Montenegro

THE CITY OF CATS
We were up early to catch a taxi to the Tirana bus station and eventually boarded the bus bound for Montenegro, via Podgorica and then the stunning capital city, Kotor - also known as the city of cats. Kotor is one of the most beautiful walled cities I've ever seen, smaller than Dubrovnik but big enough to get lost in for a little bit. Lots of nice courtyards with appealing restaurants and shops and some lovely churches. Lily and Seb had fun playing with the numerous cats wandering all around the place and even tried talking me into buying a kitten.

Seb & Lily playing with kittens in Kotor

Kotor from the top of the old fort trail

We stayed at the Kotor Old Town Hostel just inside the entrance to the old town and easy walking distance from the bus station. The hostel is in a rustic 13th century stone building and had recently been refurbished. It's an excellent location with a tourist desk next door and plenty of restaurant options right around the corner. We wandered around the narrow alleys and stunning courtyards for the afternoon and stopped for pizza and ice cream.

A DAY OUT AND ABOUT
We took a day tour of Montenegro with a bunch of other like minded tourists out of the city and around the bay of Kotor taking in sights like 'Our Lady of the Rocks' (a small lighthouse in the middle of the bay), Slano lake and the beautiful Piva Monastery.

Our Lady of the Rocks - Seb, Lily, me, Glen & Ale

ZIPLINING IN PLUZINEAfter Piva Monastery was the highlight of the day - a monstrous zipline over Pliva Lake. Both kids were brave enough to take it on and loved it. It was a thrilling was to end the afternoon before starting out for Ostrog Monastery.  We would never make it there though. The tour van broke down several times and we were losing precious daylight at the driver tried without luck to get it fixed properly.  We had to abandon the monastery and head back to Montenegro, hours behind schedule.  The silver lining after all the waiting was that the tour company generously reimbursed the full price of the tour for all five of us.

Viaduct over Pliva Lake.

The zipline group

Montenegro was a surprise.  Next on the list was Croatia and the city of Dubrovnik!