Montenegro

Montenegro was another country in Eastern Europe that I had yet to visit at all by late 2018. It is known as a beach holiday destination that is a cheaper alternative to other Mediterranean countries. It attracts a lot of Eastern Europeans in particular. However, I’m not particularly fond of going to beach holiday destinations packed with tourists. I put Montenegro off until it was low season in mid-November.

MONDAY, November 19th

I flew with Air Serbia from Zurich to Montenegro via Belgrade.

The flight to Belgrade was uneventful and punctual. However, Air Serbia only offers goldfish crackers and water for free. If you want larger snacks or soda/juices onboard, you have to get your wallet out. That was a bit disappointing, because you’d only see this on low-cost carriers.

Interestingly, I realized that on the boarding pass there was a printed notice “no liquids allowed in transit in BEG”. BEG is the International Air Transport Association code for Belgrade Airport. I was expecting literally NO liquids allowed, and I was awaiting a fuss at the airport, but it wasn’t unusual. You simply had to go through another security check, which is normal on Non-Schengen flights. Actually, this security check was before entering the gate itself. That was rather convenient, instead of having to give up your large liquids (bottles of water, etc.) immediately upon arrival. 

Food options at the airport were quite mediocre. I eventually settled for a dull, but freshly baked pizza for dinner.

The flight to Montenegro’s capital Podgorica was onboard an ATR turboprop, a type which I hadn’t flown on for years. It also meant gate-checking my carry-on, but I didn’t have to wait long at the baggage reclaim in Podgorica before getting it. This flight was also punctual. Curiously, there was a large Chinese group on the flight. I didn’t expect to see that in Montenegro, but go figure. 

After we landed, I got a taxi to my Airbnb apartment. Once I arrived, I texted the owner that I was there per agreement. He arrived within a couple of minutes. Apparently he lived just around the block. I went to bed early, to get up early for a day-trip.

TUESDAY, November 20th

Got up, showered, then walked over to Podgorica’s bus station, about 15 minutes from the apartment.

I bought a ticket to Cetinje in central Montenegro. I was told the bus would depart within three minutes. Immediately I made my way to the right platform, just outside the door from the terminal building. 

After having had my ticket verified by the driver’s assistant, I ran over to buy a salami sandwich for take away. I hadn’t yet had any breakfast, so I ate it on the bus.

During the ride it started raining and was foggy. This hampered the views a bit and made photography en route almost impossible. It was a pity, because I could tell the views would have been nice, particularly sans fog.

After about 45 minutes we arrived in Cetinje, Montenegro’s former royal capital. I started by going south from the small bus terminal.

The path took me past former government buildings. Some of the notable ones were the former British Embassy and the Blue Palace, the current residence of the Montenegrin president.

Although Podgorica is now the capital of Montenegro, Cetinje has retained some government offices. 

My idea was to end my sightseeing close to the city center to be near the bus station. I continued west, to have a look at the Court Church.

By then it started raining much more, and the church was closed, so I had little choice but to keep walking.

As I walked towards Cetinje’s Monastery, the rain was coming down hard. I took some time to explore the monastery’s chapel, which provided a nice refuge from the rain. There was however not much else to see, other than the chapel itself. The rest of the monastery complex is closed to the public. 

According to my phone, it was going to continue raining all day, so waiting out the storm wasn’t an option. Because I travel on so many days every year, it’s inevitable that the weather isn’t always great. The other problem was that I only had two days in Montenegro. Simply doing nothing for a full day would have been highly inconvenient. I anyway had several museums on the list for Cetinje, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad. 

I left the monastery and walked over to Biljarda. The Biljarda is the former residence of Prince-Bishop Petar Njegoš, a key figure in the history of Montenegro. In the garden was a large relief map of Montenegro housed inside a glass building. Another much-needed shelter from the rain, as I didn’t have an umbrella with me.

Unfortunately, there was no access to the inside of the residence from the glass structure covering the relief map in the garden. You had to walk back outside, and around the corner to the front of the building to enter the museum. 

