Montenegro
Montenegro is located on the southern part of the Adriatic coast. It is known for its stunning scenery with steep awesome mountains split to reveal deep canyons with rushing blue water. The coastline is edged with hundreds of beaches and coves and backed by a lush, forested interior still intact natural habitat for bears and rare birds. The sea is a crystal clear green with a visibility over 50 meters, unique even for the Adriatic.
Geographically and historically, Montenegro divides easily into two: the coastal strip and the interior. Apart from Ulcinj, which for centuries was under Turkish rule, all the coastal town were occupied and ruled by the Venetians, whose influence has left its mark on these towns' architecture and culture. The Montenegrins' centuries long resistance to Turkish rule and their desire for independence is best illustrated in the epic poems of the nineteenth - century Montenegrin ruler Petar Njegos II.
From Byron onwards, many notables in the British establishment were inspired by nascent nationalism of the south Slav peoples Montenegrins in particular, who projected a romantic image of brave fighters in picturesque national costume fighting for their freedom.
Sailing Holidays
Skippered yachts and bare boat charter
Our partner in Montenegro is the Montenegro Charter Company, the first organization to offer sailing holidays in Montenegro .
At present, their fleet consists of 5 sailing boats, 1 catamaran and 2 motor boats. Those who love to sail have at their disposal a prestigious class of 5 completely new sailing boats: Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 54 DS, Sun Odyssey 45, 2 x Elan Impression 434 and Elan Impression 344. For catamaran fans we offer sailing on a French catamaran beauty Nautitech 47. In this the first season, the motor boat fans have a small yet interesting selection, the new Jeanneau Prestige 46 Fly and a small, open type motor boat P22, designed for daily fun and sea tricks.
All vessels are exceptionally well equipped ,and completely new, made in the year 2006. Our base is located in the Kotor town marina, offering with its position on the very tail of the Kotor bay a strategically exceptionally interesting starting-point for sailing and appreciating the famous Montenegro landscape. The base can be reached in less than 30 minutes' drive from the airport in Tivat or one hour from Dubrovnik.
Fly drive
Road to Montenegro
From Dubrovnik you can enter Montenegro by crossing the border at Debeli Brijeg and drive to Herceg-Novi. From here the main road cuts northeast along the side of the Gulf to Kamenari where a ferry shuttle crosses a narrow neck of water to Lepetane for the faster route to Kotor town.
Bypassed by the ferry, the road round the back of the Gulf carries little traffic and is a spectacular trip through a string of hamlets perched nervously between titanic mountains and the sea. Risan, the first settlement was the one-time capital of the Illyrians.
Perast
A short distance from Risan sits Perast, one of the loveliest places in Montenegro and under Venetian control for nearly 400 years. The houses that run by the waterside are toy town Venetian Gothic, with a homely grandeur that is the residue of a magnificent past.
For nearly half a millennium Perast was the muscle of Adriatic maritime strength, holding forth against repeated Turkish attacks when the rest of the Gulf had fallen.
The sailors of Venice and later Russia came to the nautical school here and learned the skills of Perasts' mariners; its cartographers charted the coasts; its navigators steered the Venetian fleet at Lepanto and its engineers designed ports in the Baltic.
Eventually earthquakes and age took away Perast's preeminence and left it to a graceful retirement. Down on the seafront, captains' houses look confidently out to the entrance of the Gulf, and over the red tiled roofs the mountains ring the tranquil sea.
Perast is picturesque in the full sense of the word. You can see all of Perast in an hour or so, but you'll probably want to stay longer.
Kotor
Tucked away at the end of the Gulf the town of Kotor sticks determinedly to the steep sides of Mount Lovcen, in one of the most dramatic settings in all of the Mediterranean.
First colonised by the Greeks, Kotor flourished from the twelfth century as the chief port of the Serbian state of Raska though the town was very much an independent commune whose commercial power came to rival that of Dubrovnik.
The golden years didn't last long, for the town's position was undermined by the Turkish conquests of the fifteenth century and Kotor was forced to seek the protection of Venice in 1420 - beginning a long and slow decline punctuated by siege, earthquake and plague.
Kotor's old town spreads out along the side of the Gulf behind its west wall, a confusion of twisting streets and tiny squares framed by a mountain slope, where the thin line of the east wall zig-zags up to an apex at the fortress of Sv Ivan.
Most of what you see today is Venetian and dates from the fifteenth century - though the ramparts were started by the Byzantines some six centuries earlier. Inside, the central square is surrounded by a number of historic buildings including the Rector's Palace, the Town Hall and Tower Clock
Drive From Kotor to Cetinje
Scaling the heady slopes of Mt Lovcen the trip from Kotor town to Cetinje is one of the most magnificent in Europe.Looking at the mountain it seems impossible that a road could exist. It 's a slow crawl, the road winding through dozens of hairpins as the air thins and cools.
