Montenegro’s rough beauty stuns visitors

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This article was published 18/10/2003 (8189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SVETI STEFAN, Serbia-Montenegro — Montenegrins like to call their tiny republic the jewel of the Adriatic. Visitors are often stunned by its rough beauty, but say the diamond needs cutting.

Much of Montenegro’s allure comes from its shining mix of colours: aquamarine waters, green pine-forested mountains, blazing blue skies and white pebble beaches.

The sights of this small Balkan republic at the southern corner of the Adriatic Sea are best when seen from a plane landing at the seaside airport of Tivat.

But once on the ground, visitors can be put off by narrow, bumpy and winding roads lined with garbage dumps. Most hotels are old and decayed by years of neglect, and many private houses dotting the spectacular landscape are cement grey and unfinished.

“Nature has done wonders here,” said Brian Ball of Dorset, England, during a recent vacation. “But what people did to the nature is not so nice.”

Even so, tourism is growing in Montenegro after a decade of Balkan wars in the 1990s slowed the stream of visitors to a trickle.

Although most tourists still come from neighbouring Serbia, the much-bigger republic that with Montenegro forms a union, the dazzling scenery draws visitors from Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Many are drawn by the stony peaks — still covered in snow as late as May — that abruptly give way to the sparkling blue Adriatic.

Sveti Stefan, a tiny peninsula whose sun-bleached limestone homes were turned from a fishing village to a luxury hotel complex in the 1960s, is a summer mecca for the rich and famous who like to see and be seen.

Its 15th-century stone walls, narrow streets and tiny church destroyed by an earthquake in 1979 were carefully reconstructed bit by bit. Today, red tile roofs shimmer in the sunlight with oleander, bougainvillea and palms providing green and shade.

Next door is Budva, Montenegro’s most popular beach resort, featuring a quaint, stonewalled Old Town with a warren of little lanes lined with shops and restaurants buzzing with activity.

With intact city walls, narrow streets and seaside locale, Budva can seem like a vest-pocket version of Dubrovnik, the renowned Croatian resort on the border with Montenegro. But it lacks Dubrovnik’s air of cultural sanctity, and high seriousness is outdone by naked pleasure offered to the tourists.

Just north of Budva’s Old Town, a sidewalk leads along the rocky shore to Mogren Beach — the nicest in the area — where people bask in the sun or take a dip in the amazingly clear sea.

South of the Old Town, vendors hawk everything from beach clothing to soft drinks to religious icons. Open-air discos and playgrounds pulse with music and lights until the wee hours, often drawing protests from tourists staying in waterfront hotels.

Some of Montenegro’s best restaurants — offering an hors-d’oeuvre of traditional extra-dry ham and goat cheese dipped in olive oil — are located in Budva and in neighbouring Rafailovici and Bigovo.

“The tourist season this year started earlier than expected, promising a good tourist harvest,” said Nikola Lazarevic, owner of the Grispolis restaurant in the picturesque village of Bigovo, perched on a deep sea bay nestled between pristine hills covered with ancient olive trees.

“More and more foreigners are discovering the delights of Montenegro,” Lazarevic said as he served delicious grilled fish spiced with garlic and parsley, coupled with famous Montenegrin Vranac red wine.

Foreign guests have gradually started to return, in part attracted by bargain-basement prices: a double room in a private home can go for $15 US per night, about half the price of a similar room in a beach town in neighbouring Croatia. In Sveti Stefan, the average room with breakfast and dinner costs up to $160 per person.

According to official statistics, Montenegro last year had an increase in visitors of 30 per cent over 2001.

Before the Balkan wars, Montenegro booked more than 11 million overnight stays, and 35 per cent were foreigners. Last year, only 20 per cent of the guests were foreigners. Still, that was three times more than in 2000 — a figure that makes clear the tiny republic is back on the map.

In an attempt to attract more foreign visitors, Montenegro is trying to shed its image as a lawless state where cars and other property stolen from western Europe ended up.

“Come to Montenegro — Your Car is Already There!” used to be a tongue-in-cheek tourist slogan aimed at Westerners.

No one’s laughing anymore.

–Associated Press