Montenegro

 Podgorica, Montenegro    April 10-20, 2023

Leaving  Marseille, France at 4:30 am, we saw the sunrise just before landing in Paris.

We flew to Belgrade, Serbia and had a lay over for a few hours and then flew onward to Podgorica, Romania.

We spotted snow covered mountains just before landing.

Montenegro was covered in vivid green fields.

We picked up our rental car and drove directly to ...

our home in Podgorica for the next ten days.

We met Madja's mom. She was lots of fun to try to talk with because she only spoke Croatian.

We walked downtown with Milena, Madja's friend, who directed us to a phone company to get a Montenegro sim card. Afterwards, Larry and I went out to eat dinner at a local restaurant. They gave us such large portions that we had enough left over for lunch the next day.

At the end of our first day 

Larry got a smile on his face as he spotted this VW bug....reminder of his yellow one.

One of the many stately embassy homes that lined our street.

Doesn't he holler, "Take me home with you?"

City Center

The Obelisk in Independence Square

Millennium Bridge

Moscow Bridge

Signs of Spring

Petrovic Castle  was a former royal residence of King Nikola in 1889.  

Now it is  the Center of Contemporary Art.

My favorites of the art was displayed.

Queen Jelena Petrovic Njegos (1873-1952) was Queen of Italy from 1900 until 1946 as wife of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. She was a Montenegrin princess as the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and his wife, Queen Milena.

Larry found a swing to take a break on.

Remains of a former Ottoman fortress known as Depedoigen  1474-1477 

Podgorica Clock Tower

Road trip to Budva, Montenegro

Sveti Stefan, Montenegro

Ancient Olive tree

Entering Kotor, Montenegro

Wall to the city going up the mountainside

Larry turned off the main road going through Kotor and found this lovely area for a picnic lunch.

We walked into the city center along Kotor Bay.

Chapel at the top of the mountain wall

"The World" Cruise Ship was docked into town. This is a full time live aboard ship that travels  the world. It sells rooms like condos to live in and travel the world. The rooms sell for $2 million to $15 million and do not include the monthly maintenance fees.

Entering the walled city of Kotor

Church of our Lady of Remedy, 1518

This place is like the setting of a fairy tale.

This walled city was full of cats...so I imagine there are no mice around.

The way to the mountain wall...a good two hour hike up and up.

Public Water devices

Narrow alleys

A view of Kotor from the narrow road that we took back to Podgorica.

This would have been an excellent motorcycle ride with all the twists and turns.

What stone walls!

Podgorica, Montenegro

The next day we walked through the old town of Podgorica....stopping at the Osmanagic Mosque. built in the 17th century.

We spotted some snow capped mountains on our walk around town.

 Old stone buildings from centuries ago, still residential homes.

We walked through the area of the remains from the Ottoman Empire.

At the mouth of the Ribnica River is an oldest refurbished bridge in Podgorica built in Roman times.

Spring wildflowers were abundant.

One day we journeyed an hour down the road heading to Ostrog Monastery.

What magnificent scenery!

We also drove up another incredibly twisty road.

Ostrog Monastery

Established in the 7th century and  renovated 1923-26

Looking down on some of the twists and turns.

What an unique structure built into the mountains!

Breathtaking views

Vivid paintings lined the walls and ceilings

Fabulous mosaic tiled pictures displayed on the rock walls

Larry had read about Ostrog before we came to Montenegro and he saved this visit as a little surprise for me. 

We had a fabulous day in an unbelievable place.

We returned our car and flew out of Podgorica Airport at 8:30 am with so many memories and experiences from a country that 

we had long wanted to visit.

Now we are off to Bucharest, Romania.