A Portrait of Montenegro

Annotated photographs

The coastal town of Kotor. All photos are mine.

Last week I went on holiday to Montenegro. It’s a tiny country that’s part of the former Yugoslavia, nestled between Croatia and Bosnia to the north, Serbia and Kosovo to the east, and Albania to the south. To the west are the shimmering waters of the Adriatic Sea.

The roads are narrow and occasionally bumpy. They hug the twists and turns of the black mountains that are the connective tissue between towns. I kept a journal during my adventures there, but haven’t yet had time to transcribe the impressions I had. However, I did take many pictures and thought they might speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy them.

Beginning the climb to Kotor Fortress.

It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock n’ roll.

It’s also a long way down if you’re a dumbass and fall over the edge.

Jadran, built in 1933, the oldest ship in the Montenegrin Navy, seen here in the marina of the town of Tivat.

The town of Lepetane looking northward.

Ostrvo Sveti Đorđe, or the Island of St. George.

Sveti Stefan, a place for rich people.

The old town of Budva, and friendly, fearless animals who heard the rustle of a bag filled with baked goodies.

The view from Virpazar, near Lake Skadar.

An inquisitive akita who was our local tour guide.

Journal writing, featuring my shitty penmanship. There are 18 pages of this crap.

A room with a view.

Old Town Kotor. In the background you can make out the path we took to the fortress in the top right of the image.

Does this need a caption? Fine. Stairs.

The author taking a selfie with Ivan, a naval captain who circumnavigated the globe in a ship called the Splendido.

A chilly, wet, and windy day in Ulcinj, near the Albanian border. That’s a mosque there in the middle.

Mosques are pretty. This one was a Sailor’s Mosque that was first erected in the 14th century, destroyed in 1931 by the military, then rebuilt 81 years later.

Crossing the border into Croatia. I have paternal ancestry from there.

The city of Dubrovnik.

Left: a passage into the heart of town. Right: a man without a head.

Part of the outer wall that encircles the city.

Pausing a few minutes to admire the sea.

Sunrise the final morning in Kotor.

The drive from Kotor to the airport in Podgorica, the capital, took us about 1 hour and 30 minutes. On the way, we passed through a 4km tunnel that took us on the other side of the mountain range where we were surprised to discover it had snowed. This was back at Lake Skadar.

If you’re interested in reading some kind of compilation of my journal entries, let me know in the comments. Cheers.