir with the family name died. Their remains are buried in the castles chapel.

The next remodel of the castle happened after 1612 when the Moravian family of Jankovsky of Vlasim had it redone in the style of Early European Baroque. In 1755 the castle fell to the Counts of Daun who were subjects of the Habsburgs.

Eventually Bitov Castle was remodelled again in the 1800s into the neo-Gothic style it still has today. The last family who owned the castle were the Haas of Hasenfels, owners of the West Bohemian porcelain factories (which were producing porcelain until 2011). During their ownership the castle grounds were turned into one of the largest private zoos in the country. Some of that zoo can still be seen today, although of course no tigers live here anymore.

Today the estate is managed by the National Heritage Institute and since 1970s more than 80 million CZK have been spent on its renovation. Although the tours they offer are only in Czech they had the most comprehensive selection of languages available in printed versions.

While it seems today like the castle is located a little weirdly, away from the village of Bitov, it hasn’t always been this way. Until 1935 the village of Bitov was directly beneath the castle, but it was flooded when the Vranov reservoir was finished, leaving only the castle behind.

Visiting Bitov Castle – Guided Tour

TLDR: Click here to jump to the FAQ about visiting Bitov Castle

The tour starts in the yard of the fortification, then immediately enters the inner courtyard, followed by the knights hall. Inside this hall are two knight statues, one of which depicting castle patron St. George subduing a dragon. More imposingly the hall also features a lifesize stuffed knight in armour on a stuffed horse. The walls and ceiling of this hall are painted in a 3D manner, making it look like the walls are dressed in stone, adorned with wood carvings and topped by stucco, instead of the plain plaster they actually are. The single-tier chandelier, made from wrought tin, is made to look like it’s covered in flowers and greenery.

After the former chapel, then hall of ancestors you enter a bedroom. It has an adorned sleeping area, as well as a praying area in front of the window. From this bedroom a row of curtain-covered-arches lead into the next rooms.

First into the dining room of the family. The carvings on the seats are supposed to emulate ivory carvings, a status symbol for the Neo-Gothic style of the 10th century. The table as you can see it today has been set with porcelain tableware which was produced by the Haas & Czjzek company.

The next room was the smokers lounge where the men met, drank and smoked. In the corner a shelf displays products from the porcelain factory in Slavkov near Karlovy Vary, where the money came from they used to buy this castle.

From the lounge you enter the music room, a small, but well equipped space which served as private entertainment, or as the stage for festivities in the adjacent ballroom. The ballroom is again covered in paintings, making it look like the walls and ceiling are more richly decorated than they were.

One of my favourite spaces in the castle was the ladies violet lounge, not because of the violet walls or the Empire style furniture, but because of the Siberian malachite tableware displayed on a sideboard, which had been a gift from Tsar Alexander I of Russia. It was allegedly inspired by Pompeii and the art of ancient Egypt. Talk about international!

Behind the ladies lounge is the gentlemens green lounge, because the men needed more space – there will be a third lounge, later. The pictures on the wall behind the table are of the grandparents of Baron Jitt Haas – August Haas with his wife. On another wall is an embroidered coat of arms of the Haas family and a painting of the porcélain factory Haas & Czjzek in Slaykov near Karlovy Vary, which is also painted on porcelain.

The balcony can be accessed from the green lounge and overlooks the convergence of the rivers Dyje and Zeletavka which flow around the castle. Even today only a few houses can be seen along the riverbed, everything else is just forest as far as you can see.

Next was the first hunting lounge (I did say there would be a third lounge later that was mainly or exclusively reserved for the men of the family). Its walls, lamps and even tables are covered with hunting trophies like animal skulls and antlers.

The next bedroom was used by Franz Daun as a master bedroom. It was eventually converted into a guest-room. The room is painted intricately again, features a bed, a free standing fireplace made from graphite and the skin of a lioness turned into the carpet…

After this room was another hunting lounge, this time, in addition to the walls, lamps and tables being covered with hunting trophies, there were also personalised hunting rifles from the different owners of this castle.

Another favourite room of mine in the castle was the study of Franz Daun. Above the table by the window are military deeds of the Daun family – like of the Commander Filip Lorenz Daun and Bishop Josef Albin Franze Daun from Salzburg and Passau, as well as a medal the field marshal Leopold Josef Daun got. The deed for one of the Dauns to become an Ehrenbürger (honoured citizen) of the township Vöttau (Bitov) on the wall opposite the desk is in German.

