Good morning Montenegro

Most people can’t even find Montenegro on a map. It’s wedged between Croatia’s Dalmatian swagger and Albania’s defiant edges, trying to find an identity of its own.

This morning I woke up in Kotor, a lovely town at the foot of Mount Lovcen. It’s jagged, raw and stunningly beautiful. The view from the high rise reminds me of the fjords of Norway.

The town of Kotor, Montenegro.

Montenegro almost had its fifteen minutes of fame in the movie “Casino Royale” from 2006, where James Bond (Daniel Craig) visits a picturesque town in “Montenegro”. But unfortunately no scenes were actually shot in the country. The town depicted on screen was in fact Loket southeast of Prague, and the “Hotel Splendide” visited by Bond and Vesper can be found in the town of Karlovy Vary in western Czechia, with real name Grandhotel Pupp.

The country did however manage to get a bit of Bond feeling when Pierce Brosnan shot a few scenes of his latest movie “November Man” in the towns Perast and Herceg Novi last year.

Deserted alley in Kotor.

The old town of Kotor is a slab of Venetian leftovers with narrow alleys and shuttered windows, time-stained walls telling tales in Latin and gunpowder. Cats rule this place like furry little mafia dons, slinking through archways and perching on thrones of sun-warmed marble. No one questions their authority. You don’t argue with the locals here, not the human ones either.

I roam the tiny streets and wonder why nobody seems to speak of this country. Even though Montenegro brings in three times as many visitors as it’s total population every year, their neighbor Croatia has a much larger visitor count despite being more expensive.

One would almost think that all this secrecy was made on purpose to keep the hordes of tourists away. To let them all perish in the crowds of Dubrovnik while the people of Montenegro can enjoy their beautiful country on their own. Whatever the reason, I’m happy to be here without the crowds.