Day 54, Dubrovnic, Croatia, visit to Montenegro

Kotor Bay, Montenegro

On the ferry back across the straight

Went on a visit to another country today, as you do....
Croatia in the South is bordered by Bosnia (the way we came in the other day) and in the East by Montenegro. We decided to join a small bus tour, which was very interesting.
We got collected just after 8 from close to our accommodation, and got the prime seats behind the driver.
This was a very entertaining part of the drive for dad and me, as the driver was Croatian and clearly had been on the job for many years. The guide however was French (chosen as we had some French guests on the trip). She was very new at the job and quite stroppy. The dynamics between the two was great to watch; he was not PC at all and had never been told about sexual harassment, but the fact that her English was not so good meant that most remarks he made went straight over her head.
He had a huge rant about Albania (bordering Montenegro on the other side) and started by asking if anyone was going there? No? Well, DON'T was his advice, and he proceeded to explain to us in details what there was to not like about Albania, apart from the fact it was full of dirty Albanians.
Montenegro however, is absolutely beautiful.

Orthodox Church, Kotor

The area we visited is like a huge natural harbour, where Kotor, a tiny old town is tucked up against a steep mountain, surrounded and protected on one side by a river, one side by the Adriatic Sea, one side by the mountain and lastly by a huge man made wall going up 1300 steps. No, did not climb that as it was close to 40 degrees today. We both really enjoyed Kotor, would have loved to have stayed here a bit longer. We had a very capable local guide who took us on a half hour tour.

Old Town Kotor, Montenegro

The next town, Budva, has a 50% Russian population. In fact, the nearby airport has three flights a day direct to Moscow and in the 'season, from May to September, some 180,000 Russians come for holidays. It's a very correct town/ country apparently, so the Russians own almost every restaurant and nightclub. Had a great lunch and swim there.
Strangely enough Montenegro is not part of the EU, but use Euros for their currency and the entire economy is built on tourism.
A delightful day altogether, and back home for another swim with dad at the beach nearby.

Dubrovnic in the West (Blue dot) and the red pinhead
 is Budva in the South