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Seventh day (July 2): Zabljak - Shushan

It's time to say goodbye to the northern part of Montenegro and move to the southern part, to the sea. After breakfast, packing and renting accommodation, we set off. On the way, we also planned to stop by the Ostrog Monastery.

Ostrog Monastery

We got to the monastery around 2:00 pm, parked in the parking lot (42.67553839391016, 19.027693561087084) and then climbed on foot. We stayed there for about an hour and drove further to Podgorica. In the capital, we stopped at the SuperVoli hypermarket (42.438578704941534, 19.232295416747796), bought groceries and drove further to the city of Bar. After Podgorica there was a chic new road, and then we reached a toll tunnel. The fare on it is 2.5 euros. There is a payment point only on one side of the tunnel (from the side of Podgorica), that is, some pay at the entrance to the tunnel, while others pay at the exit. At about 18:00 we reached Shushan (outskirts of the city of Bar), found the house we needed and settled into it. When I was looking for housing on the coast, this option attracted me with the price, 5.0 rating, excellent reviews and, most importantly, the superb view from the terrace. The view there is excellent both during the day and at night.

Shushan. View from the room during the day

Shushan. View from the room at night

I can say that we were all very pleased with the choice of both the place of our deployment and the house, and especially the owners. Dara and Goran are very hospitable, they constantly helped us in everything, they never refused anything. It is very convenient that they themselves live in the same house and there is always someone in place.

After settling in and sorting things out a bit, we decided to go to the sea despite the fact that it was already around 8 pm. There was a small storm, but we managed to swim a little.

The beach in this place is not very good, but for the first day it was ok, in the future we planned to go somewhere every day, so this was not a problem for us at all.

We covered 190 km in a day.

Day Eight (July 3): Velika Plaž a

After seven days of trips, I wanted to rest a little, get some sleep. Task number one this morning was to check in at the new location. To do this, the owner of the house and I went to the embankment, he brought me to the travel agency (42.11127095120893, 19.08599791137245), told the employee that we were his guests and we were registered there. The cost of registration in this part of Montenegro was 1 euro per day per adult, the child was registered for free. Registration for 8 days cost us 32 euros. After that, we had breakfast, went to the city of Bar for groceries at the Voli supermarket (42.09793498560738, 19.096236935106308), which is about 3 km from the house, and walked to the Crvena Plazha beach. It was located 2 km from our house, we must go in the direction of Sutomore. There is a small but quite cozy beach with red stones, for which, in fact, it got its name. The beach is pebbly, it is not very convenient to go barefoot, and it was chic in Egyptian corals. Returning home, we had lunch, rested and went to the largest sandy beach in Montenegro, Velika Plazha, it is located outside the city of Ulcinj, not far from the border with Albania. I read on the Internet that this is 13 km of sandy beach, I didn’t find any more details, and I didn’t really look for it. We arrived there at about 5 pm, settled on Havana Beach.

Velika Plaza

What can I say... The beach is really sandy, but the sand there is not the yellow we are used to, but black, volcanic, the wind blew there such that things were blown off the bedspread, and the sand hit my legs so hard that I felt like in a sandblasting chamber .

Velika Plaza

The only salvation was not to stand on the beach, but in the water, then the sand does not reach you. Locals say that it is always so windy in this area, especially in the afternoon, and that it is not in vain that there are two dozen wind turbines nearby on the mountain. The sea there is very, very shallow, I remembered our Arabat Spit, but here it is much smaller. You can walk to the buoys, which were located at a distance of at least 50 meters from the shore, the water there is no more than waist-deep for an adult. But the sea is so warm that you can’t even imagine... As for me, there is nothing to do there more than once, but it’s definitely worth a trip there. In the evening the wind died down a little and it became more comfortable. We returned home at 21:00. It took a very long time to get back, as the road was very busy and we crawled in a toffee.

We covered 95 km in a day.

