Exploring Montenegro and yourself

by Alisa Shilova (Russia)

I didn't expect to find Montenegro

Last summer I traveled to Montenegro together with my mum. It was the very first trip I decided to organize myself. This decision was mainly motivated by a wish to take all sights, voices, feelings of Montenegro, to explore it ourselves. So, I was worried a lot about not to mess up with everything at hand and not to ruin our holidays! Finally the plan was settled, I just passed my last university exam and the next day we landed in Tivat. Tivat: it brings you back to the childhood Remember your childhood’s summer holidays? I do. In Russia many children spend summer holidays at grandparents, somewhere in the countryside with its rivers, forests or cornfields! In Tivat we were welcomed by a wonderful elderly couple, who owned the apartment. Their two floors house was located in the green hills, adorable, covered with yellow flowers from the top down with vegetable garden, a couple of fruit trees nearby and an unforgettable view. After coming back from a wild beach, we were admiring sunsets, drinking homemade coffee, surrounded by something beautiful and warm. The next day we walked to the city center, there Porto Montenegro appeared in contrast. It was a huge marina with everything available in 200 meters being class lux: from hotels to unbelievable yachts. Being in that busy noisy area made me feel like growing up once again. In two days we went to another town – Dobrota. Dobrota: in the heart of the Boko Kotor Bay The town is to be called secluded and quite seaside place, it once was a fishing village. The bay was hidden by hills, covered with dark blue waves crashing on the rocks, high wind. It filled me with the spirit of freedom, endless summer. The place was also to call home. Once again we were met by kind and warming people, who were keeping the place after their parents and great-parents together with local history and traditions. The night before we left they welcomed us to the family dinner. It was not some entertainment for all guests nor it was a casual offer. The invitation, was given from heart after we know each other better with Dobro, his wife Anna and sister Maria, I meet his precious son Marco and Dobro’s friends who often visited him and their wives. So, through this short period of time they let us feel as a part of their big family. I only felt out of this atmosphere when huge, noisy ships with hundreds of tourists on the board went through the Boko Kotor Bay, leaving behind oil stains on the water and smog in the air. Kotor: breathtaking hiking - back in centuries Kotor was located just near Dobrota, so we hitchhiked. The town is known by its yacht-dock and St. John Fortress. To get to the fortress for free we went hiking in serpentines. It felt like we were not tourists but travelers, reaching new heights and exploring the ruins of once a fortified city. We were exhausted but inspired by the trip, it started to rain but we were not going to stop. We got to the main spot, where the tower’s top was alongside with what was left from the fortress’s wall, the whole Kotor was down there and grey clouds seemed to be so close. Unusual feeling of something great and powerful took my heart once again. But then we heard a loud noise of police sirens, something probably happened in the city. Another couple of minutes and we were going down by a well-explored tourist rout with another hundred people. The magic has disappeared. After that day we have also visited Budva, Cetine, Perast, Petrovac. Each place had its unique features which we explored on our own, not even once I regretted that our trip was original and quite wild. I compared it with my previous experience of typical modern tourism with its extent of sights, quantity of visitors and speed of travelling around. Montenegro is lovely the way it is, the way this land has been for centuries now; and tourism free from schedule and guides is my new way of making discoveries of the world around and myself.