I'm copying the last two posts from my Croatian Island Hopping thread to a new thread dedicated to Montenegro.
WT has given me some great info and I've responded with a link to a great new resource.
So, I thought it should have a more descriptive title dedicated to Montenegro alone.

WT Slow Traveler
Posted 31 August 2007 03:01 AM Hide Post
Hi Deborah,


We have been here 22 days now and really love this area, but I have not met anyone so far who knows about the websites.

I mostly meet other vacationing Europeans or people that work here. Croatians and people from Montenegro really dislike one another, so probably not the best place to fet the info.

I am no expert on Montenegro, but we did love it. My sense is it is very much like a less built up and poorer Croatia( and Croatia is not built up).

Even in high season it was not busy and most of the tourists seemed to be Russians and Serbs. I would think it would be very easy to book as you go.

It is dirtier than what we have seen in Croatia ( litter on streets and beaches) which is part of what leads me to call it poorer. When we were in Kotor, the electricity was down for all the hours that we were there. I do not know how common that is, but imagine it is even worse for service in the smaller towns.

We found it VERY charming and VERY old world, but just be prepared that you will most likely be dealing with a more Eastern European kind of country that is still catching up.

I am not familiar with the the towns that you mentioned, but when we passed thru Perast, I thought that would be a lovely place to stay for a little while.

None of the beaches were crowded when we were touring Kotor Bay area and we found plenty of people who spoke some English. The area is beautiful, but do know that the beaches consist of a concrete slab and can be quite primitive. We kind of liked the primitive, old fishing village atmosphere, but it is more primitive than any of the other countries that we have been to except Morocco. There are police everywhere, so do be careful as we were warned, but did not have any problem ( even tho our car had crotian plates).

I do hope that you do not miss Dubrovnic as it was not clear on your itinerary. Perhaps you have been here before? It is such a wonderful city and area that I would make sure that you book some time for that and walking the wall,Buza cafe, music and such. We are really loving this area.

http://www.soultravelers3.com
Posts: 877 | Location: from SF,living in Europe on RTW trip | Registered: 31 January 2006

Ignored post by WT posted 31 August 2007 03:01 AM Show Post

Deborah

Slow Traveler
Posted 31 August 2007 08:37 AM Hide Post
WT-
Your comments are confirming what I've been surmising from my research. And it is encouraging to our goal for Montenegro.
We could go to one of the "staged" resorts that have been developed by outsiders (Sveti Stefan is the poster child for this).
But, then we might as well just go to Capri.

We like to have at least one week of hiking and nature immersion with each trip. That is why we are looking to the interior. Durmitor is the northern most national park in Montenegro and contains the upper portion of the river Tara. The Tara River Canyon is the second deepest in the world.

Just today, I found an absolutely AMAZING site:
Balkanology
Amazing depth of information about all of the Balkan countries, and more usable info on Montenegro than I've found anywhere else.

Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I want to do a past life regression and stay there.
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My blog: Old Shoes - New Trip
Posts: 4071 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001

Just finished reading "Montenegro, the Bradt Travel guide" by Annalisa Rellie.
Cover to cover. I've never done that with a guide book before.

So, now Croatia is out, in favor of two weeks in Montenegro and two weeks in southern Italy.

But, if I can't narrow down the location for our second week in Montenegro, Italy may have to forfeit one of her weeks.

Gee, I would not miss Croatia. We are here now and were just in Montenegro ( which we also loved), but we actually prefer Croatia.

We could have spent more time in Montenegro, but chose not to. We have spent 25 days in Croatia which is telling.

Why not do Montenegro and Croatia this trip and save Italy for a time when you can give it more time?

It would be sad to be so close and miss the walls of Dubrovnic,Plitvice Lakes, Istria, island hopping,etc.

Just my two cents.

Believe me, WT, I understand what you are saying about Croatia. It is beautiful, and we will visit there, someday.

But, there is no rush. It will get continually easier and easier to enjoy the beauty and culture of that country, and someday it will be as simple to enjoy as Italy or France or Spain.

