Montenegro

The next day after our trip to Bosnia we headed south a couple hours to Montenegro. It was the only morning of our eighteen day trip that started out rainy and the rain appeared to be wanting to continue all day. There was a long (45 minute) wait at the border. We obviously enjoyed it because barely 10 kilometers down the road after getting gas (and forgetting how I had turned in to the station) we (I) turned and headed back north the way we had just come. And of course 10 kilometers up the road the traffic came to a halt. For the first 20 minutes we thought it was just a traffic hold up of some random sort until we came around the corner and saw the border station. Was it the rain, the congested traffic, an urgent need to find a WC after the 45 min wait, the chocolate chip cookies I had just bought, or the fact I'm 66? Hard to say! Probably at this point everything played a part.

Our objective was to get to and then drive around the Bay of Kotor. We wanted for sure to see Perast. We weren't so sure about Kotor. Kotor has become a favorite destination for cruise ships and as Dubrovnick very, very congested with tourists. In the end with the weather (though the sun did come out) with the waiting times at the border and the general congestion on the one highway, we took our time in Perast and then headed back to Croatia. One of our objectives by driving is to try and stay away from where all the (non local) tourists congregate in mass. Dubrovnik even in early May (on the evening before) was already too crowded. From the distance we could see the cruise ships in Kotor. We were also waiting in line at the border with numerous tour buses coming from Dubrovnik on their way to Kotor. Whereas the credentials of each car were verified in a manner of seconds, each tour bus took much, much longer (sometimes 5 - 8 minutes).

In Perast we took a short boat ride to a small island and the Church of Our Lady of the Rocks.