Ninth day (July 4): Budva

On this day, we decided to move towards Budva to see the popular tourist places. First of all, we went to Petrovac to the beach. We liked this option with good reviews on the Internet and the presence of a large parking lot near the beach. Parking (42.20731696793344, 18.940377694896117) is really huge there, and if you arrive early, you can park under the trees, and the car will stand in the shade. The cost of parking is 1 euro per hour. Near the parking lot is our favorite Voli supermarket, but since Petrovac is a tourist city, unlike Podgorica and Bar, the prices in it differ significantly. For example, the wine that we bought in Zabljak and Bar for 1.99 euros cost about 5.5 euros here. And so on many products. Therefore, as for me, if you are traveling to Montenegro by car, then it is better to choose a place to spend the night somewhere away from tourist places.

Having stayed in Petrovac before lunch, we moved to Budva. Before that, I met youtubers with information that in some hotels in Budva you can come “from the street” and have a tasty and inexpensive meal in their buffet restaurant. We headed to the Slovenska Plaza Hotel. Parking is huge, there are plenty of free places, the cost is 1 euro per hour. In youtube they promised lunches there for 5 euros, but at the reception they told us that today lunch costs 7 euros. When we came to the restaurant, it turned out that 7 euros is for hotel guests upon presentation of a hotel card, and for everyone else - 10 euros, including for a child. Since it was already 13-00, we did not look for other options, but agreed to eat here. Compared to the restaurant in the Sharm El Sheikh hotel, it was quite simple in terms of assortment, but in principle it was possible to eat, but only after 13-30 the restaurant staff began to remove all the products, and soon asked all visitors to leave the restaurant. We concluded that it was necessary to come early.

Slovenska Plaž a

After a hearty lunch, we sat in the park on site, and then went to their beach. At the entrance to the beach in a tent, a child bought corals for 10 euros, which fell apart on the second day; before that, in Egypt, we bought for $ 3, and they were chic. I read in the reviews of tourists that this beach is considered one of the worst in Budva and its environs, I think this is indeed the case. Lots of rubbish in the water, no toilets or changing cabins, lots of rubbish around. Having stayed there until the evening, we walked along the embankment towards the old city, tried oysters at the end of the embankment at the fishermen's pier, and then moved towards the house. But since it was still early to go home, on the way back we stopped at Sveti Stefan. We parked the car in a paid parking lot (42.25594839917093, 18.89503163206518) for 2 euros per hour and went to the beach, which until recently cost 100 euros per day, but now it has become free. The Montenegrin government terminated the lease agreement with the previous tenant and at that time this beach, as well as several others, were absolutely free.

Sveti Stefan

The beach there is excellent, the view is superb. We are very lucky that this year this beach is free to visit. After 2 hours we went home.

We covered 85 km in a day.

Day ten (July 5): Lake Skadar

We didn't have any special plans for this day, as this is my birthday. In the morning, the owner and I went to the Bar Market (42.08938095607114, 19.101293700917047) for fish, also in the market (42.0979540414054, 19.099395772862465) and bought groceries at the Voli supermarket. Since half a day had already been lost on this, we decided to spend the rest of the time until the evening on a tour of nearby places. The choice fell on Skadar Lake.

Skadar Lake

This lake is the largest in the Balkans, 2/3 of it is in Montenegro and 1/3 in Albania. You can spend several days on excursions around this lake, but since we were limited in time, we chose only one viewing point (42.363345748350454, 19.05704384410038) from those recommended on the Internet.

Chornoevicha River

At this point, the Chornojevica River flows into Skadar Lake. The view there is very beautiful.

Skadar Lake

The road to this observation deck somehow reminded us of the Eagle Road, though it was a little wider and seemed less extreme to us, perhaps because we were driving along it during daylight hours and there were fenders in dangerous places near the road. The road one way took us about an hour and a half.

Garnet

On the way, we stopped many times in places where a beautiful view of Skadar Lake opened.

By 18-00 we arrived home and began to prepare a festive table. Soon, our grilled fish from the owner of the house was ready, and the hostess made me a birthday cake.

Grilled fish

Grilled fish

The owner also brought us homemade wine and brandy, and we all sat down to celebrate with them.

We covered about 120 km in a day.

