Unfortunately, our Montenegro “tour” was not the most informative experience. I was told the driver of our private van would speak English, and be able to give us some background and history on the country – this did not happen. So, we were left merely to take in the gorgeous scenery of the country on our 12 hour excursion.

Our first stop at the old city of Kotor, was reminiscent of the Old City of Dubrovnik. Tall city walls, quaint little churches, cobble stone streets, a surrounding bay, and more cafes and restaurants then you know what to do with. I think Jason is adding building a walled old city to his list of money making ideas, since there was no shortage of tourists checking it all out. We decided to buy an overpriced guidebook here, to read up on some history of the country of Montenegro.

Surrounded by Croatia, Bosnia-Herzogovina, and Serbia, Montenegro's tourism had suffered greatly from unrests and wars in these surrounding countries in the 1990s. In recent years, along with the stabilized situation in the region and in part due to it's independance from Serbia in 2006, tourism in Montenegro has begun to recover, and is being re-discovered by tourists from around the globe. It truly is a special region consisting of sprawling bays that open up to the Adriatic Sea, enormous mountains stretching for miles on end, lush flora and fauna, and a coastline that would take your breath away. Thus, it’s not hard to understand why so many people from the EU are buying up property in this country.

My favorite stop of the day was at the St. Stefan panorama. This seaside resort located 5 km southeast of Budva (where we ate lunch), used to be a tidal island , but is now permanently connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus . It truly looks like something out of a movie set. It’s no wonder the rich and famous come to spend their holidays here on this exclusive resort on Montenegro’s coast.  I tried to convince Jason we needed a couple nights here, but he wasn't buying it:)

A car ferry boat on our way home helped to cut down our travel time back to Croatia, which we all welcomed after being in the car for more hours than not that day. We all had a chuckle when we saw how insanely lax the passport control was – they didn’t even open up our documents, just counted to see there was enough passports. My mom had read just that morning that the Adriatic Coastline was rated in the top 25 of deadly roads in the world –- we all breathed a sigh of relief upon arriving home safe and sound that evening.