For us, the issue is timing. We are on the down-hill half of our 50s now, and know that adventurous travel will become harder at some point. We want to white water raft down the Tara River and hike a bit in the mountains. We also want to do some horseback riding.

PLUS, we really want to visit the Balkan area before tourism "does its magic". I think that, especially in the coastal areas of Croatia, it is too late for that. I'm reading websites of hotels who promise "all the luxuries of home", etc.

Not that we want to be uncomfortable, but we do want to spend some time somewhere where the visitor accepts daily life according to the host country's culture...not where the host country has begun to alter their daily life to accomodate the tourist dollar. While up in the interior, we will probably stay in one of the local homes where the owner offers a clean bed and meals for 7E per person. They get mostly German hikers and a few Italians and British.

Also, Italy is our 'touchstone' country. If we don't spend some time there every year, I have serious withdrawal. Since, taking a ferry from Bari is such an ideal way to get to Montenegro, we will probably fly through Italy each way. The question is, how much time do we want to take away from our Montenegro discovery to spend there?

I honestly can't believe that I was ever able to plan the standard two week vacation and be satisfied. Right now, a month seems so restrictive!

I salute you and your family for making the commitment to this adventure you are on!

Hi Deborah,
My family stayed in Dubrovnik for 5 days last June. We took a daytrip to Montenegro. While the Bay of Kotor was quite stunning the towns of Budva and Perast were not as nice as the many small towns that we visited while on the Dalmatia coast. And Budva was very crowded with tourists.

A highlight for us while in Croatia was a drive on the Peljesac peninsula where we stopped at the Grgic and Matusko wineries.

The scenery in this area was different from the coast but still very interesting. Our best meal of the trip was at a small family run restaurant in Trstenic, which is very close to the Grgic winery.

The arboretum in Trsteno was very beautiful. There was much more so see here than what I had expected.We saw a huge and beautiful old aquaduct and pretty fountains with all kinds of plants and flowers in the park area.

To be honest, I was expecting more from the Montenegro area from what I had read, but I was a little disappointed.

quote:

I think that, especially in the coastal areas of Croatia, it is too late for that

That has not been true in our experience. We have been pleasantly surprised at how unbuilt up it is. I am sure there are built up areas, but you will be amazed at how pristine so much of it is and authentic.

We are in Trogir now and going up the coast we found almost all pure nature, much more than we expected and the bay here is as pretty as Kotor. I do not want to add to your challenge, I am just worried that you might be disappointed and might also be thinking of Croatia in a wrong light.


We loved the ride up the coast and thought thank God they have not ruined the gorgeous natural beauty here as it is NOT built up at all...thus far. Split is the only area that we have seen that is built up. There are plenty of places even around Dubrovnik that are isolated fishing villages. From about 20 km out of Split to Dubrovnik it is gorgeous and not built up at all. Most of the small islands are not built up at all. Inland is definitely not built up. Mostly drop dead gorgeous coast and mountains and tiny fishing villages.

We stayed at 2 different campsites right on the water in the middle of no where with gorgeous little beaches...hardly any one there but a few hardy Germans....very friendly people. One can easily find authentic Croatia on the coast.


Good luck with what ever you decide. There are so many great places, it IS hard to decide.

quote:

I salute you and your family for making the commitment to this adventure you are on!

Thanks...it works for us and I can not even imagine trying to do it in less time because even our restraints can be a challenge. The world is big.Smile.


You will love where ever you go! Some how things always work out.

Wt, your blog and your pictures are fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this!

OK, planning has begun in earnest.

June 19th:
Fly to Belgrade.
June 21st:
Train from Belgrade to Bar, but getting off at one of the stops in the mountains. Probably near Kolasin.
Several days hiking Durmitor and rafting the Tara.
June 25th:
Drive to Cetinje/Kotor area for a few days of sightseeing.
June 28th:
To Dubrovnick to board a small ship (12-18 passenger) for a week of island hopping.
July 4th:
Return to Dubrovnick to take a ferry to Bari.
July 5th:
Week in southern Puglia.
July 12th:
Week along the Tirreno coast (somewhere between Nettuno and Gaeta)
July 20th:
Fly out of either Rome or Naples.