After all these normal (for a castle) rooms followed many, many rooms that make you think “wait… what?”: Starting with a library and mineral and butterfly collection room. Those aren’t odd in themselves, you often see collections in the houses of rich people, because they can afford it, but it is the start of a whole floor of curios.

Next comes the picture gallery of the Daun family, which was mostly kept intact even by the Haas family. Again, normal. Most “noble” families have galleries of themselves and their family heritage. Gotta justify their status somehow.

But then! The taxidermy rooms start. Bitov has become somewhat famous for them and for good reason. The first few were amassed by the Daun brothers Vladimir and Otakar during the 19th century, who studied natural sciences and zoology and travelled all over the world – bringing home mainly birds, but also other “hunting trophies” like young alligators, turtle and ostrich eggs, as well as the skulls of lions, zebras and wild goats.

Among the birds exhibited here in taxidermied form are:

• vulture
• golden eagle
• hummingbirds (tiniest of birds from South American rainforests)
• birds-of-paradise (also from the rainforest, often used to decorate hats and hairstyles)
• Quetzal (a sacred bird whose feathers were used for rituals and decorated the headdresses of Aztec rulers)

Then you get to the third taxidermy room and I promise you, you haven’t seen anything like it anywhere. 49 stuffed dogs are spread out over the floor, the largest collections of its kind in the world. It was put together by Baron Jit Haas from his favourite animals. All of them belonged to him and were tended to by the staff of the castle. There is a Great Dane, a Saint Bernard, a Dachshund, a Setter, a Boxer, and many, many others others. Even a Stable Pinscher is included in the exhibitions, which is almost extinct today. However, these were not all of the Barons dogs, the ones that he hadn’t stuffed were buried at the dog’s cemetery in a clearing next to the gates.

This love for animals (he also had a zoo with more exotic animals, I mention it later) made the Baron a disliked figure of the local nobility. Since he was not welcome in their inner circles he retreated into his castle and into the company of animals even more. He also found a unique way to mock them in return: He dressed up stuffed cats and squirrels in human clothes, supposedly to look like the people who mocked him.

The last two rooms in the castle tour were the dog kitchen and the main kitchen. The dogs kitchen was used, as the name suggests, to prepare food for the all the estates animals, but especially the dogs. Every dog had their own collar and towel, feeding took part in turns, by size of the animals. Today you can see pictures of Baron Jiri with his dogs and friends on the walls of the dogs kitchen.

The castle employed about 40 employees with their families, including a chef only for the dogs and a taxidermist.

Food for all the humans of the castle was prepared in the main kitchen. The tiled stove is a replica, from an old photograph – most old kitchen utensils, pots and containers are still original. The cabinet in the third picture, in front of the window is an old refrigerator. The top had an opening through which ice was put in. It cooled the inside of the cabinet until it melted. Then there was another hole that could be opened at the bottom to let the water out.

The tables in the kitchen are set with things the nobility liked to eat, like /stuffed) pheasants, partridges, venison and crayfish. Other things that have been conveyed from menus of the past are mashed potatoes, mushy legumes, pâtés, and various sweet baked goods. Since there were barely any salt deposits in the region most meals weren’t very salty. However, spices like cloves, pepper, cinnamon, saffron, lavender, rosemary and bay leaves were used for seasoning.

Castle garden & Zoo

Baron Jirí Julius Haas’ private Zoo was the largest of its kind at the time. It was open to the public for free on weekends and during special holidays (and the staff that was around made tips, by delighting the visitors with stories about the day to day life in the castle and their excentric employer), or on demand for a fee.

Back in the day a large number of aviaries were built, but only their foundations survived to this day. New ones have been built in their stead, although much lower in number. The zoo also had enclosures with guinea pigs and rabbits, among others, which were kept as food for other species of animals. Even ants! were displayed in the zoo. But the Barons favourite animal was a lioness which he bought as a baby from a circus. He named her Mietzi-Mausi (Mietz is the German equivalent to kitty and Mausi is a German cute-word for mouse), apparently after Disney.

FAQ about visiting Bitov Castle

Der Beitrag Visiting Bitov Castle – Czech Republic erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.