Well, it was a bit of a mixed week in Monte, to say the least. Perfect weather in the UK (too hot by all accounts) but for us it was a week of thunderstorms, spots of sun (including 1 whole day!) and some torrential Med rain. Booo…..
We did of course do our utmost to make the most of it. Best day was the only fully dry one, where we drove up the terrifying switchbacks to the top of the Monte mountain that the country is named after.
Fabulous views and a really good day out, once J&I had recovered from the horror of having to reverse downhill with a cement lorry reversing back into us, while a full sized coach was trying to come down the road only wide enough for 1.5 cars. Check the map out.. eek!
Also had a v good trip out to the Njegos Mausoleum up another mountain. A cheery destination indeed! Claimed to have 450 steps up to the top but I think there were fewer. Maybe I was losing my senses already in the altitude… Bizarre thing to have as the number 2 destination but I rather liked its quirky oddness..
Also squeezed in a nice boat trip round the large sea inlet in Perast where we stayed for the first 4 nights. A sleepy little place but hugely pretty, loved our hotel and made the most of the few dinner options on the waterside 'strip'.
Popped over to Kptor, the bigger town, and sat in its horror traffic jams for long enough to know that Perast had been the right choice! But the impressive hillside old walls of the city and the old city centre itself were very cute, even in the drizzle. As we took refuge in an outdoor cafe with overhead rain covers, one of the waiters tried to 'helpfully' poke the gathering water off to the edge, but managed to break open the two velcroed pieces of the channel instead, dumping a vast amount of cold rain onto some poor woman underneath. For once, not us!
We even ventured up to check out Ostrog Monastery, impressively set into a mountain wall in the centre of the country. It was – again – a damp day, I couldn't even prise J out from under her raincoat hood for all of 5 seconds for this photo!
I knew things were getting desperate when J actually suggested visiting the main cave of Montenegro as at least it was underground and therefore dry – even if only 10 degrees inside! And J is no cave lover! In we went, duly admired the innards, and went back to watch a movie on Netflix. Now there's a holiday first, for sure…
Beyond that, we huddled by the pool under an umbrella, as only Brits do (we had the place to ourselves unsurpringly!) and then headed off to our second hotel on the outskirts of Budva. Again, a lucky escape as Budva was a bit of an ugly urban pit. Maybe it comes across better when it's not raining? Our one meal there at Taste of Asia gave me food poisoning (partly my fault possibly as I foolishly told the waiter that we liked our food spicy, as everything else in Monte had been pretty bland thus far). A week later, I am still regretting that conversation… ew.
So, it wasn't quite Miami, and I suspect we will be heading back there for our girls' week next year, all being well. But it was a new country with some interesting experiences and we were just unlucky with the weather. Better luck next time!
Sx