Exploring Kotor, Budva & Perast

Wet Start at Kotor

I woke at 0700 to more rain, thunder and lightning. I looked out the door and the weather was like the end of the world. I curled back into bed and wrote the day off. I told myself that the things I had planned are really “more of the same”; not too different from Kotor, Split or Dubrovnik.

But by 0900, the sun was out. I decided to execute the places in my plan but I didn’t really have the order decided so I let my feet take me. To get anywhere I had to walk past the old town; it looked so beautiful in the sunshine which I had not seen yesterday. I re-walked the city wall and the marble cobbled streets and squares.

I thought the city would be quite a spectacle from the hillside fortress in this gorgeous sunshine, so I paid the fee to go up. I didn’t want to break out into too much of a sweat at the start of my day and got up only high enough to take some good pictures. For sure, the scenery was beautiful and I made the right choice of not coming up yesterday afternoon when the light was dull.

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: Square at Kotor’s main city gate.

: Square at Kotor’s main city gate.

: Boat with a boat and helicopter in Kotor’s

: Around Kotor’s old town.

: View from Kotor’s city wall.

: View from Kotor’s city wall.

: View from Kotor’s city wall. As you can see, back here, things are natural rather than well-manicured for tourists.

: Panorama from the walk up to Kotor’s city wall.

: View from the walk up to Kotor’s city wall.

Budva

At Kotor’s bus station I managed to hop on the bus departing to Budva straight away. Approaching Budva, the beautiful turquoise bay I saw yesterday had become brown from the runoff from the rain. It extended quite a way out before regaining the turquoise.

A pitstop was necessary after hopping off the bus. The first place turned out to have the best club sandwich I’ve ever had. From there, it felt like a long hot walk into Budva’s old town. It’s quite a large built up town and buzzing with tourists and beach-goers. I’m so glad I didn’t stay here.

The old town, as I thought, was like any other on the Dalmatian coast. If anything, the streets here were narrow and had less interesting buildings than Kotor’s old town.

Walking back to the station, I came across a dive kiosk. While I knew about the wreck dives here, I didn’t expect it to be as reasonable as EUR75 for two dives including all equipment. I don’t really have enough time. Pity.

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: Beautiful blue sea at Budva.

: Beautiful blue sea at Budva.

: Beautiful blue sea at Budva.

: Budva is filled with holiday-makers; too many for my liking. I don’t do crowded beaches.

: This couple was very far out in the water at Budva. I wanted to check whether my simple point-and-shoot camera can serve as a paparazzi camera. Sure enough, it can! Do you know them? Are they celebrities?

: Budva is filled with holiday-makers; too many for my liking. I don’t do crowded beaches.

: Budva’s old town.

: Beautiful blue sea at Budva.

: Budva’s old town.

Perast

Back at Budva’s station, I once again managed to get a bus immediately to my destination, which is now Perast (a little beyond Kotor). Perast is much smaller and doesn’t appear to have a station; I was let off on the roadside and walked down the slope to the old town which was built along a narrow strip between the hill and the water.

As I started to wander around, I noticed a large boat moored in the town. Upon enquiry, it was leaving back for Kotor in 10 minutes. I told myself that Perast is much like the other Venetian towns of the Dalmatian coast. I’d get a better and different experience on a cruise back than from exploring yet another town. The 45min cruise cost EUR5 and was very relaxing.

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