Category: Montenegro
A city a day keeps the wanderlust at bay...
20 DAYS. 20 CITIES. 6 COUNTRIES.
AUSTRIA • SLOVENIA • CROATIA • BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA • MONTENEGRO • ITALY
PART 6; DAYS 9 & 14: DON’T RAIN ON MY PARADE PARTS 2 & 3 - DRIZZLY DAYS IN TROGIR, CROATIA AND KOTOR, MONTENEGRO
When it rains, it pours. 😫 I thought I had used up a lifetime of getting soaked - having endured a 6-hour nightmare trek through a thunderstorm in one of Croatia's most breathtaking natural wonders, Plitvice Lakes National Park - but even after having sworn off the great outdoors my wet weather woes were far from over. 😠Now, I'm all for posting in chronological order but the thought of writing two separate posts on getting caught in the rain in two different countries gives me the chills - so today I'll recant Day 9 (Trogir, Croatia) and Day 14 (Kotor, Montenegro) just to get the showers out of my system. Like ripping off a bandaid all at once instead of peeling it back millimetre by millimetre. On the morning of the 9th day of my 20 Days in 20 Cities and 6 Countries road trip, I woke up in Hotel Jezero at dawn - without a cold, miraculously - and without even looking back I quickly revved the engine and set the coordinates to the Old Town of Split.
October 06, 2017
20 days of summer. 6 European countries. 15 cities and towns (19 if I visit all 5 towns in Cinque Terre). Inspired by this month's travel linkup - in which we writing wanderlusters discuss destinations as a starter (short haul), mains (a looong trip) and pudding (a destination that leaves a lasting impression) - today I share the itinerary for my upcoming trip: My 15-Course Travel ‘Tasting Menu’ across Austria, the Balkans, and Italy.
Ya'll should know by now that I am super extra. Like, "consolidate my 'save for later' online shopping purchases into a master Excel spreadsheet and picture collage" extra. Extra, extra! Read all about it! So when I picked up the updated edition of Tim Marshall's Prisoners of Geography I naturally devoured the book in 4 days. Then I re-read the Joe Sacco graphic novel The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo. Curious to fill in the hole that is my lack of understanding on world history (thanks a lot, Malaysian Sejarah syllabus. What were we taught about WWII? Literally only: the Japanese f*cked up our sh*t and then the Americans f*cked up their sh*t. The end. Whut) I did what any lazy person would - learn about it on YouTube. So after watching Feature History - Fall of Yugoslavia, I wound the clock back a World War and discovered that Franz Ferdinand is more than just an excellent rock band from Glasgow.
Thanks to this information black hole I've now got the Balkans on my mind. How does one go forward? The only way is Essex Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Oh, and throw in a bit of Austria and Italy too for good measure, why not? This summer I'm spending just under 3 weeks touring *deep breath* Vienna, Maribor, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Plitvice, Trogir, Split, Sarajevo, Mostar, Kotor, Budva, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Pisa. Here is the Itinerary for My Balkans 'Tasting Menu' ft. Austria and Italy.
August 01, 2017
SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND
Talk about topical - I've just spend the weekend helping my mother organise her jewellery and helping myself to some bits n' bobs. You're looking at the proud owner of a mother-of-pearl choker which I plan to wear, walk 10km, and mimic an Slowpoke cry in the hope that I'll evolve into Slowking (who else is loving Pokemon Go Gen 2?). Speaking of precious stones, this month's travel blogger linkup topic is "Hidden Gems", which I clearly jumped the gun on with this post back in October: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 3 Hidden Gems in Petaling Street. No matter! As the sky is full of stars so is the sea brimming with pearls of inspiration, of which I present My 4 Favourite Hidden Gems In Turquoise Seas.
Above: The crystalline waters of Cayo Largo, a Cuban jewel in the Caribbean ocean
March 05, 2017
The curtain closed on my week of Balkan So Hard adventures with a beautiful sunset in Kotor.
Fatigued by Porto Montenegro's rows of same-y looking yachts, supercars, and overpriced (but delicious!) restaurants that only expats and tourists could afford, H and I wanted a more 'real' experience of Montenegro. We took our most expensive cab ride yet---€15! I love this country!---and left behind the glossy glamour of the port for the old-world charms of the medieval city of Kotor.
June 23, 2013
On Monday morning, H nudged me awake."Wake up, Disney princess! BK texted. He's taking us for brunch. You have half an hour to get ready." Half an hour and a full face of makeup later I was still not quite awake. Grumbling, I dragged myself out the house cursing and wondering why BK couldn't just pick me up from the front door instead of making me walk down to Purobeach. And then I saw BK and H standing on a speedboat and thought, OK, fine, I'll forgive them this one time for making me walk down to the jetty. But still, they could've learnt a thing or two from The Wolfpack and landed the boat in the garden.
So we left Porto Montenegro and drove to the Bay Of Kotor.
June 22, 2013
Despite S insisting we forgo Purobeach for Almara Beach Club not one, but two days in a row I simply had to go, if only to see in person the iconic gazing man.
And he did not disappoint. Composed of alphabets I recognised (Chinese, Japanese, & Latin), transparent with his insides exposed---as I felt that day---and gazing perpetually at the horizon, his peaceful, stoic form encapsulated my loneliness, melancholy, yet perpetual optimism.
June 20, 2013
Every (party) animal, even on a quiet vacation, needs a watering hole. I think I've found the ONE. Quite literally.
June 18, 2013
Last Friday I reluctantly peeled myself off the floating bar in Almara Beach Club and dragged my dusty heels to a party of sorts at Lustica Bay. I had no idea what the event was for. I only vaguely remember hearing the words 'BMW---launch---canapes---champagne---golf---archery'. Archery! Alright then.
June 17, 2013
On Friday I expressed my desire to go to Purobeach. S, ever accommodating and in-the-know, rolled his eyes and said "Forget about that. We'll go somewhere with a better view." We bundled into a taxi---I called shotgun---and drove from Porto Montenegro to Oblatno beach, through winding mountain roads that yielded the most breathtaking sights, wide expanse of ocean and sweeping views of Kotor.
We arrived at Almara Beach Club, from here on referred to as Paradise.
June 16, 2013
I'm staying with a friend in Tivat, a tiny little coastal town in Montenegro, population 14,000. The kind of provincial paradise where you leave your doors unlocked and everyone knows each other by name. I also happen to walk out the house every morning singing Belle's song "Little town...it's a quiet village, everyday like the one before..." but that's just me, I'm a Disney princess on steroids.
Porto Montenegro is more or less my base for the week that I'm here. Enclosed 'within the walls' as the expats put it, it's a tiny but well-formed (that's what I said, hee hee) waterfront development and luxury yacht marina. A parking space for boaties bored of St Tropez and jaded by Monte Carlo, if you will. I predict hipsters with yachts all over Porto Montenegro wearing skinny jhorts and Instagramming their calamari lunch. By the way, my hashtags for Instagram are #BalkanSoHard and #ILiveToSerb. I'm very proud of that.
Thursday morning I dragged my pale London butt out of bed and stumbled ten meters out the door to the beach to join H for breakfast.
June 15, 2013
Yesterday afternoon I pulled up in Porto Montenegro. But not before a whole morning of drama; including a nearly missed flight to Croatia, my driver being an hour late, and no sleep since Monday morning.
June 13, 2013
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