Montenegro map, Budva road choice

Budva or Vertical Mountain Road
Choose Budva If On Your Own

Choosing the longer route, reluctantly. It is easy to take a junket from Dubrovnik, Croatia, to see this beautiful neighboring country. See map at www.jazztour.ru/images/montenegro/montenegro_map_new. Spend a night Cavtat, Croatia; then drive on around Bay of Kotor to Kotor itself.

You can see some of the old curtain walls going up the mountainside, additional defense. Also, note the palm trees in Kotor. Unexpected, but we understand the bowl formed by the mountains moderates the climate. Is that so?



Kotor, Montenegro, Mountains












Then look again at the surroundings, and the map to find Cetinje, the next stop.

We had two choices after Kotor:

a) the vertical snaking-looking road up through mountains to Cetinje, the old capital. Or,

b) the conservative and coastal road to old beachy Budva first, with the castle, then on more of a level road around to Cetinje.

There is a time for even the Car-Dan Tour Company to be Conservative. Reluctantly. Geography rules. So we went the long way, the scenic old Budva walled city way.

And, looking at the maps, no wonder the Montenegrins moved their capital down from Cetinje in the high karst mountains, to the levels at Podgorice, on the level road way to Cetinje.

Looks very industrial, lots of smokestacks. Accessible. But the new capital over there can have none of the patina, the faded grande dame mystique of Cetinje.

Just business. Next trip, maybe, up we go, over the top, very slowly.