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Day Eleven (July 6): Negushi and the Bay of Kotor

The morning of this day began with the fact that I, together with the hosts, figured out where and how we can do free PCR tests before leaving. According to their conditions, 3 days before the surrender, it was necessary to register for this surrender, and it was not clear where and how to register. Goran helped us a lot in this matter, without him we would not have coped. He called some phone, they told us to send a photo of passports to a certain e-mail and write our names and surnames. I took pictures of everything, and Dara wrote for me in Serbian what we want. After a while, in Bosnian (I don't know why), the answer came that we still need to upload a photo of our tourist tax receipts. Photographed and sent. The answer comes that since we are registered in Bar, then we need to apply there and there is nothing to write to Podgorica. Each district is its own separate kingdom... As a result, Goran called the local hospital and agreed to do free PCR tests for us. But they warned that they were not made during the day (as the government originally promised), but at least a day, so you need to hand it in 2 days before departure in order to play it safe and not wait later. And this option ruined our plans to enter Serbia in 48 hours and Romania in 72 hours, but there was nowhere to go, it's still better than nothing...

The southern part of our trip to Montenegro was approaching the equator, but we hadn't tried prosciutto yet. . . It was decided to fix this. On this day, we had planned a trip to Mount Lovcen to the mausoleum, then to the village of Negushi and the Bay of Kotor.

Villas Adriatic Horizonte

Villas Adriatic Horizonte

Stopping on a serpentine near Budva (42.315181874700166, 18.8569613257838), we accidentally saw Villas Adriatic Horizonte, where the team from the Veddro channel lived for several days . I would like to live in this house someday. . .

First we went to Mount Lovcen to the Negosh Mausoleum. I read on the Internet that there is parking near the mausoleum... So, there is a parking lot, but it is designed for only 6 cars, and then most likely “for their own”, and all the rest park along the road on a very steep slope (42.399332097481086, 18.8389415928827 ), pushing the cobblestones under the wheels. Entrance to the park is paid, 2 euros per person. The entrance to the mausoleum itself is paid separately. Moreover, the ticket office is located at the very bottom of the steps, and the ticket is checked at the very top at the entrance to the museum.

Njegosh Mausoleum

As for me, there is nothing for tourists to look at in the museum itself, maybe for Montenegrins this place is holy, but for the rest it will not be particularly interesting. The only thing, as for me, for which it is worth going to the museum is to be able to go to the observation deck behind the museum overlooking the Bay of Kotor. In general, once it’s worth coming, there’s nothing to do there a second time.

After that, we went to the village of Negushi to buy Montenegrin prosciutto. After the google navigator led us to an incomprehensible place, I found on the Internet the first coordinates of a prosciutto seller named Bozho, and we went to him. He gave us a taste of his prosciutto, his prosciutto turned out to be excellent.

In the production of prosciutto

Then he took us on a tour of his production, and there we chose a whole leg for ourselves. The price was 8 euros per kilogram if you take the leg, and 16 euros if the meat is boneless. The leg cost us 65 euros.

The dream came true : )))

We also tried cheese there, but we didn't like it.

Bay of Kotor

Next, we descended along the serpentine into the Bay of Kotor, constantly stopping and admiring the views.

Also, at one of these stops, we saw the moment the plane took off at the Tivat airport.

Oysters with lemon

After descending into the bay, we stopped at an oyster farm (42.484613528531426, 18.72864299794137) and ate some oysters. Price - 2 euros for 1 piece.

Next, we decided to take a ride along the coast of the Bay of Kotor towards Herceg Novi right up to the ferry crossing, and then cross the ferry to the opposite side, but along the way we saw a beautiful bay and decided to stop there for a swim. After spending several hours there, and assessing the situation that it was still quite far from the ferry from Herceg Novi and that there might be a queue in the evening, we decided to go back. But we still wanted to at least see the ferry, therefore, having reached Kotor, we decided not to take a short way towards the house, but to drive further along the embankment of the bay right up to the ferry crossing. After Kotor, the road along the bay became very narrow, in order to part with the oncoming traffic one had to look for “pockets”, often had to pass “through cafes”, this is when part of the cafe in the building is on one side of the road, and its “summer” part is on the opposite side near the water, here the main thing was not to knock down the waiters with trays, as they fearlessly with full trays, without looking around, crossed the roadway. So we, in small dashes, stretching through the “pockets” with an oncoming lane, got to the ferry crossing. The ferry was just near the shore, we were able to see it. Then there was a leisurely road past the Tivat airport to the place of our deployment in Shushan.

We covered 220 km in a day.

