Winter Vacation: Southern Montenegro

 There is more to Montenegro than the Bay of Kotor.  I excited the Bay of Kotor by heading up, up, up into Lovcen National Park, where on top of the mountain that gives Crna Gora = Montenegro = Black Mountain its name, sits the National Shrine Njegusi Mausoleum. Down, down, down the mountain and a long, inland detour to the cliffside Ostrog Monastery followed by the main cathedral in sprawling, uninspiring Podgorica. From there, I visited the old, royal capital of Cetinje and finished my time in Montenegro with visits to some southern coastal highlights: Budva, Sveti Stefan, old Bar, and Ulcinj, just shy of the Albanian border.

Winter Vacation: The Bay of Kotor

 Entering Montenegro, along the coast, from the north, one immediately enters the Bay of Kotor, southern Europe's longest and deepest fjord. It is also the highlight of the entire country with beautiful, stone villages scattered along its meandering shoreline. The highlight, of course, is beautiful Kotor but Perast is a beautiful village in its own right, and Hercog Novi has a pretty old town hidden within its sprawling suburbs of holiday villas and resorts. I was fortunate to have a short two night respite from sleeping in the car as a friend from work had offered me a place to stay in his apartment in Risan on the Bay of Kotor. Lauki may have enjoyed a couch to sleep on even more than me!