There was a large pool of water by the gate from the garden to the courtyard of the residence. With no way around this water pit, my shoes got soaked. I entered the Biljarda and had a look through the rooms of the relatively small museum. On display were mostly documents, weapons, paintings, and photographs.

All of the items were related to the history of Petar Njegoš, Cetinje, Montenegro or even the Biljarda building itself.

The Biljarda gets its name from the first billiard table ever imported into Montenegro. That table was still there, along with other pieces of original furniture in several other rooms. Some of the more interesting items on display included original photographs of Cetinje from the 19th century, as well as clothing from the period.

There were also documents related to official decrees made by Petar Njegoš. An original peace treaty with signatures between Montenegro and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also in the exhibit.

After the Biljarda, I wanted to visit the King Nikola I Museum. King Nikola was the last king to rule Montenegro, and the building was his residence, built in the 1870s. He lost power after World War I.

That museum was literally just 100 meters across from the Biljarda, but this still meant walking through the heavy rain. It could perhaps be described then like a storm.

To make matters worse, I needed to use the bathroom. Toilets at museums are surprisingly rare in this part of Europe. The staff members at the King Nikola I Museum told me there was a bathroom outside the building. This turned out to be locked. I had to walk across the square to a nearby café to use their toilet. I offered to pay one euro but they let me in for free. 

Having finally gotten that taken care of, I returned to the King Nikola Museum to tour the building. It had even more classical furniture than Biljarda. Original military medals were on display in one of the first rooms.

The former residence of King Nikola I had several rooms designed for receiving foreign heads of state and diplomats. All of them are from the time when Cetinje was the capital of the country. The exhibits also feature rooms displaying traditional and formal clothing from the late 19th century.

Further on, there’s one large dining room for special events, with large cabinets full of expensive chinaware. Whenever the royal family was by themselves, they usually dined in a separate, smaller room. 

One characteristic of several of the rooms in the former royal residence is family portraits. However, several of these are of foreign royals. The depicted persons were somehow related to the Montenegrin royal family or simply good friends.

There are even the king’s and queen’s bedrooms, complete with original furniture, such as the bear “carpet” above. The bedrooms were another highlight of the King Nikola I Museum. 

After having seen the exhibits at the King Nikola I Museum, I continued towards the National Museum. This again necessitated walking through the rain, although for a moment it seemed as if the rain was slowing down. That didn’t last for more than a few minutes. 

The National Museum of Montenegro has two floors, one dedicated to history/archaeology, the other to Montenegrin and Yugoslav arts. Both floors have extensive collections, and I spent almost two hours at the museum. Admittedly I didn’t hurry through it at all, in order to have a little bit of time to get dry as well. 

The archaeology sections contained several weapons, helmets, and pieces of pottery from ancient times. One of the more prominent items was an Illyrian-Greek helmet. Moving further into the history, there were numerous items related to the era of Ottoman Empire occupation, and the eventual liberation of Montenegro.

Some of the more important objects in that room were military decorations and armor. The period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is also briefly covered. As a kingdom, it is a rather short-lived chapter in the history books. After World War II Yugoslavia became a socialist republic. Montenegro became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1920.

The last photo of King Nikola I, who died in 1921. Because Montenegro had become part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he was the last King of Montenegro. There was no successor.

During World War II, Montenegro was occupied first by Italian troops, then later by the Nazi Germans. Displayed in this section are weapons and “souvenirs” captured from the German soldiers, as well as propaganda leaflets.

The Partisans who helped liberate Montenegro are highlighted, as well as the sacrifices of the population.

The period of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Cold War period gets plenty of space.

The focus here in this part of the museum is on the rebuilding and industrialization of Montenegro during the time following the war.

Titograd (Podgorica) Airport in the 1960s.

