The first trip to Montenegro of skeptical freeloaders :) Bijela, Herceg Novi
Montenegro has never really been on my wishlist. Listening to the stories of friends, reading reviews on the Internet, I realized that as a beach country for families with children, it does not suit me, while I prefer All-Inclusive to Turkey and Greece. When the gang grows up, we will ride together in places of interest : )) And in order to organize a childless trip for our family, this is a whole special operation.
Well, once all the stars came together as they should, as always, unexpectedly (which I especially like, because you don’t have time to burn out for the trip). Summer, the children are sent to the village. Of course, I thought about this period free from children back in the winter. But, damn it, everything is so expensive, everything is so unsuitable: a tour is hot, I don’t want a beach, a tour to where it’s not hot is expensive... And then a simply breathtaking offer comes from close friends to use their apartments in Montenegro for free, i. e. for nothing. Wow!
I didn’t even think about it, I immediately agreed, and then I informed my husband : ) The dates were agreed, the tickets were bought, and we are going to the Land of the Black Mountains for 10 days! The trip was planned to be skating and educational with the opportunity to lie on the beach during breaks. At the same time, let's see how magnificent this country is, as some paint, and whether everything is really as terrible as others claim.
Since the text turned out to be large, I will post my final conclusions right away, otherwise, suddenly, someone will not master it to the end : ))
Did you like the country? - Yes. Without crazy enthusiasm, declarations of love - just a beautiful, benevolent, simple, unobtrusive, calm country. We did not see incredible crowds of tourists, did not face the imposition of goods and services, especially with “grabbing” hands.
Cheapness - well, this is a relative value.
It was comfortable for us, because the prices in stores are the same as in Moscow, in cafes - lower than in Moscow. Prices in supermarkets belonging to the same network depend on the location, respectively, the more "touristic", the higher. As a result, for 10 days of staying without starvation, but also without eating lobsters, 500 euros were spent for two, of which about 50 for gasoline. Yes, much less would have been spent at home over the same period, but there we don’t drink beer in cafe every day, only at home, bought on a promotion : )
Holidays with children - I will remain unconvinced, at this stage of my life with my gang it is more comfortable (and cheaper) for me to go to the beach in all-inclusive hotels with small trips to some picturesque antiquities. There are such hotels in Montenegro, but for me it is, well, very expensive.
The Montenegrin format of a beach holiday, it seems to me, is great for families with teenage children, when the beach is easily diluted with trips, and the beach does not need to create as much comfort as the kids. And with the kids - well, I don’t know, drag your umbrella with bedding (paying 6-8 euros every day, for example, a “toad” will crush me), think about what to feed, is there the necessary food in the refrigerator, no, then in a cafe, for half an hour to find out what the child will eat, and then hear that he thought that the cutlet would be different, and the second child would refuse to eat, for example, pasta, because the mother did not have time (forgot) to tell the waiter that no sauce is needed... Well, etc. , etc. Damn, well, is this a vacation ...
Will I come again? I won’t be especially torn, but if there are profitable offers (especially for air tickets), why not, I have already planned so many places to visit... )))
Here's a little something like this...
The story about the whole trip had to be divided into several because of the huge volume, I ran into the problem of uploading a large number of photos. So much the better, in parts and more convenient to read : ))
"Kotor. Ascent to the Fortress of St. John in a roundabout way"
"Montenegro. Inland. . . Or" A mad dog a hundred miles is not a detour "
Montenegro. Along the Adriatic coast. Peninsula Lustica. Ulcinj
Montenegro. A little about popular tourist places: Blue Cave, Mamula Fortress, Perast
And now small sketches about where we were, what we saw.
About the place where we lived and the nearest district
Since we brazenly took advantage of the kindness and generosity of our friends, we had no difficulties in choosing a place of deployment, and it was the village of Bijela (or rather, its outskirts), belonging to the Herceg Novi district.
View from our apartments
Here is a village-village, but I fell in love with it: it is quiet, calm, there are no crowds, only in the evening everyone appears from somewhere on the embankment)).
After visiting some crowded places, I wanted to get to my village faster : ) At the same time, everything is there in the village: shops and supermarkets, several cafes on the embankment, I haven’t seen discos, probably not.
But there is a problem with children's infrastructure. Only this area for "walking" the child found, not far from the shipyard.
As in any resort village, rooms and apartments are rented everywhere, there are small hotels and larger hotels, such as Delvin 4 * and Bijela Park 4 *. When we arranged a day off for ourselves (a day without trips), we used the beach of the Dolphin Hotel.
