12. Montenegro: What a delight until...!

26 July 2026

We zig-zag back across the Adriatic overnight, arriving in Kotor, Montenegro in the early morning. We had to get up very early because the way into the city was spectacular and we did not want to miss it. Fjord-like, the high rock walls of a sunken river valley sometime during or after the last ice age provides us with spectacular views.

An absolutely monstrous ship, the P&O Azura, is shadowing us and anchors not too far away from us. We are using the ship's tenders and some that are being sent out from Kotor this morning to get us quickly off the ship and onto our tours.

Our tour takes us out of Kotor to the seaside resort town of Budva. Like every place we have visited along this coast, there is an old fortified town on the seafront. The walk from the bus to the old town takes about 20 minutes (taking into account the slow coaches in our group) along the waterfront where plenty of tourist boats are tied up. We reach the small old town but before we enter the tiny streets, our attention is drawn to the Roman-era Necropolis was found when nearby Hotel Avala was excavating its foundations between 1936 and 1938.

We can all say that each old town looks the same as the one before, but this one has had its fair share of disasters. On 16 April 1979, this area was hit by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, which was followed by up to 90 aftershocks. Budva's Old Town was hit hard and of the 400 buildings in the town, only 8 escaped unscathed. The 15th century walls surrounding the town were also badly damaged. Montenegro was under the umbrella of Yugoslavia at the time and there was little money to repair and restore the damage. Despite this, by 1984, much of the restoration work was underway and today, apart from a huge crack along the back of the Orthodox Church, we would not be aware that such a catastrophic event took place. This is really a tiny town and I am glad we are here early as we have a good opportunity to explore. The Archaeological Museum is within the walls and we go into the tiny museum to view the artifacts from Greek, Roman and Venetian times. There is a partial mosaic, which has been uncovered and is now displayed on the wall of the museum. A sea monster, dolphins and more have been found and pieced together. Amphora and other artifacts adorn this museum. We have some free time to explore the town, and we find the heat oppressive in the tiny space, although I do find time to pop into a couple of local souvenir stores, the only shops apart from cafes, that can open on a Sunday.

On our way back to the bus, we are given lunch, a sandwich and a glass of wine in one of the many restaurants on the shore, and we enjoy the hospitality of the locals. Some people complained about the quality of the wine. It shows I know nothing about wine because I rather enjoyed it, stating that if it doesn't taste like vinegar, it is OK.

We return to Kotor and have a quick whizz around the old town before having a coffee just outside the walls. That is our big mistake. Whilst we are in the old town another huge ship has slipped into the port. Unlike us, this MSC ship has thousands of passengers, who are currently streaming down the multiple gangways like a swarm of ants. Additionally, the passengers returning to the P&O and our ships are in a queue, which has snaked around the pier area. There are thousands of people trying to get to places, in and out of ships and it is chaos there.

It's time for us to join the queue and return to our ship.