The Bus ride from Bosnia to Montenegro was one of our Highlights of the trip. Once you get out of the fog of the Sarajevo mountains, you continue the journey at a high altitude through different terrain. There’s mountains and lakes on all sides and we followed a winding road for a few hours. It was quite amazing that as Rainier and I were in awe, taking pictures left and right, the rest of the people on the bus seemed so unfazed. I was quite jealous to be honest. It was a great start to the overall experience.
We arrived to the city of Kotor with little expectations. Originally, we had difficulty even deciding which city in Montenegro to go to. We were absolutely blown away once we walked up to the old city walls. We stayed in the old city because it was highly recommended. It was like staying in a Medieval movie, however, it was so clean and welcoming. Rainier and I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling when we first walked around, because everything seemed so ridiculous and unreal. It was a little chilly being there in December and not everything was open since it’s considered the off season. We loved the Christmas decorations everywhere as it had such a welcoming vibe.
We stayed in an Airbnb right within the fort. There were quite a few different options to stay around the lake. I’m sure it would be beautiful no matter where you stay, however waking up in the old town was amazing and we couldn’t pass it up! The view from our living room window didn’t feel real (Pictures below).
I will preface this by saying Montenegro was the more expensive locations on the trip so far. We were beginning to make our way deeper into Europe so it wasn’t too surprising. We had our first meal at Regina Del Gusto which had great food and nice people. Everyone was really friendly at the restaurants we went to. Most of the poeple spoke English and were really happy to help with everything. Rainier, as usual, was quick to make a feline at Regina.
In the morning we were anxious to get out and explore. We decided to grab a nice breakfast at Lav Gastro Bar and begin our hike up the mountain. The mountain we went up was just on the backside of the old town, I believe there are other hiking areas as well, but this came highly recommended. As we made our way up the hill, the view got better and better. There was old stone with moss growing everywhere, and the views overlooked Kotor. Looking down and across you can see the Bay of Kotor, which is connected to the Adriatic Sea, stretched out with houses littered around it. Surprisingly, the weather was the best we had in weeks, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Since we were some of the only people on the trail, we just turned on our speakers and listened to music while we hiked further and further. It felt amazing to finally take off our jackets and enjoy some sunlight!! I wish the pictures we have could really do it justice because it was AMAZING.
We made sure to save time to walk around the old city. There were old paths and interesting stores all around. It was a little challenging to find some decent places to eat. I highly recommend coming here in season (summer or spring), as December had quite a few places closed. I can imagine the people watching with some wine in the summer to be out of this world.
Overall this city was unbelievable and we are dying to come back. When we took the bus to Croatia we passed through more cities we wanted to explore. It’s definitely on our list to return!
Chasing Rain 