The first time we waited for someone to come for money for sunbeds/umbrella, but never did. Then we were already insolently located. As they explained to us later, the hotel administration does not charge a fee when there is no full load, but if there are a lot of guests in the hotel, there may not be enough sunbeds for them, then they will ask for 8 euros per set. Like it or not, I won’t argue, the hotel’s beach, of course, was empty, on the neighboring beach people huddled on their towels / rugs.
Maybe they don't know about the kindness of hotels, or there aren't many freeloaders like us : ))
The main attraction of the village is the shipyard, no active work was noticed on it, somewhere they knocked and even one ship was moored.
Again, according to those who live there, the Germans bought the plant and simply stopped it to maintain a favorable environmental situation. We did not see any oil stains, dirt. Right next to the plant, locals fish, holidaymakers enjoy the beach
There is a ferry not far from the village, thanks to which time is significantly saved when traveling to Tivat and further along the coast, a short cut of 36 km.
Of course, once or twice you can go around the Bay of Kotor for informational purposes, enjoy the views,
but for frequent trips, the ferry is more convenient. It takes 8-10 minutes to load, exactly 7 minutes from coast to coast, the price of pleasure is 4.5 euros for a car, pedestrians are free, and postcard views are a bonus.
Well, another story from the locals: supposedly there were investors ready to build a bridge, but the local authorities refused, the ferry was a goose that lays golden eggs.
Herceg Novi
T. Since we are in Montenegro for the first time, we began to study it with nearby forays from our village.
To begin with, we went to Herceg Novi through the monastery of St. Sava, which is located in the village of Savina
From the guide “The Savina Monastery, or Savinovsky Monastery, is an Orthodox male monastery founded by monks who left Trebinje (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The monastery complex includes the Small Assumption Church, the Large Assumption Church and the Church of St. Sava. Small and Big Assumption churches stand side by side. The miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Savinskaya is kept in the Great Assumption Church. The Small Assumption Church (1030) is famous for frescoes (15th century), depicting scenes of religious festivities, as well as the torment of Christ. Above the entrance to the church, we can distinguish the year 1030, which is considered the year the church was built. Even higher is the small Church of St. Sava (Crkva Sv Sava), the patriarch and founder of the independent Serbian church, which, according to legend, was built by Sava himself in the 13th century. »
So our first jumps on the stairs began : )) There will be more roofing felts. If someone read my stories about Italy, they probably already understood what I was talking about : ))
The Church of St. Sava, steps lead to it
We were assured that there are no free parking lots in Herceg Novi, and payment is made via SMS message from a local number, the cost is 70 or 80 cents per hour (I don’t remember), one message = one hour. The hour ends, and the car is still in the parking lot - you send another message, something like that. And the only parking lot where you can pay in cash is near the Post Office. We got ready, we had a local SIM card, put 10 euros on it, and so they stayed there.
As always, we found a freebie - the most luxurious free parking near the Vidikovac restaurant, or rather, the former restaurant. The building is abandoned and destroyed. One feels that once the institution was chic, in addition to the restaurant complex, it was also a hotel
We didn't look for free, we just saw a parking sign on the map, and even at the restaurant (you can have a bite to eat for one), but not very far from the historical center.
And the views, what kind of views... Stunned
Entrance to the Bay of Kotor. Beyond the horizon - the Adriatic Sea
Herceg Novi is continuous descents and ascents, stairs and steps, in general, a very "sporty" town.
Nice, the new buildings fit nicely among the old ones, there are probably abandoned ones, but I don't remember them.
One day you walk along the street, then, suddenly, you find yourself in some vegetable gardens, then again civilization ...
While we were going down to the embankment, it seemed that there was no one in the town.
The main parties, of course, are in the area of the Clock Tower and the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael
Well, on the beach, if you can call it that))
There were no plans to visit the fortresses of Kanli-Kula and Forte Mare, we looked at them from the outside. The husband, of course, chuckled: “How is it, the turret remains without your inspection” - “But I don’t want to. ” But later I took revenge for all the ridicule, I had SUCH an object to conquer... here)
Getting back to the car was difficult, but necessary. We were not in a hurry, we just walked, of course, checked in with the chimney sweep. The monument was erected to an eccentric chimney sweep guy, whom the locals loved very much, but there is another version that this is a monument to a postman who delivered mail during the war.
Despite all this impassability due to stairs and stairs, I liked the town.
First of all, due to the sparseness of the population, they did not feel in it the resort fuss inherent in seaside cities
To be continued:
"Kotor. Ascent to the Fortress of St. John in a roundabout way"
"Montenegro. Inland. . . Or" A mad dog a hundred miles is not a detour "
"Montenegro. Along the Adriatic coast. Lustica peninsula. Ulcinj"
Montenegro. A little about popular tourist places: Blue Cave, Mamula Fortress, Perast
