Medieval towns of Budva and Kotor, Montenegro

Sea Princess in the Adriatic inlet of Kotor, Montenegro

Montenegro, to the south of the Balkan countries has a population of only 200,000 so it was no surprise to find it was a tender port. 

Sea Princess tender

Tender

In fact, we found three cruise ships in this beautiful port, meaning at least 8,000 people would be descending on Kotor for the day.

Moat at Kotor

Of course, John could not disembark so that was one less person in town.  This was unfortunate since in my opinion it was a better experience even than Corfu.  I had booked a Princess coach tour to Budva, an ancient walled town and beach area about 30 minutes away on the other side of the peninsula followed by a tour of the old walled town of Kotor.  Being very prone to earthquakes, both towns had been extensively restored brick by brick.  Laneways were very narrow as you can see below.

Montenegro was fortunate that the Balkan war was not fought on its territory, although it only gained independence from Yugoslavia which ruled it for most of the 20^th century in 2006.

Church at Kotor

Kotor and other towns are currently undergoing extensive development.  Our guide told us that the vast majority of flights are to Russia so it is probable that many Russians are investing in this lovely region.

Here are some photos of Budva. 

We sailed away at 5:30 pm on a magic summery night, passing two small islands, one of which consisted simply of a church.

  There were many people on the coastal roads around Kotor watching the Sea Princess pass by.  Our ship was probably the smallest of the three ships in town yesterday.