After Yugoslavia collapsed, Montenegro remained in a union with Serbia. Locally, they referred to that as Yugoslavia, while internationally the union became known simply as Serbia & Montenegro. Eventually, Montenegro decided to become independent in a peaceful deal with Serbia. This event is celebrated at the National Museum with pictures of parades and the new Montenegrin constitution. 

The upper floor of the National Museum displays art. Most of it was contemporary and very abstract art. For me personally it wasn’t as interesting as the history on the floor below.

With that being said, there were still a few nice classic paintings. There was also a small collection of colorful icon paintings, from old churches around Montenegro. 

After visiting the National Museum, I continued walking through Cetinje along the main street. One of the landmarks I passed was the former French Embassy, built in 1910.

Other buildings from the time of Cetinje’s status as capital were the Bank of Montenegro and the current Ministry of Culture.

The rain wasn’t too bad at that time, so I took advantage of that to do a longer walk through the city.

I continued towards a restaurant, “Kole”, known for Montenegrin food, which is very meat-heavy. Looking at the menu though, I had to do a double-take when I saw “boiled kid” as an option,

This was actually goat meat, as baby goats are actually referred to as “kids”.

I made the mistake of ordering an appetizer. The grilled local sausages turned out to be a much bigger dish than I expected.

With another large dish for the main course, it was too much food for me to eat.

The waiter offered to pack it in a box for me. It would have been possible for me to reheat in the apartment. However, the remains wouldn’t have been enough for another meal. I anyway wanted something fresh for dinner, so I declined that offer. 

On my way to the bus station I walked past the Vlaška Church, which turned out to be closed.

I continued through the again pouring rain to Cetinje’s bus station. Thankfully it was just another couple of hundred meters away. I bought a ticket to Podgorica, and within 20 minutes, I boarded a minibus and was on my way. 

In the meantime the weather had developed to a full thunderstorm. It remained that way 45 minutes later when we arrived in Podgorica. In fact, it was so bad that I waited inside Podgorica’s bus terminal building for another half an hour, hoping the rain would decrease. It never did. Eventually, I just walked out anyway.

I had a few spots I wanted to visit in the capital. Despite the weather, I just decided to go there regardless. I was already wet anyway.

After seeing the Clock Tower at the entrance to the Old Town of Podgorica, and subsequently the Osmanagic Mosque, I found myself close to my Airbnb.

My small backpack, a drawstring gym bag, wasn’t waterproof. I decided to return to the apartment to leave behind my power bank, charging cable and my guidebooks, all quite wet by now. I returned to sightseeing, while simultaneously keeping an eye out for a store that sold umbrellas. There was no sign of the rain letting up. I passed the statue of Petar I Petrovic Njegoš, one of Montenegro’s historic heroes.

Petar I Petrovic Njegoš is the uncle of the Petar Njegoš (officially Petar II Petrović-Njegoš) who ruled as Prince-Bishop from the Biljarda in Cetinje.

Afterwards, I went to see Podgorica’s Orthodox Cathedral of Christ’s Resurrection, which is the main church in the city, opened in 2013 following 20 years of construction.

There was a mass going on, but no one seemed to be too bothered that I was taking pictures from the back of the church. It is covered all over in colorful decorations. The walls and ceilings of the church were gilded and there were lots of Orthodox icons painted as murals. 

I walked back east towards the modern city center of Podgorica. Finally, I found a small shop selling umbrellas for about 5 euros, so I bought one. 

My next point of interest became Podgorica’s futuristic-looking Millenium Bridge, which spans the Moraca River. It was difficult to get good photos of it in the dark. The bridge is one of the newer landmarks in the city.

Not long thereafter, a few blocks away, the Museums & Galleries of Podgorica, was still open. Despite the name, it is just one building. It was a good opportunity to get inside, away from the rain. There were a couple of galleries with so-so art. One larger exhibit about the history of Podgorica did have some interesting pieces though. Particularly interesting were old archaeological items from Roman times, when the city was named Duclea, and medieval pieces of jewelry. 

There were also plenty of photos of Podgorica, some of them from the 19th century, others from the post-WWII period.

