Independent travel to Montenegro
We rested in Montenegro in the first week of September. The plane tickets were bought on their own. We chose a villa on the Internet, but did not book it. It turned out to be easy to settle without a reservation, offers for renting apartments in sea villas. We got from Tivat to Becici by taxi (25 euros per car). We decided to go to Becici, because according to the stories there are fewer people and the beaches are cleaner than in Budva. Smaller resorts than Becici, such as Przno or Sveti Stefan, were not considered at all, since we wanted active recreation. When I talk about Becici, I also mean the Rafailovici resort. Rafailovici are located immediately after Becici, to the south. One resort smoothly passes into another. This is like one tourist area Becici-Rafailovici. The rest of the resorts of the Budva Riviera are each in their own bay, and Becici and Rafailovici are in one big one.
Settled in Villa Becich. New villa with no frills in Rafailovici.
As for food, we had breakfast with products from the market, dined in restaurants, the portions are huge (although not in all establishments). The second course is always served with a sufficient amount of garnish. Soup, main course, drinks and dessert for two cost about 25 euros. I didn't want to have dinner after such a dinner. For dinner we bought fruit and local wine, it was delicious. There is one nuance in their cuisine, they do not know how to make salads, just do it. The only more or less decent salad is Shopska, but it tastes better with us.
To travel around the country, we rented a car at Iberostar Bellevue hotels for 40 euros per day. Fiat Panda, engine 1.1, no air conditioning, no hydraulic booster and no cigarette lighter (we discovered the latter in the morning when we set off, this upset us a little because without a cigarette lighter it is impossible to use GPS, the battery runs out quickly).
But even without a navigator, it was not a problem to reach the main attractions using the signs.
The country is very small, only 600 thousand people, how small it is, how mountainous it is. It’s already scary to drive more than 70 km / h on roads, 360-degree turns and steeply upwards. It is necessary to drive with the headlights on all the time, all people in the car must be fastened and it is advisable not to break the speed limit. If all of a sudden, a bribe to a Montenegrin cop is 10 euros, fines are 25-30 euros.
We went to the Ostrog Monastery, the most dumb road leads there, this is a rock monastery, very high in the mountains. There are a lot of pilgrims there, the relics of St. Vasily Ostrozhsky. When we were returning from Ostrog, on the way we stopped at the konobu Galeb, a large restaurant where groups of tourists also stop for lunch.
We learned about this place from the stories of travelers on the Internet, the restaurant is located where the steep descent ends (or the steep ascent begins), around the cemetery, opposite the hotel restaurant. Delicious food, huge portions, I advise. Then we went to Cetinje, the de jure capital of the country. An interesting town, as if frozen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Now the de facto capital of Montenegro is Podgorica, new embassies are being opened there, the life of the country is going on there. Cetinje is slowly emptying. There is also a monastery in this city where the right hand of John the Baptist is kept, a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified and an ancient icon of the Mother of God by the hand of St. Luke.
On the second day we went to Kotor, the city of the Bay of Kotor. The old town is well preserved there, it is taken under the protection of UNESCO. I do not advise you to go there with a group tour, it's a complete scam. Well, it is impossible to see this city in an hour or two!
The ruins of the fortress have been preserved above the city, we will go up there for a fee (2 euros) and are somewhat heavy, you need to walk 700 meters up, but the panorama from the mountain opens up wonderfully, to the Old Town of Kotor and the entire bay. After we went to visit the island of the Virgin on the Reef with the church of the same name and the island of St. George. These islands are also located in the Bay of Kotor. Drive 18 km from Kotor, you arrive in a small waterfront town with a unique Mediterranean atmosphere, quiet, calm, many restaurants by the sea, old houses, a church with a bell tower (you can go up there and take a picture of the panorama). To get to the islands (they are located next to each other), you need to hire a boat (4 euros per person), the boatman will take you to the man-made island of the Virgin on the Reef, they conduct a tour in the church (50 cents per person). The neighboring natural island is closed to the public, as there is a cemetery there.
The water in the bay is much warmer than in the open sea on the coast, and in general this huge bay is very beautiful, you should definitely visit it, but on your own, in order to sit quietly in a restaurant by the sea, besides group excursions, it’s like “I looked at everything, but didn't see anything. "
The old town in Budva is also very beautiful and well preserved, but it is much smaller than in Kotor. To see its panorama, you need to go to the fortress, from there you can also see the beaches of Morgen. (there is nothing special about them, just beaches in bays). In Budva, I recommend having lunch at the fish restaurant Konoba, in the Old Town. Very tasty, especially the fish soup. There is a menu in Russian. In Montenegro, unlike Turkey or Egypt, almost everyone understands Russian. Now the Russians are actively buying real estate there by the sea.
Sveti Stefan is an elite resort. Now this is the name not only of the island with the old hotel town, but also of the village opposite the island, in the bay.
Here is the largest concentration of Russians and the highest prices in restaurants. As a local Serb said, the Russian mafia is buying up land and houses, building hotels. The city-hotel is now closed for repairs, the locals say that they should open next year, but knowing the industriousness of the Montenegrins, one cannot count on the next year ...Red sand on the beaches of St. Stephen, which is written about on the Internet, was not noticed. Near St. Stephen is the former royal residence, Milocer. This is a large park, a palace and a secluded beach in the bay. Palaces in Montenegro deserve special mention. We, Ukrainians and Russians, cannot distinguish their palace from the outhouse for servants. We saw two palaces, in Cetinje (the palace of the king) and in the residence of Milocer, and each time we did not believe, continuing to stubbornly look for another building.
The palace, in their understanding, is a two-story small building, without any decorations, except for the coat of arms above the entrance and the dressing room with a couple of columns, and even then not always. The Milocer residence now serves as a hotel. Behind Milocer is the resort of Przhno, with the only hotel Maestral, also in the bay, with a bunch of restaurants. Prices are more expensive than in Budva, Becici, Rafailovichi.
As for the beaches, with the exception of Milocer beach, all beaches are free, only sunbeds and umbrellas are paid (5-7 euros per day for two sunbeds and an umbrella). You can’t lie on the sand on the beach area where there are sunbeds, because they are dense. There are very few stretches of the beach where you can lie on the sand and put your own umbrella. Therefore, it turns out that mostly beaches on the Budva Riviera are paid. The hotels also own large sections of the beach, the entrance to them is only for hotel guests.
We made one mistake, we bought an excursion to the canyons.
The whole day on the bus, we drove all over the country, to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina (seemingly). The canyons of the Moraca and Tara rivers were not particularly impressive. But on the way we stopped at the Moraca monastery, again, 30 minutes to explore this, albeit small, but very strong energetically and beautiful place, is not enough. The monastery is ancient, inside it is covered with frescoes, strong icons have been preserved. The ultimate goal of this excursion was a lake of glacial origin high in the mountains, Black Lake. Near the ski center of Montenegro, the city of Zabljak. The lake is really beautiful, not so cold as the guides scare, degrees 19. Around the forest, just an alpine idyllic landscape. It is much wiser to go here on your own and spend as much time as you want. It's not a problem even to stay overnight. Zabljak is full of offers. The tour was bought from Olympia Travel, this is a large company in Montenegro.
