Montenegro A Border Crossing and Rain Torrents

Today was a real adventure! We headed out at 8:00 this morning on the optional tour to Montenegro. Everything was going along just fine until we stopped at the border. The first check point was the Croatia exit. With the new immigration system we had to “leave” the EU. Everyone needed to scan their passport and have their picture taken again. The 15 Canadians finished easily. The problem was the bus and the operator. Our original transportation (mini bus) was in an accident the night before and was not available. There was along delay in the release of the bus. It was finally resolved with the payment of a fine. The crossing into Montenegro went faster. It was finally resolved 2.5 hours after we first arrived there. Needless to say we missed parts of the tour because of the shortened time available. We picked up our new guide and spent the next few hours touring the Kotor area.

Kotor is at the end of a very extensive “fiord”. The walls of the fiord were not steep but the water area was very extensive. There were 3 cruise ships anchored in the city so again just like yesterday it was overrun by visitors. The Viking ship was the same one that we saw yesterday. The tour included a boat ride to an island church and then a walk along the city streets. Because of the border delay we needed to get to our lunch location quickly. After lunch we had a mini look at the older parts of the city and our guide did an excellent job of pointing out the various buildings.

The only drawback other than the border delay was the very heavy downpours that continued all day. Some of the storms were extremely heavy! We managed and headed back to Dubrovnik. This time there was only a minimal delay at the border as we were scanned fingerprinted and photoed again as we entered the EU. Another adventure in the books. We are on the move north tomorrow.