Below, the gulf spreads out in picture-book clarity, Kotor just a blip at the foot of the mountainside - a superb view that's worth the assault on the nerves as you drive up this high and narrow mountain road. At about 1000 m the road runs through the Lovcen pass and suddenly you're in the karst. Local legend has it that at the Creation, God was flying over the Balkans with a huge sack of stones; the Devil crept up behind and slit the sack open, and what fell out was Montenegro.
If the idea of driving up Mt Lovcen hairpin bends terrifies you can get to Cetinje by taking a less dizzy and quicker route via Budva
Cetinje - Capital city of Montenegro
Surrounded by frozen limestone peaks and engulfed by snow for up to five months per year, the town of Cetinje sits in an isolated valley of alpine beauty - green fields, apple-crumble rocks and clipped woods. Noted for its museums which chronicle the turbulent history of the Montenegrins.
Founded in 1482 by South Slav clans in retreat from the advancing Turks, the true history of early Cetinje was obscured by nineteenth-century Slav nationalists - encouraged by that time contemporary kings of Montenegro - who were keen to foster the myth of unconquerable Montenegrin's clans
In fact the Turks conquered the region in 1499 but made little effort to keep control of it. The clans unifying force was the Orthodox church whose bishops, based in the monastery of Cetinje, took over what little government there was in 1516. Nevertheless, Cetinje was to have a major political influence that far out weighted its economic and territorial significance, for the last stages of the decline of the Ottoman state coincided with the rise of Slav nationalism. As the Slavs cast around for symbols of independence they stumbled upon Cetinje with its ready-made dynasty of Prince-Bishops.
It was the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 that added the strip of coast from Bar to Ulcinj to Monenegro.Subsequently,the country was occupied by the Austro-Hungarians and in 1916, Montenegro was forced into the kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Cetinje - Places of interest
Biljarda residence takes its name from the billiard table that was dragged up here from Kotor at great effort and expense by the order of Cetinie's most famous ruler, Petar Njegos II (1803 [-]1851).
Petar was in every respect a remarkable man. six foot eight inches tall and stunningly good-looking, he was not only a successful secular and religious ruler but diplomat and poet of distinction and he greatly admired the French Romantics. Among several major works he produced was the greatest epic poem of Montenegro entitled The Mountain Wreath. He also spoke French, German, Russian and Latin, and read the literature, philosophy and jurisprudence of these languages in the original). He died young at the age of 48.
Considering Petar was such an extraordinary man, the exhibits in the Biljarda are a disappointment: most of the rooms of the museum are filled with incidental bric-a-brac from his life and administration including pictures and portraits, the famous billiard table, and a selection of his reading material which is still on display in the old Library.
In a large glass pavilion attached to the side of the Biljarda, the huge relief map of Montenegro was constructed by officers of the occupying Austrian army in 1917. Part of an intelligence-gathering exercise, the map shows just how mountainous Montengro really is.
Behind the Bijarda is the Monastery of Cetinje which was built by the founder of the Njegos dynasty, Prince-Bishop Danilo, in 1701. Part church, part fortress and part munitions store ( in the best of Monenegrin tradition), the monastery buildings housed a rudimentary administration under the aegis of Danilo and his successors, who fused together the functions of state and church to forge a dynasty of theocratic rulers.
A small cruciform chapel contains the tombs of Njegos notables, including Prince Danilo and Petar I, the uncle of the celebrated poet - king. It also contains a gospel dating from 1493,the Octoich of the First Voice, the most important religious book published just eighteen years after Caxton's Histories of Troy, it is one of the oldest printed books in existence and certainly among the first ever printed in a Slav language.
Accommodation
Kotor - Hotel Splendido ****
A hotel with character offering quality and good standard of service. It is located in the former palace of a prominent 18th century seafarer, Captain Lukovic. The hotel is named after the vessel called 'Splendido' which was the first ship to circumnavigate the world from Kotor. The hotel enjoys a marvelous seafront location and is only 5 minutes bus ride to Kotor town.
Rooms : 40 air-conditioned twin or double rooms with shower, w.c, hairdryer, safe, mini-bar, cable TV and telephone. Bedrooms are tastefully furnished and most have lovely views of Kotor Bay.
Facilities : air-conditioned restaurant serving buffet breakfast and dinner aperitif bar and terrace Snack bar. Heated outdoor seawater swimming pool, sun terrace, sunbeds and umbrellas. Small private pebble beach. Pleasant garden.
Sveti Stefan ***
A picturesque island hotel connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway branching out into two sandy beaches. This former fishermen's settlement whose inhabitants' stone houses dating back to the fifteenth and sixteenth century, were converted with great care into a unique tourist complex in Europe by skilful workmanship of traditional stonemason preserving the village original features.
Rooms: 101 double rooms and 16 suites with bath, wc, telephone, cable TV and mini-bar. Some rooms have air-conditioning. However, rooms are modestly furnished and reflect the rustic charm of traditional Montenegro.
Facilities: Attractive a la carte restaurant.Two aperitif bars and lounge. Outdoor seawater swimming pool. Magnificent private beach with sunbeds and umbrellas. Hairdresser. Casino. Watersports
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