What do Montenegro and Connecticut have in common? Based on my research, only two things. First, they're roughly the same size. Second, they both have cats. Other than that, they couldn't be more different. But that should give you a reference point. Montenegro is small. Being small has never prevented Eurostates from calling themselves countries (see Monaco, the Vatican, Andorra, Lichtenstein...) and Montenegro is no exception. Also like many small European countries, Montenegro has seen its fair share of strife throughout its history. It's on the Adriatic Sea, bordered by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, and Albania, mostly parts of what was formerly Yugoslavia:
So for most of the 19th/20th centuries, Montenegro was handed around depending on who won what war. Then 20 years ago it was involved in some pretty ugly skirmishes when Yugoslavia broke up. Finally, in 2006, it became its own country. At that point the Russians took over (one Croatian newspaper found that Russians own 40% of the land in Montenegro.)
Ok, enough history/geography/wikipedia. We skirted the coast in a mini-van, seeing Kotor Bay, the town of Kotor, and the historic (now Russian resort) town of Budva. Kotor was by far the most impressive.
The busride alone had some great vistas and gave us a few chances to hop out and snap some pics:
But the town at the tip of the bay, Kotor, is amazing. It's tucked up against fjord-like mountains that shoot up from the bay:
And of course it has a charming little walled-in old town with winding streets and historic churches:
But as if the steep imposing mountains didn't provide enough protection, centuries ago city dwellers built a fort, walls, and towers up the cliffs. Climbing them (in 100-degree weather) was probably only marginally easier than building them, but the views were worth it:
And of course, even after building all these fortresses, they couldn't keep out the cats!
