August and September 2022

Montenegro lies on the west coast of the Balkan peninsula between Albania to its south and Croatia to the north. It is somewhat over shadowded as a cruising destination by Croatia, which has a longer coastline and many islands and protected bays. The coast line of Montengero is relatively short and is punctuated by only a few pretty bays, some of which offer shelter from the prevailing northerly winds.

We had heard about the magnificent scenery and picturesque villages in Montenegro, and so it was with high hopes that we arrived in Bar, just over the Albanian border, towards the end of August. Checking in here was a bit of a process involving visits to customs, immigration and the harbour master. Customs and immigration are at the dock where we were required to berth so that was easy. However, finding the building of the harbour master was a challenge and then once inside it was not clear where to go. All the office doors were shut and there was no-one around to ask. After going from one floor to another a few times, we finally encountered someone we could ask and were directed to one of the offices where we found a very friendly official. On the way back to the customs dock, we called in at the tourist office to register as we had read we were required to do. Land based tourists pay a daily tourist tax in Montenegro, but as we had a cruising permit, we were exempt from the tax, but apparently still needed to register and get a “pink” slip. Later, there was a lot of confusion about this tourist tax system as it was not clear whether we needed to register at each port. In the end it did not matter at all as we never asked for our pink slips, even when we checked out of the country. So with the formalities completed, we were free to go exploring.

We were tiring of still heading north against the, mostly light, prevailing wind, and so were fairly keen to get into the Bay of Kotor, the real asset of Montenegro from a cruiser’s perspective. Once we were inside this large bay, there would be more opportunity to choose our destinations according to the wind of the day. Along the way up the coast, we stopped at four anchorages, mostly only spending one or two nights, with the exception of Budva where we explored the lovely old town, and also left the boat for a few days of inland travel (see the separate blog).

Beach at Budva literally just outside the old town wall

The Bay of Kotor is a large bay (about 28 kms long with 107 kms of shoreline) situated at the very north of the Montenegrin coast, and in fact part of the peninsula at the entrance is actually Croatian coast. The bay comprises three distinct basins, each of which boasts atmospheric towns and villages around the water’s edge, surrounded by high steep mountains, making for spectacular scenery. The sail from the second basin, the Bay of Tivat, through the narrow Verige Strait and into the expanse of the third basin, the inner Bay of Kotor, was simply breathtaking. A time to drink in the beauty around us, and carve the experience into our memories.

Although the old town of Kotor is visited by a high volume of tourists (3-4 cruise ships a day), and it is full of bars, restaurants, and shops, it remains a town in which people still live, work, worship and where children go to school. So it does retain an air of authenticity in amongst the tourism.

Magnificent view of the inner Bay of Kotor from the city wall – Paseafique just identifiable by the blue shade cover

Oh and as well as people living there, Kotor has a noticeable population of cats. In fact, there is a bit of a cat theme going on. There are quite a few shops selling various items decorated by pictures and drawings of cats. There is a cat park (this is actually marked on Google maps!) where the cats get fed and are provided with some cozy “houses”. In the evenings, the cats all hang out in their park, and take advantage of the never-ending parade of cat lovers willing to give them a warm lap on which to sit and purr. There is even a Cat Museum which we didn’t visit so I can’t comment on it.

Kotor cats on the prowl

By far, the best thing about Kotor was strolling around soaking up the atmosphere by day and by night. The Lonely Planet guide summed it up very well: “Budva has the beaches, and nearby Dubrovnik’s got the bling, but for romance and living history, this Old Town outflanks them all.” It was certainly one of the most beautiful and atmospheric old towns that we have visited.

As we came into the inner Bay of Kotor, we passed the cute village of Prcanj above which an old church was nestled up the mountain.

So we set out for a walk one day, with our friend Adrian, to see if we could get up to this old church, which we did, after a bit of bush bashing. This was not just any old church. The building was literally a ruin, probably as a consequence of an earthquake, and the grounds were locked. But with some persistence, Adrian and Phil found a way in. The ground around it was packed full of graves and crypts as was the inside of the church. It was sad to see that some of these had been ransacked. Prcanj was formerly a prosperous maritime town, having the responsibility for the mail service of the Venetian Republic.  Even though this Catholic church was in ruins, it was still obvious that it was once a beautiful building both inside and out.

Further around in the inner Bay of Kotor, the towns of Risan and Perast are quite a contrast, even though they are relatively close to each other. Risan is the oldest town in the bay and in Roman times had up to 10,000 inhabitants and many seaside mansions. However, only remnants of the old part of town remain and its glory has well and truly faded. It has a somewhat subdued atmosphere.

Perast on the other hand has many restored churches and grand mansions packed in a small area, and there seems to be keen interest in protecting its heritage. We were lucky to see an impromptu choir performance in one of the squares while we were wandering around appreciating the beautiful Venetian buildings.

There are two islands lying off Perast, one of which attracts more than its fair share of tourists. Gospa od Skrpjela – or Our Lady of the Rock Island – is an artificial island created around a rock where supposedly an image of the Madonna was found. The rock was gradually built up into an island by the locals rowing to it each year with stones which they used to build up the island. The church is richly decorated with Venetian paintings. The second island, Sveti Djordje (St George’s Island) is a natural island which houses a Benedictine monastery and a large cemetery.

One of the best parts of cruising is the opportunity it provides for serendipitous discovery of magical places, and we had one of these experiences while anchored off Stradioti Island near Tivat. We went for a dinghy ride, with Adrian and Marianna, to the opposite side of the bay – the Lustica Peninsula. Initially, it was not looking too promising in terms of an appropriate landing place for the dinghies, but we eventually found a protected little ancient harbour where the old stone houses were being used as holiday places. This small settlement was completed undeveloped and had the air of being one of those best kept secret summer holiday spots. We went for a walk along the back roads of the peninsula through small villages and ended up chatting to a couple whose family had lived in the area for generations.

After three weeks in the Bay of Kotor, we were starting to get edgy about getting a good weather window for our direct sail south back to Preveza in Greece (bypassing Albania) where we were planning to leave Paseafique for the winter. At the same time, our friends Adrian and Marianna, were getting edgy about their weather window to continue north to Croatia. So we positioned both boats at Herceg Novi, close to the entrance to the Bay of Kotor (or in our cases – near the exit!), and shared our last evening together. Their weather window came before ours and so we waved them off early one morning after which the anchorage suddenly felt very lonely.  It was very sad to be going our separate ways after 3 ½ months of exploring new countries together, having adventures, seeing amazing things, and sometimes talking rubbish over a few drinks.