Podgorica became known as Titograd during the time of Yugoslavia. A painting in the museum’s lobby bears the name “Titograd” as well. 

After exploring the Museums & Galleries of Podgorica, and having had a chance to dry somewhat, I picked up the umbrella once again and went outside.

I passed a statue of King Nikola I in a nearby park, before crossing the Ribnica River back into the old town area. I walked past a mosque that was closed. Then I arrived at what remained of the Ribnica Fortress from Roman/Medieval times. It wasn’t lit up, so it wasn’t easy to really discern in the dark.

As I took a photo of the fortress from just outside the closed gate, a gust of wind caught my umbrella and attached it on the top of a small spike on the gate. It ripped a gash in the fabric. My reaction of pulling the umbrella towards myself broke the wooden handle. So just a little over an hour after I had bought the umbrella, it was broken. Oh well, it was cheap. The handle could be somewhat reattached, but you had to hold it tight the whole time. 

I walked around the back of the fortress to see one of its best kept remains, the old Ribnica Bridge. Following this, I continued to a nearby restaurant serving Montenegrin food.

After dinner, I walked home to the Airbnb apartment to get out of my wet clothes and relax. 

WEDNESDAY, November 21st

Got up relatively early to catch a public bus from Podgorica’s bus terminal to Kotor, near Montenegro’s Adriatic Sea coast. On the road to Kotor, we drove past the beach resort of Budva. At that point, I decided to perhaps visit later in the evening if I had time.

As we got closer to the coast, it was evident that it was going to be sunny and dry the entire day. I had brought along the broken umbrella, but intentionally left it behind on the bus. If the bus driver wanted to fix it and keep it, he was more than welcome to do so. I didn’t want to carry a useless, cheap, broken umbrella with me all day. After arriving in Kotor, I bought some pastries at the bus terminal, as I hadn’t had any breakfast yet.

Then I walked straight towards Old Town Kotor and the Sea Gate, the primary entrance through the town walls. I walked a bit around the old town, making a stop at the Serbian Orthodox St. Nicholas Church.

Inside there was a church service going on. It is not only one of the biggest churches in Kotor, but it also seemed to be the most active one.

Across the square was the smaller St. Lucas Church, which was closed at the time. At this point, I found myself in the northern part of town. I briefly walked through the northern River Gate to photograph the town walls from the outside.

Although the town walls situated on the water are special, I think the Old Town of Kotor inside the walls is still the most atmospheric. It was however relatively quiet at the time of my visit.

Near the northern part of Kotor is the main access to the hiking trail that leads along the medieval town walls. Because the Bay of Kotor and the adjacent coastline used to be ruled by Venice, it was necessary to build large fortifications behind the city on the hillsides. Venice didn’t control much land towards central Montenegro. It was unlikely that someone would attack the strong Venetian Navy at sea.

The hiking trail has different sections. The further you get to the top of the fortifications, the less maintained it is. However, the trail is definitely still doable without much fitness required. You can hike up for 15 minutes for already good views of the city of Kotor and parts of the bay. The views get better as you keep going.

I hiked pretty much up to the top, from where you can move along the external fortifications. Instead of continuing I chose to turn around and hike back down.

The trip that I did took more than one hour total. I returned via a slightly different route. I exited the town walls into a different part of Kotor’s Old Town, right next to the other main church, St. Tryphon’s Cathedral.

The cathedral was built in the 12th century, but still had restoration/construction works going on until a few years ago. The St. Tryphon’s Cathedral does have a small museum exhibit housing various religious artefacts that have been amassed by the church over the years.

After I had seen the cathedral, I walked out of the Old Town and down to the waterfront for lunch.

On the way I stopped to buy some souvenirs. I simply tried to pay with a 50 Euro note in order to break it for smaller change. The cashier refused the note, and I immediately realized why. There were large black streaks and marks all over it. This damage was obviously from the night before. My jacket got so soaked in the rain, that even my pockets got wet. Evidently so did my wallet as well, and the wet leather left some imprints on the cash I had inside. Fortunately not on all of the banknotes.