I'm thinking that both WT and Laurie have very good points about the areas of Montenegro they visited.

But, what is drawing me there is the research I've done revealing photos like THESE: http://www.travel-images.com/montenegro6.html
and these
http://www.travel-images.com/montenegro.html
and this

quote:

Wt, your blog and your pictures are fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this!

Lesfaye,
I have been meaning to thank you for this kind comment and finally have the internet connection to do that! Soon we will be on the same side of the pond.

Deborah,
Looks like you have a great plan and I am glad to see that you have decided to keep your sailing in Croatia in. We just left Croatia yesterday, so spent a long time there and were just amazed at the breathless beauty, pristine nature and authentic life of this country. It is a rare jewel.

We really liked Hvar and Korcula, so I hope you get to those islands, although every place we saw was great, so you can not go wrong. We adored Rovinj, Plitsvice is the most beautiful national park we have ever seen, and Motovun and inner Istria is like Tuscany before tourists.

There are many similarities between Montenegro and Croatia and I know you will have a wonderful trip. You will be going at a great time too! Happy planning!!

Oh, forgot to mention that I have just uploaded our pictures of Montenegro on our blog.

After 40 some days in this part of the world, I can tell you, it is one of the gems of the planet.

WT -- Thanks for letting me know about you photo update.
I've spent the last 30 minutes drooling.

Deborah, when I get back to Seattle, I'll try to remember to look up a company that does trips to Montenegro and Bosnia. I went to a slide show a year ago and it looked wonderful. They also recommmended Croatia. If I can find their site, it might give you some ideas on an itinerary.

Another country, you might look at is Bulgaria. It sounds very interesting especially the churches and monastaries. It is not as undiscovered as Montenegro but it does have a lot of culture and hiking. Here is a sample of hiking in Bulgaria.

Thanks, Marta! That link is great.
There won't be time for Bulgaria this trip, but we do plan to include it in a trip to Romania some day.
We have a friend from Romania who wants to take us back to visit her hometown. She isn't the outdoor type and doesn't want to be gone more than 2 weeks, so we will probably go with her to Romania for the first 2 weeks. Then when she comes back to the states, we will head south to Bulgaria for a week and on to Turkey for the last week.
But, that trip is several years away.

I look forward to the info about the company that does trips to Montenegro and Bosnia.

Emails are out to two environmentally sensitive adventure tour companies in Montenegro. Just waiting to hear from them before deciding which one to go with.
They are:
Vila Jelka and Eco-Tours
Annalisa Reille, who wrote the only English language travel guide devoted to Montenegro recommends both. But it does look like she slightly favors Vila Jelka.

I've figured out the train schedule from Belgrade to Kolosin. Now I'm trying to research the best way to get to Belgrade.

I'm leaning toward the comfortable familiar... Just fly round trip into FCO. Transfer to a JAT Airways flight straight from Rome to Belgrade. The timing of the flights are actually very good, we would arrive in Rome at about 8AM and depart for Belgrade at about 10 AM.
We are planning to fly out of FCO anyway on our way home in July.

I'm having less luck finding just the right island hopping cruise in Dobrovnick.
Since, these cruises are scheduled with specific departure dates, we have to nail this down first, before we do any other scheduling.
We are looking for something in the 20-30 passenger range. We really would like a mast ship, but it seems the motorized ones are much, much more reasonable.
Ah, well...the research continues.

WT...enjoyed your blog. Kind of sorry to see you move on to another destination.

OK, so I'm months into my trip planning and having a ball convincing myself that Dan and I will be "discovering" Montenegro. Like we are Columbus or something.
Then Lonely Planet goes and opens their big fat mouth!
http://www.birn.eu.com/en/109/15/5385/

Hi Deborah

We are a family of 4, kids 11 and 12, also in the planning phases for next summer, end June to mid July. We are a sailing family so was also interested in a sailing trip if possible so would be interested in your progress in searching for a trip.

Mabel

Hi Mabel, I'll try to remember to post all the cool links I find so you can see them.