Even though we were beyond disappointed to miss out on our day in Istanbul, we were thrilled that we still made it in plenty of time for our day trip across the border to Montenegro.

We definitley slept very well, and got up in time to enjoy breakfast at our hotel, which was included in the cost of our stay. That is always nice and convenient especially when having to catch an early tour.

Our guide (who was also our driver) was so much fun and it was a super small group, only 4 other people for a total of 6 of us on this short but sweet day trip.

It was a little less than an hour to the border, and luckily there was no line so crossing into this country was fairly easy. We got across at about 8:30am. We stopped at a service station to use the restroom and grab some snacks and then proceeded to our first stop in Perast.

The big thing in Perast is the man-made island with the Our Lady of The Rocks Church. It was a short boat ride over the the island where we were able to enjoy the stunning views of the water, the mainland, and the architecture of the church. After the island we took a very quick walk through the part of town situated on the water. There were cute hotels and restaurants that must have been amazing to stay and eat at because the water and landscape was gorgeous.

It was still quite early in the morning when we made it to our favorite part of Montenegro: the city of Kotor. Kotor was much like Dubrovnik in that the old town is enclosed within walls. It is really like walking into another century when entering this old town. We walked around for a bit enjoying the unique architecture and taking pics with the stunning mountains in the background.

My favorite part about Kotor was the cats. There were cats EVERYWHERE but they are revered and respected. Back when the plague came to Europe, the cats saved the city by helping get of the rats that brought disease. Kotor is also an area with many earthquakes, and they found out that the cats would start acting noticeably weird and/or crazy before an earthquake would hit. This would give people time to find shelter and protrect themselves before the shaking started. So yes, the cats are just out walking around, but they are well-fed and well taken care of. We were even able to to pet them, all were friendly. All of the souvenir shops were all about cat merchandise, with some stores even selling cat themed items only. We ended up getting a very unique hand-painted cat mask to add to our collection, and enjoyed seeing the healthy cats walking around the city. So you do not think of Kotor without thinking of the cats of Kotor.

We spent the most time here within the city and even walked up onto the walls to enjoy some ariel views and closer look at the mountains. After this stop our guide was nice enough to take us on a little detour drive up the mountain to an unbelievable look out point over the city and the water. There was actually a HUGE cruise ship docked there at the time too. But it was so amazing to this part of Montenegro from such a cool view. From there, we headed further into the country to the city of Budva.

Budva also had an old town, but was a bit underwhelming compared to how big and unique Kotor was. Not to say it was not cool, Kotor just blew us away. Budva had a "new town" area in addition to the old town. Here they were building up clubs, casinos, and tall hotels to support the high level of tourism they get. So parts of this city were much more modern. There were also sandy beaches where people were out sunbathing and enjoying the beautiful weather.

By this time, we were more than ready for lunch, and our guide recomended this nice place on the water, but the food was not appetizing, so our little group just got some drinks to enjoy the view for a bit then split off to explore the city with the short time we had left. Jaime and I each ended up getting a delicious slice of pizza at a little stand inside the old town.

It was mid-afternoon at this point, so as we met up back at our van, it was time to head back to Dubrovnik. The way back was much quicker because instead of driving along the coast the whole way as we did on the way in, we caught a ferry and cut off a lot of driving time. We got back into Croatia early evening and had time to stop at another lookout point for a cool view of old town Dubrovnik and Lokrum Island before being dropped off at our hotel.

Our tour group also met up as Thursday was the official start of the trip we booked. We were just a tad late meeting up with them, but we had left a note with the front desk of the hotel, so our guide knew we would arrive that evening.

We had to deal with some logistics, insurance info and such with our guide, and we went around to introduce ourselves and what brought us to Croatia. There were 7 people total in our group, plus our tour guide which made 8 of us. It was a perfect size, and we all got along really well. We enjoyed a group dinner at a local place recomended by our guide. Our guides name was Ivance (pronounced EE-VANCH-AY).

All in our group were around our age (mid 30s-early 40s). There were 2 guys other than Jaime, both from England: Stu and Faisel. And then 3 girls, 2 were also from England: Charlotte and Emma, and the only other person from the US on our trip, Kristen who was from Colorado. Ivance was born in Bosnia, but currently living in Croatia. A very cool mix of people from different places. We had a great time getting to know them throughout our very fun and action-packed journey.

At our first group meeting we found out that all but one other person also experience flight delays/cancellation in trying to get to Dubrovnik. Needless to say, we were all very excited to finally be there together.

The next day was a day in Dubrovnik, so we were very happy to not have to go very far to experience our first official day of the trip. We had just gone from Los Angeles, to a layover in Munich, to Dubrovnik to Montenegro and back to Dubrovnik in the course of just over a day so it was nice to stay put in the same city. Although the following day did include a crazy amount of walking. It was just nice to not have to sit in a car or a plane for an extended amount of time. More on our long but very memorable and awesome day in Dubrovnik in my next entry.

Until then, enjoy the pictures from Montenegro in the photo album "A day in Montenegro."