Montenegro in December 2014

December 17...19, 2014

I’d decided I was going to spend six months living in Montenegro, so I flew out to look at various apartment options. The real estate market turned out to be quite lackluster. There’s one more or less interesting option per a hundred sad ones.

Ads in Russian appear as soon as you hit the airport. Russian radio, real estate, Russian schools and so on.

UPRAVDOM properties in Montenegro. Sales, rentals, construction.

Budva

You can live like this:

Or you can live like this:

Either way, out of all the cities in Montenegro, this one has the highest concentration of Russians, which makes it less attractive. Because it’s one thing to simply live in a Russian city, and quite another to live in a foreign city full of Russians.

The beach is pretty here, but it’s packed during the high season.

A trash can.

Security.

Bigova

A cozy village tucked away from the crowds, with two seafood restaurants.

Perast

The cleanest, prettiest, coziest town in Montenegro that’s also the least defiled by new construction. Unfortunately, busloads of tourists come here during the high season, so leading a normal life is possible only at night.

On the plus side, there are houses with their own private gardens here. You can gather fallen oranges right from your window. Then again, who needs fallen oranges? But it’s pretty.

And the most beautiful views out the window to be had in the country are also here.

Tivat

Tivat is situated next to the busiest airport, and the city itself is mostly filled with foreigners, yacht clubs and various restaurants.

The only interesting detail is the container for plastic recyclables. All the beauty is strictly limited to the waterfront. A nondescript Yugoslavian town begins as soon as you go one house inland.

Kotor

The prettiest shop sign in town.

Kotor deserves a separate story, so I plan to come back here later and take a closer look at everything. And for now, I’ll take a look at a couple of promising options. The only places worth considering are the “captain’s houses” on the waterfront just a bit off from the old town.