The restaurant I picked for lunch definitely wasn’t the cheapest place in town. It was a rather upscale place. However, dining on an enclosed terrace suspended over the water was much cooler than eating in a restaurant in the Old Town. As is the recommendation along Montenegro’s coastline, I had seafood for lunch, namely fried calamari.

I tried to pay using one of two 50 Euro notes that had been stained, and the restaurant accepted it. I obviously didn’t tell them about it, but it’s not like the restaurant won’t eventually get their money’s worth. Most major banks will exchange damaged notes for new ones.

That’s exactly what I set out to get done with the other damaged 50 Euro note I had. It had noticeable stains on both sides, and it was highly unlikely to get accepted anywhere. One smaller bank refused it. Their staff recommended the branch of a much larger bank across the square inside Kotor’s Old Town.

I entered the bank, picked a queue number and waited about 10 minutes. The bank representative looked at me funny and asked where I got that note. Perhaps the black stains looked like the ink left behind on stolen notes. I explained the story and was handed a brand new banknote without having to pay a fee.

With clean cash in hand, I continued to the last place I had planned to see in Kotor, its Maritime Museum of Montenegro. It details several hundreds of years of the naval base that existed in the Bay of Kotor.

There are original paintings of the ships that used to set sail from Kotor. Old original books offer a glimpse into Kotor’s former glory days.

A book describing a meeting of the Kotor Town Council, who sought more military help from the Duke of Venice, during the Venice-Ottoman War from 1714-1718.

Kotor was a significant naval base for the Duke of Venice, and later on for the Austro-Hungarian Empire after they took over control. After World War I the naval base was moved to the outer bay. This moved it away from Kotor, which is situated inside the inner part of the bay, behind two peninsulas.

Some of the families and admirals that played a vital role in Kotor’s naval history are highlighted. Their coat of arms are displayed below the ceiling in one of the central rooms. In the middle are a few wooden models of their ships. One of the adjacent rooms inside the museum holds original weapons, and sailors’ uniforms. You can also see some of the first certificates for naval training issued to Montenegrin citizens.

One of the last rooms that you walk through holds old navigation instruments from the 18th-20th centuries.

By the time I was done at the museum it was about 3 PM. I had time to explore even more of the Bay of Kotor. I decided to take a taxi to Perast, further northwest along the coastline.

The village of Perast had its heyday during the almost 400 years of Venetian control, from the early 15th century to the late 18th century. The village used to have 17 churches and 16 mansions, some of which are now just ruins. A couple of these are supposed to be open, but they were closed at the time of my visit.

Today Perast is home to just around 350 inhabitants. The testaments to its past make it a very picturesque, quaint little place. It only helps that Perast is set in a beautiful position right by the water.

The sun was setting as I visited Perast, which bathed the village in an absolutely gorgeous light. I tried to enter Perast’s Town Museum, but it had already closed as well. Even though I could only see the buildings of Perast from the outside, I was still very happy that I had gone. The views were amazing.

By now it was around 4 PM. I could have returned to Podgorica. However, after an over two-hour-long bus ride, that would just have been for dinner. I had already checked off the sights I wanted to see there. In Podgorica, I only knew of one Montenegrin restaurant (all others serving a mix of international cuisines), which I had gone to the previous evening. It wasn’t stellar. The bus would anyway pass the beachside city of Budva. I decided that would be where I’d get dinner instead.

Regardless, I needed to first get back to Kotor’s bus station. Perast was northwest of the city, with Budva and Podgorica being east of Kotor. I decided to walk out to the eastern end of Perast. Then I placed myself beside the coastal main road, right by a bus stop. I waited for either a taxi or a bus to show up. Anything traveling past this spot would almost certainly be going towards Kotor.

