"Welcome to Hotel Kangaroo!"

Yes, Budva, the tourist friendly beach side town of Montenegro has a Hotel Kangaroo, owned by some Montenegren who lived for awhile in Perth, Australia . 

After a long day of travel winding through Albanian then Montenegren mountains, with spectacular forest and ocean views, we arrived at our accommodation for the night.

Montenegro, once part of the Yugoslav federation has had full independence since 2006, making it one of the newest countries in the world. It has a rugged picture perfect coastline with gorgeous blue clear water, plenty of expensive looking yachts calling in for visits, and wonderful cheap food and wine.

Our room had a balcony and a clothes line, so it was an immediate need to hand wash some clothes so they could get some late afternoon sun and hopefully dry. Most stops on this trip are “one-nighters” which makes it very hard to get washing done and dried. We were ready to go out at the designated time and Damo our guide walked the group along the picturesque waterfront, packed with hopeful but slightly forlorn looking empty table and chairs (still not “The Season”” yet) . We found a lovely but inexpensive restaurant and shared a table and wine with others from our tour. Then Damo led the way to a bar to sample some of Budva's famed nightlife. We all went, but by 1.30am we and a few others had wandered back to Hotel Kangaroo, just leaving a few of the “stayers” to head off to a night club.

Next morning our first stop was to see Kotor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Getting there early we missed the crowds and all had a great time wandering around the labyrinth lanes of the living walled city. Something which is always pleasing in this part of Europe is that the old cities are still inhabited and the usual commercial businesses still carry on regardless of heritage status and the difficulty of living and working with tourists gawking. Kotor is wedged between high forested mountains and has a gorgeous bay in front.  

It was back on the bus with a bag of fresh strawberries. I think they rate as the best we can ever remembering eating and at a cost of only 2 euros for about 750 grams, an absolute bargain.

Next stop Croatia.

Footnote: Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor is UNESCO World Heritage listed.