Spent a day in neighboring Montenegro, which means Black Mountain, named by the Italians who used to own the area - Venice.
Did you guys know that Montenegro was its own country? WHO KNEW!!!!
I have to travel with current guide books going forward. Montenegro officially separated from Serbia (yippee!) in May of 2006. In fact, it already uses the Euro, which is more than Bosnia, Croatia or Serbia can say! Here is a shot of the fishing village in the town where we caught a ferry. I took a day tour , which I usually pass on, and it was great - I learned so much more that way.
What drew me to Montenegro was the old town of Kotor - what was terrific was to see that the large fjord that Kotor is on ,the largest in southern Europe, is stunning all around . Here is a shot of some of the mountains around the bay with some fishing traps in the water. 
These churches are in the middle of the bay. The one of the left is Orthodox, I think. The one on the right is Catholic. The island it is on is manmade. Years ago, two fisherman found a statue of the Virgin Mary on a single rock in the water. They took it back to shore. The next day - it was gone! But turned up back on the rock - a miracle. So, local folks have sunk 80 odd boats to build a manmade island, and each year on the anniversary of the event, the MEN of the town drop rocks on the island - to continue to grow it. Its called the Lady of the Rock Church.
Enjo
yed a spin around the old walled town of Kotor, a Unesco World Heritage site, then the bus took us up a hill on a 1.5 car wide road that had 26 switchbacks - for this view of the Bay of Kotor! The shot to the left is dark but shows some of the switchbacks - this particular one is in the shape of an "M", for Montenegro, or as legend has it, the Queen Melani, at the time, who the road's Italian architect had the hots for.
Ubiquitous beach shot from a touristy town Budva -its the new new place to go since its still cheap. Note the "sand"... its rocks, damned rocks... and really hard to walk on. This town has lots of new hotels going in... rumor has it funded by Russian mobsters.
Montenegro is 80% mountainous - so many of the roads we were on were narrow and windy. Here is a shot of our bus being passed on a narrow road by another bus... close shot. The guide joked that Montenegrans take their driving tests on this road.
Fun doorknocker on a door in the old walled town of Budva. Fun seriously, once you have seen 6 old walled towns, you've pretty much seen them all.
Shot of part of the fort looking out to the Adriatic.
Stones stones stones. Much of Croatia and Montenegro use marble for their construction - didn't take me long to figure out it was cheap since the mountains are everywhere here.
yed a spin around the old walled town of Kotor, a Unesco World Heritage site, then the bus took us up a hill on a 1.5 car wide road that had 26 switchbacks - for this view of the Bay of Kotor! The shot to the left is dark but shows some of the switchbacks - this particular one is in the shape of an "M", for Montenegro, or as legend has it, the Queen Melani, at the time, who the road's Italian architect had the hots for.
Ubiquitous beach shot from a touristy town Budva -its the new new place to go since its still cheap. Note the "sand"... its rocks, damned rocks... and really hard to walk on. This town has lots of new hotels going in... rumor has it funded by Russian mobsters.
Montenegro is 80% mountainous - so many of the roads we were on were narrow and windy. Here is a shot of our bus being passed on a narrow road by another bus... close shot. The guide joked that Montenegrans take their driving tests on this road.
Fun doorknocker on a door in the old walled town of Budva. Fun seriously, once you have seen 6 old walled towns, you've pretty much seen them all.
Shot of part of the fort looking out to the Adriatic.
Stones stones stones. Much of Croatia and Montenegro use marble for their construction - didn't take me long to figure out it was cheap since the mountains are everywhere here.
There are 
cats everywhere here - so I especially liked the gargoyle that looked like a cat.
Nice peaceful scene in the old town of Budva.
You just gotta love the Cyrillic here!
A shot of Budva harbor and the mountains that extend to the sea. Montenegro used to be quite a tourist destination for the rich and famous -but hit hard times when the 12 year embargo of Serbia after the war included Montenegro. They are seeing a rebound. There was a brief shot of Montenegro in the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig ( note to myself - see this movie again and look at scenery this time).
Oddly enough, I was in Budvar Montenegro 10 days before the Stones held a concert on the beach. I remember thinking , how much more money do these jerks need.
And I especially thought that when I heard that the annual monthly salary in Montenegro is 150 to 300 Euro a month - the folks going to see the Stones will be Russian mob guys, not local folks. Here is a shot of a house we passed 5 minutes beyond the posh beach where the concert will be held.
Last shot - on the bus watching our guide get us through the border check of Montenegro back into Croatia. This is an easy task these days - we didn't even have to flash the passports on this stop.
cats everywhere here - so I especially liked the gargoyle that looked like a cat.
Nice peaceful scene in the old town of Budva.
You just gotta love the Cyrillic here!
A shot of Budva harbor and the mountains that extend to the sea. Montenegro used to be quite a tourist destination for the rich and famous -but hit hard times when the 12 year embargo of Serbia after the war included Montenegro. They are seeing a rebound. There was a brief shot of Montenegro in the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig ( note to myself - see this movie again and look at scenery this time).
Oddly enough, I was in Budvar Montenegro 10 days before the Stones held a concert on the beach. I remember thinking , how much more money do these jerks need.
And I especially thought that when I heard that the annual monthly salary in Montenegro is 150 to 300 Euro a month - the folks going to see the Stones will be Russian mob guys, not local folks. Here is a shot of a house we passed 5 minutes beyond the posh beach where the concert will be held.
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