Up early for our drive to rugged and rocky Montenegro aptly named Republic Crna Gora (Black Mountain). The population today is about 662,000. So many nations have planted their flag in its ground! Venetians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Illyrian Provinces and Russian czars! What a lot of history. As a result their alphabet is Cyrillic and Roman. They mostly speak Serbian. There are Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches all over. I am so glad our guide, Roman is driving and is Croatian. His expertise got us through the borders with ease.

We drove to view St. Stefan Island and photographed the exclusive luxury hotel that now makes up the island. ($1000.00 a night) Once it was a real town but was abandoned after WW II. In the 1950's the Yugoslav government developed it into the hotel it is today. The old homes became converted hotel rooms. Only a narrow, natural causeway connects it to the mainland. Only their guests may enter.

From there we headed by van to Budva another fortress town about 30 minutes south of Kotor! Budva's history dates back to the 5th century. There is a venetian bell tower there and many cafe and tree-lined narrow roads.

We drove back north to the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro's steep and secluded bay and checked into a fabulous, grand finale hotel hosted by PWA - Bella Duomo! Wow! This wonderful hotel is located right within the city walls. We became part of the city! We dined at a fantastic restaurant for our Farewell Dinner - Astoria Restaurant. As we dined a violinist played beautifully and I heard not one mistake! I had eggplant parmesan and chocolate volcano cake that was over the top! Steve enjoyed a seafood medley.

What a wonderful night. (Photos of Kotor and the Bella Duomo Hotel are on the next page. Below are views of St. Stefan Island)