Tiny Montenegro is an Eastern European gem for holidaymakers with its soaring mountains, clear waters and historic charm

With the dark days of the Balkans conflict well behind it, the ‘Jewel of the Adriatic’ rewards visitors with outdoor adventures through picturesque villages and pristine nature

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The old town of Kotor, in Montenegro, is spread out below the city’s fortress. Pictures: Alamy

Published: 11:45am, 3 Aug 2018Updated: 12:05pm, 3 Aug 2018

My friend thinks I am mad. I have been to Montenegro. Often. She, however, does not do Eastern Europe. Especially not that bit, which, during the 1990s, was at the mercy of Slobodan Milosevic and his henchmen.

She was a rookie with the Reuters news agency back then. She took photographs of the Balkans conflict, which she relayed back to London. The images are still Xeroxed into her memory.

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The war carved the Balkans into slices along the Dalmatian coast. Montenegro, separated now from Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, is a tiny country: its borders extend a mere 619km; the length of its coastline is less than 300km.

And yet this “Jewel of the Adriatic” boasts mountains that soar (Bobotov Kuk, in the Durmitor range, stands at 2,522 metres), lakes that spill (Lake Skadar spans 370 square kilometres) and deep gorges, like the Tara River Canyon, that plunge for more than a kilometre. Clinging to tradition while aspiring to join the European Union, Montenegro is a heady mix of past and present.

Perast seen from the Maritime Museum. Picture: Anthea Rowan

We arrive in Kotor (from Cilipi Airport, 70km away, in Dubrovnik, Croatia) and take a taxi to race along the ribbon roads that wind a sometimes terrifying way around the Boka Kotorska (Bay of Kotor), hugging the precipitous mountains that slip into the sea. The bay is a fjord that runs inland from the Adriatic coast for 28km, looking on a map something like the head of a hammerhead shark.