Three Days of Discovery
Budva As a Base For Our Stay
We arrived the day before via Dubrovnik, where we collected the rental car. Budva, the famous seaside resort of Montenegro, will be the base for our short stay: a three-day weekend on site (to which must be added one day for arrival and departure, for a total of 4 days ).
The first day: we head to Kotor, with Sanja, a really nice certified guide. You enter through a small door in the thick walls which surround the picturesque old town. Throughout the visit, I thought about Game of Thrones. Kotor, where the Byzantines, Slavs, Venetians and Austrians succeeded one another. We continue to Perast, a village nestled in a superb fjord, where we take the boat to the islet Our Lady of the Rocks. The panorama of the Adriatic sea and its shores is simply magnificent! We have lunch at the Conte restaurant in Perast: delicious fish and seafood with a spectacular 180-degree view of the sea and fjord. Then back in Budva, we walk through the old town, one of its beaches and its walls. The setting is very pleasant and the late afternoon light gilds the old stones of the houses. Budva also has a very modern part, but we will have dinner near the old town by the water.
The second day: we head to the northern part of Montenegro, more precisely the Biogradska Gora National Park (about 3 hours drive from Budva). With Ivan, our guide who is passionate about botany, we visit the park and the surroundings of the lake. Then we head to Kolasin, the starting point of our buggy tour to Katun Vranjak. Sporty driving to the top of a mountain. Impressive courses in a setting at the end of the world, with a chairlift in the background. A break with a family of breeders: a lovely meeting, even if I didn’t want to ride horses. We take our buggy back for lunch in a neighboring property. On the menu: local specialties based on local products: the meat is excellent. The return to Kolasin is intense: it is raining and the track is slippery. If you have never ridden a quad or buggy, I do not recommend it. Otherwise it’s great! We still have three hours of driving to return to Budva, with magnificent landscapes.
The third day: mountain e-bike on the program! Suffice to say that I am averagely motivated (lololol!)… Let’s say, I like the mountains. And cycling. We leave Budva for Orijen. The two-lane road (the width of which can only accommodate one car), meanders happily and unconsciously in the mountain (we often flirt with the precipice). The low vegetation reminds me of the Corsican maquis: lots of stones and rocks, against a backdrop of the sea. Arriving at the starting point, we follow the young cycling champion who will be our bike guide. The track climbs gently but surely, then the difficulty intensifies with the small stones and inclination. So much so that at the last third of the trail leading to the summit, I turned back. In the afternoon, we visit the old town of Herceg Novi which extends over several levels (in stairs): from the Kanli Kula fortress built by the Ottomans, through Belavista square with its small church, to the pebble beaches. And it’s already the end of this exciting weekend discovering Montenegro! I’ll be back for sure.
The trip in pictures below
Day 1. Visit of Kotor, Perast & Budva
Day 2. Biogradska Gora National Park & Buggy Tour
Day 3. E-bike Tour in Orijen & Walk In Herceg Novi
Photos : © Mademoiselle Le K – Tous droits réservés
Informations
Many thanks to Sunweb and Montenegro Travel for this beautiful invitation. As always, these are my opinions.