Cars passed by regularly. If I had to wait over half an hour, I figured I’d start hitchhiking with any mode of transport. After about 15 minutes, a bus showed up, bound for Podgorica. It was also stopping in Budva. This meant I didn’t have to get out and change buses in Kotor, so that was a huge plus.

By the time we arrived in Budva it had gotten completely dark. Despite this, I still went for a walk along the waterfront. I passed a few large hotels, as well as several beach bars and cafés that were empty at this time of year. There were only a few other visitors in town. Budva definitely sees the most action during the summer, peaking around the holiday season. This is one of Montenegro’s prime beach resorts. It is one of the coastline cities that sees the biggest investments in infrastructure, with a target for tourism. Judging by the language on signs, it’s popular with Russians and Ukrainians. Perhaps it’s still relatively unknown among people from Central and Western Europe.

Towards the southern end of the waterfront, there’s a marina. This marina was home to everything from small two-man fishing boats to large luxury yachts. At the end of the waterfront lies Budva’s Old Town. It juts out into the Adriatic Sea like a tiny, square peninsula. It resembles Kotor’s Old Town, with town walls surrounding dense buildings and a maze of narrow lanes.

Even at night, it was quite atmospheric to walk around it.

One of the Old Town’s churches, the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity, was open. Like other Orthodox churches, it’s interior is colorful with lots of icons and symbols.

According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, Budva’s archaeological museum was supposed to be open until 9 PM. Because it was low-season in the middle of November, I was also prepared for it to be closed.

As I turned the corner and approached the museum, the lights were on. The one staff member on duty was reading a magazine and was surprised to see me. The museum was indeed still open, but I was definitely the only visitor. The museum is housed across four floors, but the building is relatively small and so is each floor as well. It still held a fascinating collection of items.

Budva has been settled for over 2,500 years. The museum’s collection of Hellenistic gold jewelry was impressive despite its size.

There were also several pieces of building ruins, pottery, and glassware from Roman times. The largest item in the exhibit from the Roman period was the remains of a mosaic.

Another of the museum’s four floors included a selection of Roman coins.

On the top floor were some comparatively newer items in a collection that was more ethnographic. This floor was showing traditional crafts and folk custom dresses.

After having visited Budva’s Archaeological Museum, I sought out a specific restaurant inside the old town area. It was closed, perhaps because of the low season. There seemingly wasn’t much else other than one out-of-place Chinese restaurant. I exited Budva’s Old Town and walked back along the waterfront. It wasn’t long until I found a seafood restaurant recommended by my guidebook.

I had smoked ham as an appetizer, followed by seafood spaghetti as the main course.

At one point during dinner, two musicians started playing a few local folk songs on their guitars.

After dinner, I walked back to Budva’s bus station at a steady pace. I wanted to catch an earlier bus to Podgorica. I made it just in time, half a minute before it left the bus terminal. When we arrived back in Podgorica I simply walked straight to my apartment and went to bed. 

THURSDAY, November 22nd

Woke up, showered and packed my things. It was time to leave Podgorica. Because it was early in the morning, I decided using a taxi was the best choice to save time. In order to find one I simply made my way towards Podgorica’s bus terminal. I knew that I would find a taxi there sooner. I did manage to find one before getting to the bus station itself, and even a metered one at that. The 15-minute trip to the airport did only cost a little over 5 euros.

At Podgorica’s airport, I first checked in. When I approached security about an hour and 20 minutes before departure, I was rejected because it was “too early”. This was odd, particularly because Podgorica barely averages one flight per hour. I simply decided to have breakfast before security, and by then there was a queue of people anyway. Others who were booked on later flights were also kept from going through security at that moment. An odd procedure, but I suppose the aim is to keep the airside part of the terminal from being overcrowded.

My flight with Air Serbia, once again on an ATR turboprop, arrived punctually in Belgrade. I had a salad and a sandwich for lunch at the airport there. Then I waited around until it was time to board my onward flight with Air Serbia home to Zurich. This flight departed on time and even arrived a bit early.