Forty-Fourth Post From Türkiye: 2016 Spring Break: Montenegro & Croatia

Our last two countries were probably Merry's favorites. While they don't have the wild mountain scenery of BiH or Albania, Montenegro and Croatia make up for it with rocky coasts studded with little medieval towns that once belonged to the Venetian Empire.

Montenegro
Montengegro (Crna Gora, 'Black Mountain') is a little bit of jagged mountains, and a little bit of coastline. If the roads passing through it to Croatia weren't so twisty, you might almost blink and miss it. However, it was the one country on our trip where I thought I would like to own a summer residence (after I rake in that first 20 million). It's very much like Croatia, except not as overrun by tourists, and has a slightly neglected look.

Do those mountains look black to you?

Sveti Stefan, once an actual town, then an exclusive resort for the uber-rich, and now just a town-sized hotel.

                                                               

Kotor

Kotor is one of the gems of the Montenegrin coast. It's an old Venetian city, with crazily steep walls, and picturesque churches.

There's the Venetian lion, and walls too insanely steep to climb.

Cathedral of St. Tryphon

You can't escape Harry Potter, even in Montenegro. I guess Voldemort did hide out in neighboring Albania.

Trum trying to draw water with the old pump.

St, Luke's

A giant bench or a shrunken Truman?

                                                                      Perast

After leaving Kotor we took the winding road around the Bay of Kotor, with a stop in the town of Perast.

The Islands of St. George and Our Lady of the Rocks

St. Nicholas'

Croatia

Finally back to Croatia. Last spring break we visited the lest-touristy part of the country, but decided to see what all the hubbub was about Dubrovnik. Admittedly, a very beautiful, postcard-worthy joint...if you could only eliminate the tourist hordes.

Merry pulled to the side of the road, and I risked life and limb crossing it to take this picture.

Stairs in the old town are just a little steep.

St. Blaise's Church

The Pile gate

Onofrio's Little Fountain

The Stradun at Dusk

The Clock Tower

The Sponza Palace

The walls are Dubrovnik's best site. Unsurprisingly, given their massive size and the city's place on a rocky cliff, it was never attacked.

A couple of lizards hanging out on the city wall.

I thought about diving off this cliff for a swim..

Starting to think you're in Italy?

I made these two get in this picture.

Seafood risotto if you please,

This trip was done at a fairly speedy clip, but it was still pretty relaxing. The main attractions were the natural beauty, the diverse cultures, and the few remnants of days gone by. We didn't kill ourselves with museums, but saw an awful lot just walking the streets and driving through the countryside. Not only was this trip the completion of our Balkan odyssey, we have now visited 12 of the world's 13 Slavic-majority countries (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bulgaria).Watch out Belarus, you're next!