Cetinje – Njegusi – Kotor – Perast by boat
Introducing Kotor
Wedged between brooding mountains and a moody corner of the bay, this dramatically beautiful town is perfectly at one with its setting. Its sturdy walls – started in the 9th century and tweaked until the 18th – arch steeply up the slopes behind it. From a distance they’re barely discernible from the mountain’s grey hide, but at night they’re spectacularly lit, reflecting in the water to give the town a golden halo. Within those walls lie labyrinthine marbled lanes where churches, shops, bars and restaurants surprise you on hidden piazzas.
Lovćen’s star attraction, this magnificent mausoleum (built 1970 to 1974) sits at the top of its second-highest peak, Jezerski Vrh (1657m). Take the 461 steps up to the entry where two granite giantesses guard the tomb of Montenegro’s greatest hero. Inside under a golden mosaic canopy a 28-ton Petar II Petrović Njegoš rests in the wings of an eagle, carved from a single block of black granite by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović. The actual tomb lies below and a path at the rear leads to a dramatic circular viewing platform providing the same spectacular views that caused George Bernard Shaw to exclaim ‘Am I in paradise or on the moon?’.
It’s a case of four times lucky for the Cetinje Monastery, having been repeatedly destroyed during Ottoman attacks and rebuilt. This sturdy incarnation dates from 1786, with its only exterior ornamentation being the capitals of columns recycled from the original building, founded in 1484.
Lonely Planet review