Twelfth day (July 7): Becici

After waking up in the morning, we had breakfast and went to the beach we had already explored in Petrovac. We parked in the shade at the same paid parking lot and went to the beach. At lunchtime, we returned to the car and had a picnic near it in the shade under the trees.

Having rested and refreshed, we moved towards Budva, namely, we were interested in the beach in Becici. There we found a free parking lot (42.28159982276205, 18.868377162734017) near the beach, you can get there by going down a steep slope through the parking lot by the road.

The day was very hot and swimming in the sea helped a lot. Toward evening, when the heat subsided a little, we decided to walk along the coast to see the neighboring beaches. We went towards Rafailovichi. These two beaches are located in the same bay, have already merged into one and it is difficult to understand where one of them ends and the second begins.

Rafailovici Beach. On the way to Kamenovo beach

Further through the pedestrian tunnel we went to Kamenovo beach.

Rafailovici Beach. On the way to Kamenovo beach

The beach is not big, there are a lot of cars parked, there are a lot of people, I didn’t see anything as good as I read in the reviews, I had absolutely no desire to come to this beach in the future. We didn’t go further, returned back, and then went home.

We covered 75 km in a day.

Day 13 (July 8): Sveti Stefan

In the morning we went to the Bar to take PCR tests, then for groceries, ate and went to Crvena Plazh, since there was no point in going somewhere far away, a lot of time had already been lost in the morning. After staying there until lunch, we returned home, had dinner, waited out the heat, went to the Bar again (we were already slowly buying gifts home) and decided to go to Sveti Stefan for the evening, we really liked it there, plus we also wanted to go “in exploration”. Since parking there costs 2 euros per hour, and it is very small, and we planned to be there for a long time, we left the car on the slope to the parking lot along the road, as many do, no one drives or fines for parking under the sign there.

Sveti Stefan

After the heat subsided, we decided to go on foot "for reconnaissance" to King's Beach and Queen's Beach.

King's Beach

These two beaches were previously rented by the same tenant as Sveti Stefan, and now they are also free to visit.

King's Beach

Queen's Beach

When we got there and saw them, we decided that the next day we would definitely come here for the whole day. Pretty little coves, chic parks, an abundance of flowers and trees... Then we became very sorry that our vacation was coming to an end and we would have to return home in a day. On the way home, we stopped in Prž no to see where we could park the next day so that we could walk closer to the King and Queen beaches. We realized that there were practically no places there and that you had to arrive very early.

Sveti Stefan Beach

Sveti Stefan Beach

We covered 80 kilometers in a day.

Day fourteen (July 9): Przhno

After waking up early, we had a quick breakfast, packed up and left for Przno. It was necessary to have time to take a place near the Queen's beach, although this seemed not at all realistic. I saw a more realistic option when I drop off all my things with things near the beach, and I myself drive the car somewhere, and in the evening I also pick up everyone with things. But we were very lucky, when we arrived, we managed to find one place, before that, apparently, there was some kind of small car, but with great effort I managed to put my SUV there, though I had to climb out through the passenger door. It was five minutes walk to the Queen's beach from the parking lot (42.26673016424014, 18.89162671144248).

Queen's Beach

Arriving at the Queen's beach (42.26336919106883, 18.892373697432756), we settled there like a king, as there were very few people. The place is simply awesome: a small cove, clear and warm water. . . What else do you need? We hardly climbed out of the water, we wanted to enjoy the last day before leaving. When we got tired of just swimming and diving, we decided to swim to the neighboring beach - King's Beach. We sailed slowly, admiring the views of the bays and rocks from the sea.

Queen Beach Park

Toward dinner it became very hot, and we moved to the King's beach, or rather to the park located near this beach, found a place there where the guards did not drive, had lunch, and then - a siesta.

King Beach Park

After waiting out the heat, we went down to the King's beach (42.261023906887, 18.893067642362926) and swam, swam, swam again. . .

King's Beach

Pretty tired, but happy, through the Queen's beach, we returned to the car and moved towards the house, where it was already necessary to pack and prepare for departure.

A house in Shushan for 8 nights cost us 382 euros. We were very pleased with this house, and especially with their owners. When we are next time in Montenegro, we will definitely go to them. Thank you very much for such a warm welcome and for their help.

We covered 65 kilometers in a day.

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