Where is Montenegro?

The trip really seems to be winding down now.  We only have about two months left onboard and our thoughts are constantly wandering to lists of what we have to get done to demobilise from the boat.  So far Nic managed to book all our flights home last week which was a major milestone. Scott has almost contracted a delivery crew to take the boat from Athens to Palma in November.  

We said goodbye to Keith and Susan in Dubrovnik and then spent a couple of days in Cavtat before clearing out and departing for Montenegro.  

Montenegro is a small country with a population of just over 600,000.  It is sandwiched between Croatia and Albania and we knew very little about it.  We headed for a place called Tivat.  About 20NM south of Cavtat along the coast there is a narrow passage which opens up into a series of huge bays.  On the middle one of these bays sits Tivat - a small town but with an awesome marina.  The scenary is spectacular as you leave the Adriatic and head inland.  Huge mountains rise over a 1000m at the coast and keep climbing to 2000m further inland.  The terrain looks and feels more northern European now than Mediterranean.

The entrance off the Adriatic

We had an uneventful cruise down the coast and across the bay and contacted Porto Montenegro marina for a berth.  This marina is a huge development and is trying to place itself up there with the best of the Megayacht marinas in Europe.  There are about 400 berths here and work is still going on.  It's an old Yugoslavian Naval yard and the development so far is very impressive.  Apart from the the berths, there is a five star hotel, apartments, swimming pool, restaurants, shops, a naval museum etc.  There were a lot of very impressive big boats moored up on the pontoons.

The marina swimming pool

We had decided to spend only a few days in Montenegro.  The main attraction was to visit Kotor.  Kotor is an old walled town with an incredible extended wall which seems to snake vertically up the surrounding cliffs.  The old town itsefl is relatively small but stuffed full of churches.  Unfortunately for us, during our stay the weather has been absolutely terrible.  Not cold but very wet with incessant rain and thunderstorms.  We just bought some umbrellas and made the best of it.  We wandered the narrow lanes of Kotor and found a perfect restaurant with exposed beams in the ceiling, rustic brickwork and crossed swords hanging on the walls.  Had a great lunch with some terrific wine which seemed to make the whole day better.

Making the best of the weather

The walls at Kotor

We were planning on getting a bit further afield while we were here but due to the weather have kind of stayed around the marina.  We did have a look in a submarine which was really interesting.  This sub was one of two which had been abandoned at the yard when the developers took over and so they have made exhibits out of them.  They are in perfect condition and one of them you can walk through it and see how the submariners lived.  

The submarines

We were going to head south today but the weather was terrible so we have hung around the marina.  Winds are good for a passage to Greece tomorrow so we will take off on our last overnight sail.